II.  REGISTRATION POLICIES DURING THE START-UP PERIOD 

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E11  Introduction

In general we believe the “rush for names” will be lessened by the restrictions that the New TLD will place on cyber-hoarding (see Section III).  On the one hand, there will be no rush of cyber-hoarders to rapidly buy up names.  On the other hand, genuine entrepreneurs will feel that their selected name is more likely to be available when they need it, and so will not necessarily feel the need to obtain their name as soon as the TLD is launched.

 

In this section, we will first give an explanation of our general approach, and then in the light of this summary, specifically answer the application form questions E12-E15.  Our explanation section is numbered as Sections E11.1 - E11.3.

 

E11.1    Summary of Approach
We specify the "start-up" period as the first two months during which the New TLD is available. During this period we will implement are an initial "Name Lottery" to address the potential rush for SLDs and to provide an additional layer of protection to existing trademarks and Major Marks (see Section E11.2).

 

E11.2     The Initial Name Lottery

During the first two months from the launch of the New TLD, a Name Lottery will be held.  Applicants to the lottery will be able to apply for either Name Registration (see Section E16.13.), or for Name Reservation (see Section E16.14) for any specified SLD.  By applying for an SLD during the start-up period, an Applicant will automatically initiate a lottery for that SLD. The application fee for the lottery the lottery will be $100 per SLD.  Those applying under the lottery for Name Reservation will only be considered if there are no applicants for Name Reservation for that SLD.  Additional priority will be given to those with Major Marks, registered trademarks or SLDs under other sites, as explained in Section E11.3 below. Subject to these conditions, however, the winner of the lottery for each name will be picked at random. 

 

At the end of the lottery period the winners will be informed of the decision and will be given one week to file a Reservation or a full Registration Application (as specified previously in their lottery application) and to pay the applicable fees. The lottery application fee will be allowable against the full Registration application or Reservation cost. However, this fee will not be returned if the winner does not file within the required time. All losers will be informed of their loss and their lottery application fees will be returned. The losers of the lottery will be placed on the Waiting List (see Section E16.4) for the requested SLD in random order.

 

A win on the lottery will not be transferable to another individual or corporate entity. In other words, the winning lottery applicant must also be the individual or entity that files the Reservation or Registration Application. This measure will be enacted to prevent those wishing to obtain a name filing multiple applications through friends, family or other companies. Winning the lottery will not guarantee the winner of being awarded the requested SLD.  It the winner files an application for the SLD, this application will be considered in the normal fashion as explained in Section E16.6.1.

 

As explained in Section E16.6.1, only businesses will be able to file for Registration under the New TLD.  Lottery applications for Registration will therefore be accepted only from businesses and not from individuals.  Status will not be verified at the time of the lottery, however applicants will be informed at that time that if that if they are not an "Eligible Business" in the terms defined in Section E16.6.1, that even if they win the lottery, their application will ultimately be rejected.  Similarly, individuals will be deterred from filing for Reservation in a false name, and if they are unable to prove identity at the time of Registration, the Application will be denied.

 

If the lottery winner fails to submit an application, or the application is rejected, the first member of the Waiting List is sent an e-mail and then has one week to file their Reservation or their full application.  If the first member of the Waiting List fails to respond in the designated time, the next member of the list is contacted, and so on.

 

Note that although we use the term “lottery”, many of the lotteries will have just one or very few applicants. The popular generic SLDs (e.g. Beauty, Cars, Clothes, etc.) will probably have many applications.  However, if a business applies for the SLD of their own business name, in many cases they will be the only applicant.

 

E11.3     Additional Protection For Existing Marks During the Start Up Period
Under the usual application procedure (see Sections E16.1 to E16.8), protection is provided for those with Prior Name Rights. During the start-up period, an additional layer of protection will be provided to those with Prior Name Rights. We feel that we have no ability to truly assess what is and what isn’t a “famous mark”.  We have, therefore, decided in the start-up period to give priority to “Major Marks” where these are assessed using objective criteria discussed in Section E5.0.6.

 

Those applicants that have a Major Mark, a registered trademark, or an active SLD in another TLD (Prior Name Rights), will be able to specify this and claim priority over others in their application through the start-up lottery process described above (Section E11.2).  Applications in the lottery will be given priority in the following order:

(a) Major Marks

(b) Registered Trade Marks

(c) Existing SLD under other TLD

(d) General applicants

 

Those wishing to take advantage of these provisions must apply for Registration under the lottery. No priority will be given to lottery applicants with Prior Name Rights wishing to Reserve an SLD.

 

If a lottery applicant claims Prior Name Rights, and this claim is subsequently found to be false when the application is processed, the application will be rejected and the lottery application fee in addition to $500 of the Registration fee will be retained. The determination of Prior Name Rights is explained in Section E5.0.6. The right to apply for the SLD then passes to the first member of the Waiting List as described above.

 

E12       Addressing “Initial Rush” of Registrants

The measures outlined in Section E11.1 above for the Name Lottery will allow us to deal more effectively with the initial rush for names. The TLD start-up period will be the first 60 days from the launch of the New TLD.  We believe that we will obtain between 5,000 and 10,000 lottery applications within the lottery period.  Many of these applications will probably be for the same names.  We believe that there will be requests for registration of between 2,500 and 5,000 different names. After the initial lottery period, we believe that we will receive approximately 2,500 applications per quarter during the first year.

 

We believe that the number of requests will be at this relatively low level as the regulations of the New TLD will effectively deter cyber-hoarders.

 

E13       Limits per Registrant
Individuals and corporate entities can file as many lottery applications as they like. Registration and Reservation limits will however be as specified in Sections E16.6.1 and E16.6.2.  If therefore an applicant wins many SLD lotteries, they will have to choose which SLDs to apply for. The applicant will forfeit the $100 lottery application fee for any lottery which they win, but where they do not file an application for Registration or Reservation.

 

E14     Pricing Mechanisms

As explained in Section E9, the application price will be $2,000 for a Name Registration and $500 for a Name Reservation. Name Reservation fees will not be refundable, and $500 of the Name Registration fee will be retained if the Registration Application is declined.  We believe that this and the measures outlined above in this section will sufficiently dampen the initial “rush for names”.  No additional pricing mechanisms will be utilized during the start-up period.

 

E15      Sunrise Period
The Initial Name Lottery (see Section E11.2) functions as a de-facto “Sunrise Period”, as it allows those with Prior Name Rights to obtain priority for registrations during the star-up period.

   

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