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

Prototypical answer:

22. Protection of geographic names

The proposed procedure is governed by a tight cooperation with the Registry operator, the applicable governments or public authority concerned, ICANN and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) in order to protect the geographic names contained in the following internationally recognized lists:

- the short or long form of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union, in English and their translation or transliteration :〈http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU〉;

- 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; and

- the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

Initial temporary reservation. The geographic names contained in the above standardized lists are initially reserved at the second and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry operator provides for registration, which means that the Registry operator carries out their temporary registration, at no cost for the governments or public authority concerned.

At the same time, the Registry operator publishes the list of the country names reserved on its website (site dedicated to the extension .PICTET will be developed later in parallel of the accreditation) and communicates this list to the GAC Secretary.

The temporary reservation lasts 12 months.

During this temporary reservation period, the governments or public authority concerned informs the GAC Secretariat of their request to blacklist the name, and the designated beneficiary.

The GAC Secretariat authenticates the request and transfers it to the ICANN staff and to the Registry Operator.

The Registry Operator verifies the availability of the name and reserves the right to enter into negotiations with the designated beneficiary in the country concerned. If no negotiations are initiated by the registry operator or no agreement is reached, the name is blacklisted to avoid registering domain names at the second and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry operator provides for registration.

After initial temporary reservation. When the temporary reservation is terminated, the reservation of those geographic names that have not been blacklisted during the initial reservation period will fall into the pool of available names for private registration on a first-come-first-served basis, but only provided that the Registry Operator :

(i) has previously reached agreement with the applicable government(s) or public authority concerned and, provided, further, the Registry Operator has previously proposed the release of these reservations subject to review by ICANNʹs Governmental Advisory Committee and approval by ICANN; or,

(ii) has previously proposed the release of these reservations subject to review by ICANNʹs Governmental Advisory Committee and approval by ICANN, in the case the applicable government or public authority concerned has not replied to the Registry Operatorʹs attempts to reach agreement.

Two-character labels. All two-character labels shall be initially reserved. The reservation of a two character label string may be released to the extent that Registry Operator reaches agreement with the government and country-code manager. The Registry Operator may also propose release of these reservations based on its implementation of measures to avoid confusion with the corresponding country codes.

Post-release disputes. Moreover, after the release of the reservations, the Registry Operator shall delete a second and at all other levels domain names within the TLD at which the Registry operator provides for registration, on request of the government or the public authority concerned, provided the government or the public authority concerned evidences that:

- (i) the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to the geographic name in which the government or the public authority concerned has rights; and
- (ii) the registrant have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
- (iii) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

The procedure for this kind of disputes shall be governed by the same general rules of procedure as those for the disputes related to domain names within the TLD at which the Registry operator provides for registration.

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