gTLD | Full Legal Name | E-mail suffix | Detail | .tennis | Washington Team Tennis, LLC | washingtonkastles.com | View |
For the .tennis registry, we believe it will be crucial to ensure that registrants and end-users are safeguarded from abusive registrations or malicious behavior. WTT will provide both a Trademark Claims and a Sunrise Service for the safeguarding of trademarked .tennis domain names as part of its registry operations.
WTT will also institute numerous operating rules and procedures in order to eliminate or minimize consumer vulnerabilities or other negative consequences which may be imposed upon consumers, registrants, IP rightsholders and other .tennis TLD registry stakeholders.
If warranted, WTT may take down any .tennis domains verified to be harboring and⁄or supporting online threats to the .tennis registry and the broader internet community of users. This action shuts down all activities associated with the domain name, including all websites. Our philosophy in administering this procedure is that removing threats to the consumer outweighs any potential damage to the registrar⁄registrant relationship. WTT will commit to keeping its registrars updated of any malicious activity within the .tennis TLD through weekly or monthly reporting. We will also leverage our back-end provider’s existing relationships with international law enforcement agencies as necessary and in support of these procedures.
Procedures for Resolving Multiple Requests for Top Level Names
Procedures for resolving requests and limiting unqualified registrations of domain names will be implemented in the Sunrise will ensure adequate protection for all trademarks and intellectual property stakeholders. WTT will also implement safeguards to ensure protection of first level geographic names. Other reserved names for which it is envisioned that multiple applications may be requested shall be sold in conjunction with third-party domain name auction services or brokers.
All policies and procedures as described herein with respect to reserved names have been developed in accordance with the ICANN New gTLD Registry Agreement and specifically Provision 2.6 as it is currently published and available.
Registry Pricing Policies
Wholesale Price Stability
With respect to cost benefits for registrants, WTT intends to maintain its introductory wholesale pricing model for registrars for the first three (3) years of registry operations. By providing a predictable wholesale price, we believe this will simplify efforts among registrars to facilitate and achieve end-customer (registrant) adoption at levels which have been forecasted for the .tennis registry.
Bulk registrations above a reasonable number of .tennis domain names from one registrant will be eligible for such discounting incentives through the coordination of our registrar network. Registrants will be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years.
Contractual Commitments
Pursuant to provision 2.10 as contained in the current ICANN New gTLD Registry Agreement, WTT will make several contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation. We will provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the .tennis TLD advance written notice of any price increase of no less than thirty (30) calendar days. With respect to renewal of domain name registrations, WTT shall provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the .tennis TLD advance written notice of any price increase, including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying, Qualified Marketing Programs or other programs (which had the effect of reducing the price charged to registrars) of no less than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, with respect to renewal of domain name registrations, WTT will provide at least thirty (30) calendar days notice of any price increase if the resulting price is less than or equal to (A) for the period beginning on the Effective Date and ending twelve (12) months following the Effective Date, the initial price charged for registrations in the .tennis TLD, or (B) for subsequent periods, a price for which WTT provided a notice within the twelve (12) month period preceding the effective date of the proposed price increase.
WTT shall offer registrars the option to obtain domain name registration renewals at the current price (i.e. the price in place prior to any noticed increase) for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. In addition, WTT will maintain uniform pricing for renewals of domain name registrations, for which the price for each domain registration renewal must be identical to the price of all other domain name registration renewals in place at the time of such renewal. Such price must take into account universal application of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs in place at the time of renewal.
WTT will make available to registrars Qualified Marketing Programs in which discounted renewal pricing will be offered for up to one hundred eighty (180) calendar days. All ICANN accredited registrars for the .tennis TLD will be provided the same opportunity to qualify for such discounted Renewal Pricing. These programs will not to exclude any particular class or classes of registrations or increase the renewal price of any particular classes of registrations.
For complete transparency, WTT will provide public query-based DNS lookup service for the TLD at its sole expense.
gTLD | Full Legal Name | E-mail suffix | Detail | .soccer | Soccer United Marketing, LLC | MLSsoccer.com | View |
Minimizing Consumer Vulnerabilities
For the .soccer TLD, Soccer United Marketing, LLC (“SUM”) will institute numerous operating rules and procedures in order to eliminate or minimize consumer vulnerabilities or other negative consequences which may be imposed upon consumers, registrants, rightsholders and other .soccer TLD registry stakeholders.
SUM intends to utilize its back-end registry service provider (Neustar, Inc.)’s Threat Mitigation Services as part of the .soccer registry’s standard operating procedures. These will ensure and enable that SUM can proactively identify, detect, catalog, and disrupt any malicious activity within the .soccer TLD which threaten end-user safety or security. Additionally, they will importantly combat the potential brand damaging effects of phishing, malware distribution, exploit hosting, and botnets that exploit the rightsholders.
If warranted, SUM may take down any .soccer domains verified to be harboring and⁄or supporting online threats to the .soccer Registry and its users. This action shuts down all activities associated with the domain name, including all websites and email. Our philosophy in administering this procedure is that removing threats to the consumer outweighs any potential damage to the registrar⁄registrant relationship. SUM will commit to keeping its registrars updated of any malicious activity within the .soccer TLD through weekly or monthly reporting. SUM will also leverage our back-end provider’s existing relationships with international law enforcement agencies as necessary and in support of these procedures.
Procedures for Resolving Multiple Requests for 2nd Level Names
For the .soccer TLD, SUM intends to reserve numerous 2nd level .soccer domain names which will either be used in connection with the commercial expansion of the MLS Digital Properties, or in conjunction customized digital campaigns or programs that SUM may execute in the future with sponsors, partners and licensees. Other reserved names for which it is envisioned that multiple applications may be requested shall be sold in conjunction with third-party domain name auction services, brokers or other commercial services providers as authorized by SUM at its own discretion. All policies and procedures as described herein with respect to reserved names have been developed in accordance with the ICANN New gTLD Registry Agreement and specifically Provision 2.6 as it is currently published and available.
Registry Pricing Policies
Wholesale Price Stability
With respect to cost benefits for registrants, SUM intends to maintain its introductory wholesale pricing model for registrars for the first three (3) years of registry operations. By providing a predictable wholesale price, SUM expects this will simplify efforts among registrars to facilitate and achieve end-customer (registrant) adoption at levels which have been forecasted for the .soccer registry.
A key motivation for this approach is the expectation that numerous other new gTLD options other than .soccer will emerge in the marketplace through the New gTLD Program, although the actual market availability of these alternatives may be variant – possibly in clusters, bunches or in a potentially “staggered” capacity – over potentially a 3-year period or longer, which is also unclear at present.
Irrespective of their eligibility to pursue agreements with registries as afforded by ICANN policy, registrars will be positioned to make a number of strategic choices as to which new gTLDs to market and sell to end-customers. Until each new gTLD registry’s pricing models and benefits which may be associated with their respective offerings are fully transparent to both registrars and registrants alike, it would be unfair to assume that registrants will be able to derive volume-based cost⁄benefit assumptions for any one or more new gTLD options that may emerge in the marketplace.
These issues particularly apply to the targeted segmentation of rightsholders SUM has identified for .soccer. As such, even as a matter of making “defensive registration decisions” SUM decided it would be important to provide some level of predictability for an initial three-year period, which would avoid concerns for pricing as a barrier to .soccer’s early-stage market adoption. SUM will coordinate pricing incentives for bulk registrations for a 3-year period during the Sunrise and Landrush Phases for .soccer. Bulk registrations of 25 or more .soccer domain names from one registrant will be eligible for such discounting incentives.
Contractual Commitments
Pursuant to provision 2.10 as contained in the current ICANN New gTLD Registry Agreement, SUM will make several contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation. SUM will provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the .soccer TLD advance written notice of any price increase of no less than thirty (30) calendar days. With respect to renewal of domain name registrations, SUM shall provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the .soccer TLD advance written notice of any price increase, including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying, Qualified Marketing Programs or other programs which had the effect of reducing the price charged to registrars of no less than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, with respect to renewal of domain name registrations, SUM will provide at least thirty (30) calendar days notice of any price increase if the resulting price is less than or equal to (A) the initial price charged for registrations in the .soccer TLD for the period beginning on the Effective Date and ending twelve (12) months following the Effective Date, or (B) for subsequent periods, a price for which SUM provided a notice within the twelve (12) month period preceding the effective date of the proposed price increase
SUM shall offer registrars the option to obtain domain name registration renewals at the current price (i.e., the price in place prior to any noticed increase) for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. In addition, SUM will maintain uniform pricing for renewals of domain name registrations, for which the price for each domain registration renewal must be identical to the price of all other domain name registration renewals in place at the time of such renewal. Such price must take into account universal application of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs in place at the time of
renewal.
SUM will make available to registrars Qualified Marketing Programs in which discounted renewal pricing will be offered for up to one hundred eighty (180) calendar days. All ICANN accredited registrars for the .soccer TLD will be provided the same opportunity to qualify for such discounted Renewal Pricing. These programs will not to exclude any particular class or classes of registrations or increase the renewal price of any particular classes of registrations.
For complete transparency, SUM will provide public query-based DNS lookup service for the TLD at its sole expense.