.expert Pre-Register Domain - .expert Domain Information

Red Circle, LLC, the applicant for the ".expert" gTLD (the "Registry") intends to serve all considering themselves "experts" in any field or industry, and all who require their expertise by enhancing communication, easing access to relevant information, and providing better searchability. "Expert" is a universal term with a distinct and clear meaning around the globe, defined as "a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area". Many seek to identify themselves or their services as expert. Experts possess the faculty for judging or advising correctly or wisely and are accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a particular field. The term bestows worth, asserting the good name of the person or business using the title. Those requiring expertise seek out so-called experts for advice and guidance in wide variety of endeavors. The Registry will create a digital environment dedicated to experts in every field, bringing together those seeking expertise with those offering it. Among a nearly endless realm of possibilities, domains featuring a .expert TLD will serve as platforms for dispensing advice, promoting expert services, and sharing specialized techniques. Experts in any field will gain an opportunity to promote their specialties in an intuitive and direct manner, by obtaining a website with a TLD that identifies them as an expert. Additionally, by building distinct communities around many categories of expertise, the Registry will create an environment for innovation, new opportunity, job creation, and economic growth among registrants, internet users and others by bringing them together in a vertical marketplace.

The .expert gTLD will benefit registrants, internet users, and others by creating a virtual community dedicated to all types of expertise, serving experts and those seeking expertise. Registrants will gain higher visibility and easier searchability as well as access to relevant and brand-centric domains in a way that is currently unavailable on other gTLD's. Internet users will experience improved search functionality in a streamlined, geographic and field-specific manner. Moreover, others will benefit from the economic development and innovation fostered by this specialized digital space.
(i) The goal of the proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation:
Specialty: The Registry will focus on experts, their fields of expertise, and those seeking specialized skills or knowledge, in order to support all interested in dispensing or obtaining particularized knowledge. Both providers and consumers will have a dedicated online environment they can utilize to promote or seek their respective expert-related interests. Websites within this TLD will be able to specify their focus based on category, geography and target audience, expanding visibility through improved accessibility. Conversely, visitors will have an enhanced user experience in locating services and information, through direct and relevant search results. Additionally, the introduction of a .expert gTLD provides the potential benefit of allowing shortened strings for existing domains and also the opportunity to obtain more appropriate domains presently unavailable in other more crowded TLDs.
Service Levels: Service levels provided by the .expert gTLD comply with required service levels defined in Specification 10 of the gTLD Registry Agreement detailed in the ICANN gTLD Applicant Guidebook.
Reputation: The Registry's priority is to establish a reputation as an innovative, stable, secure and accountable digital community, serving those involved in the numerous vertical categories traditionally featuring experts. Further, the managers of the Registry have established their reputation through a variety of extremely successful business endeavors both digital and traditional, together with years of professional experience at the highest levels. ARI, the Registry's selected provider of registry services, has an established reputation for providing and operating a robust and reliable back-end registry service that enables multiple registrars to provide domain name registration services in the top-level domain. ARI's proven, reliable system supports multiple registries and many registrars. ARI has a long history of meeting its service level agreements as evidenced in the Registry Operator's Monthly Reports that ARI files with ICANN. The reports detail ARI's operational status and its compliance with applicable service level agreements. These monthly reports are accessible from the ICANN website at the following URL: http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/monthly-reports/. Moreover, the Registry has established a strategic relationship with industry-leading registrar Melbourne IT, thereby ensuring a first-rate consumer experience and compliance with all applicable industry policies and standards.

(ii) What the proposed gTLD anticipates adding to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation:
Competition: The proposed gTLD will promote competition by creating a digital environment dedicated to experts in every field and all other interested parties. As such, .expert will have a competitive advantage over other gTLDs with respect to experts and all categories of expertise. Further, the website www.domaintools.com indicates there are currently over 134,000 domain names that include the word "expert" in their string. Apart from domain names embodying the term expert, there are thousands of businesses and individuals around the world that promote their expertise without actually using the term. As such, the .expert gTLD presents an opportunity to shorten string length for these existing domains and provides an appealing and intuitive opportunity for registrants. Beyond just allowing for string shortening, the gTLD will enable new registrants to create domains for sharing their expertise and connecting with interested parties. With a dedicated platform for experts, new, improved and/or shorter domain names will be sought by participants, thereby contributing to competition in the current space by offering users more choice and registrants more marketable domains.
As the public increasingly accepts new gTLDs, the Registry envisions registrants will seek out TLDs that describe their nature or activities. Accordingly, experts and those seeking their expertise will look to the .expert gTLD first when establishing their web presence and will register domain names as tools to interact with consumers, liaise with colleagues, share new products and services, link to various social networks, sell their services, etcetera.
Differentiation: The fundamental difference between .expert and all other gTLDs is its dedication to experts in every field. The proposed gTLD will create a space dedicated to distinguishing experts from all others. To achieve this differentiation, beyond simply providing domain names, the Registry will, in accordance with Specification 9 of the Registry Agreement, proactively develop and maintain multiple innovative and branded websites to create and enhance industry-specific communities dedicated to those possessing particular types of special skill and experience.
Innovation: The proposed gTLD will catalyze innovation by creating an online community devoted to experts, fields of expertise, and interested parties. This will bring largely untapped brick and mortar services online in a cohesive and structured environment. Registrants and users may in turn take advantage of the opportunities for increased communication, access to information, visibility and commerce to develop new methods of advancing their interests. All will benefit from this vibrant and dynamic collaborative process. For example, category and geography-based search functionality will connect more consumers and organizations, allowing for a more robust and efficient exchange of information. The additional data provided by .expert registrants will allow for the following innovations:
• Search: optimized and customized
• Community-specific premium domains that will be utilized for the benefit of all interested parties
• Targeted and more cost-effective advertising
• The ability to create and analyze community metrics
• Lay the foundation for a community-specific e-commerce platform
• Development and sale of interactive applications
These innovations will add new experiences and opportunities to the space, directly benefiting registrants and indirectly benefiting users and others.
(iii) Goals the proposed gTLD has in terms of user experience:
The Registry envisions a greatly enhanced user experience by providing resources to its constituents, including interest-specific information, communication channels, and markets, together with collaborative and business opportunities. The quality of the user experience will improve as the Registry provides resources to its constituents, including interest-specific information, communication channels, markets, collaborative applications and business opportunities. Registrants will have the opportunity to contribute their own content to the space, thereby enhancing the community nature of the gTLD. The goal of the .expert TLD is to be the destination and home for all expert-related online activity.
While this is not a community application, the Registry intends to create virtual communities around the various experiences and services traditionally associated with experts. Certain premium domains may be branded for consistency of user experience and quality of content in a unique portal.
Moreover, ARI, the gTLD's registry service provider, will ensure that all pertinent services consistently meet the prescribed defined in Specification 10 of the Registry Agreement, helping to ensure the user experience is satisfactory. In addition, ARI will comply with any other applicable ICANN policy or procedure, thereby helping to ensure the user experience provided is both secure and stable. Strategic partner Melbourne IT will ensure a top quality consumer interface and policy compliance.
(iv) Description of the intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above:
The Registry may reach out to recognized experts and their associations in a variety of fields, as well as use community-building platforms to generate publicity for the proposed gTLD, and will welcome all registrants legitimately seeking a ".expert" domain. Following a Sunrise and Landrush period, the Registry intends to make domains available to anyone willing to complete the Registry's application process and comply with Registry policies and ICANN requirements. The Registry will collect limited demographic information from registrants, which will be used to streamline searches, target communications and verify expert status. Registration requests for available names will be allocated by the Registry through accredited registrars on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to Registry policies and ICANN requirements. The Registry will establish dispute resolution procedures concerning compliance with TLD registration policies and shall enforce such registration policies.
The Registry will seek out strategic partners to utilize premium names of significance to the digital community. It also plans to reserve the right to retain additional names on a reserve name list at any time at its sole discretion, in accordance with Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement, and to allocate such names in accordance with ICANN requirements and Registry polices.
(v) The proposed gTLD will impose measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users:
The Registry will protect the privacy and confidential information of registrants and users through industry standard security technology, provided by ARI and through a contractual privacy policy statement. ARI provides a comprehensive security solution - independently audited - to ensure that registrants' privacy and confidential information is protected. These measures include registry databases that are access-controlled, encrypted data escrow procedures, and a broad-ranging security policy addressing physical, cyber, and personnel security threats. Further details of these security policies are provided in response to Question 30, Security Policy. In compliance with the Registry Agreement's Specification 4, data fields defined in the specification are made publicly available through the Registry's Whois service offering.
User security is enhanced by the use of Domain Name System Security Extensions ("DNSSEC") providing an important layer of overall Internet security. ARI's DNSSEC implementations adhere to key security standards and guidelines as required by Federal Information Processing Standards ("FIPS") 140-2 Level 3. Through ARI's proven DNSSEC implementation, the .expert gTLD will help to protect the privacy and confidential information of its users.

(vi) Description of whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve projected benefits:
The Registry will engage in outreach by working with experts in a multitude of arenas and other interested stakeholders. Reaching out to such resources will achieve projected benefits by helping to establish the Registry's premium reputation and increase awareness around our gTLD. This outreach and education will develop the Registry's base of registrants and direct and increase web traffic.
Beyond this, the Registry will engage in targeted advertising and outreach by working with a wide range of strategic partners to promote the Registry to all legitimately interested in any category of expertise. The enhanced visibility of geographic and category-specific domains developed by the Registry and optimized for searches will further help communicate the Registry's commitment to its mission. Targeted advertising will benefit both registrants and advertisers by promoting competition and facilitating efficient communication. Community-building platforms may be employed to enhance the development of communities around expertise in different fields. Moreover, the opportunities for better and greater communication amongst registrants themselves will help to establish the Registry's community reputation and develop its base.

The Registry will enact rules to eliminate any social costs associated with the creation of a new TLD. The proposed gTLD will adopt policies that preemptively address negative consequences, in addition to analyzing behavioral trends to identify issues as they emerge. The Registry's evaluation of the market and its potential registrants suggests that registrations of .expert domains will be active rather than defensive in nature, as with .com and other open TLDs. Due to the existence of significant communities of interest relating to obtaining and disseminating expertise, the TLD will present registrants with opportunities aligned to their pursuits. Registrants will have the opportunity and the incentive to work together in promotion of their shared interests.

To accomplish this, the Registry will be compliant with all relevant laws, statutes, and all ICANN policies and procedures, including without limitation, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy ("URDP"), the Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure ("PDDRP") and Uniform Rapid Suspension system ("URS"). The Registry will also adopt protection mechanisms against spam, phishing, data theft, IP infringement, cybersquatting and Domain Naming System ("DNS") attacks.
(i) Method for resolving multiple applications for a particular name:
During the Sunrise period, multiple applications for a particular domain, assuming all are properly listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse and/or otherwise verified in accordance with ICANN policies and procedures, will be resolved through an auction process.
During the Landrush period, multiple applications for a particular domain name will be resolved through an auction process.
During the general registration process, multiple applications for a particular domain name will be resolved on a first-come, first-serve basis.
(ii) Cost benefits to registrants intended for implementation:
The Registry reserves the right to offer introductory discounts and advantageous pricing to industry leaders or other entities that enhance the professional reputation and visibility of the gTLD.
The Registry may coordinate with registrars to offer price discounts for customers purchasing multiple domains or bundled services.

(iii) Intended contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation:
The Registry will comply with the ICANN Registry Agreement and will make contractual commitments to registrants regarding its pricing policy(ies). This includes complying with all pricing requirements detailed in Article 2.10 of ICANN's New gTLD Registry Agreement. The gTLD may from time to time adjust prices in accordance with market rates and other applicable factors throughout the internet community.

Red Circle, LLC, the applicant applying for the ".expert" gTLD (the "Registry"), plans to temporarily reserve a list of geographic names as required in Specification 5 of the draft Registry Agreement, and also intends to adopt policies for releasing and registering these reserved names with the further approval of ICANN and/or relevant members of ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (the "GAC").

Reserved Names: The Registry intends to initially reserve the country and territory names contained in the following internationally recognized lists (the "Geographic Names"), at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry provides for registrations:

1. The short form (in English) 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
〈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; and

3. 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

A corresponding list of geographic names will be made available to the public via the ARI Registry Services (ARI)'s website in order to inform Registrars and potential Registrants of the reserved status of such names. The lists previously noted, will be regularly monitored for revisions and the reserved list, both within the registry and publicly facing, will continually be updated to reflect any changes.
In addition to these requirements, ARI is able to support the wishes of the Registry in regards to the reservation of additional terms on a case by case basis. The managed TLD registry allows such additions to the reserved list to be made by appropriately authorized staff, with no further system development changes required.
The following applies to all Domain Names contained within the managed TLD registry reserved list:
-Attempts to register reserved Domain Names will be rejected;
-WhoIs queries for listed Domain Names will receive responses indicating their reserved status;
-Reserved names will not appear in the TLD zone file; and
-DNS queries for reserved domain names will result in an NXDOMAIN response.

2. PROCEDURES FOR RELEASE
We understand that if and when the Registry wishes to release any reserved names at a later date, this will require further approval from ICANN.
In order to release reserved names, the Registry will have in place a special release mechanism, described below.

Consistent with the .info release of geographic names, as referenced in the New GTLD Application, the Registry will present the GAC Representatives with an option, at no charge, of objecting to release and use of any initially reserved names. The Registry reasonably believes that very few GAC Representatives, if any, would exercise this option. Nevertheless, the at-no-charge objection will remain an option for the GAC Representatives, in compliance with current ICANN requirements regarding geographic reserved names. The Registry will reserve the Geographic Names for a temporary reservation period of one year following the delegation of the gTLD. When the temporary reservation terminates, those country names that have not been registered at that time will be made available for use by the Registry or auction. Those not selling at auction will fall into the pool of available names for private registration on a first-come-first served basis.
Generally, it is extremely unlikely that the Registry's authorized use of any geographic ".expert" domain name could be confusing to users, or otherwise offensive to any country. To the extent that use of any such domain was ever deemed confusing or offensive, the Registry is likely to have a strong desire to resolve the situation quickly and respectfully to any affected country's sovereign interests. At minimum, the Registry will ensure that its designated abuse contact is aware of the additional sensitivities that may potentially arise with respect to use of such domains, such that any complaints of this nature are prioritized accordingly.