22 Describe proposed measures for protection of geographic names at the second and other levels in the applied-for gTLD

Prototypical answer:

Walmart is committed to following Governmental Advisory Committee (“GAC”) advice in relation to management of second-level domain name registrations within the .GROCERY gTLD as set forth in the GAC Principles Regarding New gTLDs (“GAC Principles”) and other GAC documents. Walmart will (A) block from registration, at no cost, names with national or geographic significance at the second level and all other levels of the .GROCERY gTLD, (B) follow GAC recommended protocols for release of such reserved names to relevant governments or organizations, (C) follow ICANN policies for potential release of such reserved names after providing relevant governments or organizations with the ability to register such reserved names, and (D) allow relevant governments or organizations to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level of the .GROCERY gTLD.

Walmart reviewed the following relevant background material regarding the protection of geographical names in the DNS:

- ICANN Board Resolution 01-92 regarding the methodology developed for the reservation and release of country names in the .INFO top-level domain (http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄minutes⁄minutes-10sep01.htm);
- ICANN’s Proposed Action Plan on .INFO Country Names (http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄meetings⁄montevideo⁄action-plan-country-names-09oct01.htm);
- “Report of the Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process: The Recognition and Rights and the Use of Names in the Internet Domain Name System,” Section 6, Geographical Identifiers (http:⁄⁄www.wipo.int⁄amc⁄en⁄processes⁄process2⁄report⁄html⁄report.html);
- ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Principles Regarding New Gtld (https:⁄⁄gacweb.icann.org⁄download⁄attachments⁄1540128⁄gTLD_principles_0.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1312358178000); and
- ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization Reserved Names Working Group - Final Report (http:⁄⁄gnso.icann.org⁄issues⁄new-gtlds⁄final-report-rn-wg-23may07.htm).

A. Reserved Names

The names contained in the following internationally recognized lists will be reserved from registration at the second level within the .GROCERY gTLD at no cost to the relevant governments:

(1) The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list (http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-
1_decoding_table.htm#EU);

(2) The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III, Names of Countries of the World (http:⁄⁄unstats.un.org⁄unsd⁄geoinfo⁄ungegn%20tech%20ref%20manual_M87_c
ombined.pdf); and

(3) The UN member states’ names in 6 official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardization of Geographical Names
(http:⁄⁄unstats.un.org⁄unsd⁄geoinfo⁄9th-UNCSGN-Docs⁄E-CONF-98-89-
Add1.pdf).

B. Release of Reserved Names to Relevant Governments or Organizations

Consistent with GAC advice, and recommended protocols previously used by other gTLDs for the release to relevant governments or organizations of reserved second level domains, Walmart will follow the protocol below for release of reserved geographic names:

1. The Government or public authority concerned informs the GAC Secretariat of their request to register the name, and the designated beneficiary.
2. The GAC Secretariat authenticates the request and transfers it to the ICANN staff and to Walmart.
3. Walmart verifies the availability of the name and issues an authorization number that is transmitted directly to the designated beneficiary in the country concerned.
4. The designated beneficiary (the Registrant) registers the name, with an accredited Walmart Registrar, using the authorization number as their authority.

C. Subsequent Release of Reserved Names

Walmart will follow ICANN policies for potential release of reserved names after providing relevant governments or organizations with the ability to register such reserved names pursuant to the protocol described herein.

Given its broad consumer base and operations in the U.S. and abroad, Walmart looks forward to collaborating with other new gTLD registry operators (especially .BRAND gTLDs) in potentially working with ICANN’s GAC to explore processes that could permit the release of initially reserved country names (including ISO-3166 two-characters). Specifically, Walmart is interested in exploring other Registry Service Evaluation Processes (RSEP) that have been filed by existing gTLD registry operators in releasing previously reserved domain names.

D. Objections from Relevant Governments or Organizations

In the event that a government or relevant public authority (or the GAC) notifies ICANN that there is misuse of any second level domain name in relation to the provisions of article 2 of the GAC Principles, ICANN shall notify Walmart and Walmart shall promptly suspend the said name pending the withdrawal of the objection by the relevant government.

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