.gifts Pre-Register Domain - .gifts Domain Information

18.1 Mission and Purpose of .GIFTS

Lucy Ventures, LLC ("Lucy Ventures") has filed this application for the .GIFTS gTLD with the intention of bringing to market a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for consumers looking for gift products, services, tips, and ideas.

The intended future mission and purpose of the .GIFTS gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace for gift-related products, services, and information for consumers looking for gift products, services, tips, and ideas. It is envisioned that registrants of .GIFTS will consist of large retailers, corporations, small businesses, non-profits, industry associations, entrepreneurs, and other third parties that provide or plan to provide an online platform for consumers to purchase and access gift related products, services, and information.

18.1.1 Potential Business Models

The .GIFTS gTLD is intended to be one of the new generic-term gTLDs, with the goal of providing a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace for gift-related products, services, and information. As technologies for delivering content, goods, and services evolve, Lucy Ventures will continue to pursue and explore opportunities to enable partners, businesses, and other third parties to distribute gift-related goods, services, and information. Lucy Ventures believes that the .GIFTS gTLD has the potential to provide a virtual platform for registrants to deepen and broaden their relationships with new and existing consumers.

The business model for the .GIFTS gTLD is broken into two stages. The two stages are as follows:

1. Allocated Registry Strings
At the current stage of analysis, the business model for .GIFTS is one in which generic strings ("Holiday," "Anniversary," "Birthday," etc.) and geographic (city/state) domain names would initially be reserved and/or allocated to Lucy Ventures. These domain names would provide a model for a hierarchical and intuitive framework and naming system for consumers to more easily navigate the .GIFTS namespace. This initial use will provide Lucy Ventures' IT and security personnel the time to run a number of tests to ensure seamless and secure access using the .GIFTS gTLD domain names, and interoperability with various software and Web-based applications. This initial allocation will also allow Lucy Ventures' registry staff responsible for the delegation and setup phases of the .GIFTS gTLD to ensure a proper transition from delegation to full operation. This initial phase is reasonably necessary for the purpose of the gTLD, detailed in the response to Question 18 of this application, as set forth per the terms of Specification 9 in the template Registry Agreement. These names will be registered and paid for by Lucy Ventures.

At the time of completing this application, Lucy Ventures has identified a Rights Protection Mechanism ("RPM") that will allow trademark owners to challenge domain names initially reserved by the registry. This process will likely be modeled after the dotAsia Pioneer Policies adopted by dotAsia in connection with its launch, see http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/gtld/asia/.

2. General Registration
After the initial allocation of domain names, Lucy Ventures aims to vet the potential registrant pool to ensure that .GIFTS will be a trusted namespace for gift-related products, services, and information. It is currently envisioned that only those entities providing or those with a bona-fide intent to provide gift-related goods, services, and information will be able to register domains in the .GIFTS gTLD.

There will be a general Sunrise Period, as described in the Registry Agreement, followed by a land rush period for the general sale of domain names in the .GIFTS registry.

Names will be available for sale through ICANN-accredited retail registrars and will be available for purchase and use by any business owner seeking to post content in the .GIFTS namespace. In addition to this general sale of names through registrars, Lucy Ventures will also reserve for sale and auction premium names in order to receive the higher yearly registration prices that the market will bear for these premium names. Revenues received from both the general sale domains as well as the premium names are included in the Financial Projections Template attached to the response to Question 46.

18.2 How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Lucy Ventures believes that the proposed .GIFTS gTLD has the potential to offer the following benefits to Internet users and consumers:

(1) To establish a trusted online marketplace for consumers seeking gift-related goods, services, and information;
(2) To provide business owners, non-profits, entrepreneurs, and other interested third parties with a specialized namespace in which to register their business name or category terms; and
(3) Provide short and memorable domain names that will facilitate the ease with which consumers can locate information online.

All domain names registered within the .GIFTS gTLD will be required to comply with the following three policies: Registrant Eligibility (who can register within the .GIFTS gTLD); Name Selection Criteria (what domain names can be registered); and Authorized Usage Policy (how the domain names can be used).

18.2.1 What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

The primary future mission and purpose of the .GIFTS gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace for gift-related products, services, and information for consumers looking for gift products, services, tips, and ideas. As technologies for delivering content, goods, and services evolve, Lucy Ventures will continue to pursue and explore opportunities to enable partners, businesses, and other third parties to distribute gift-related goods, services, and information. Lucy Ventures believes that the .GIFTS gTLD has the potential to provide a virtual platform for registrants to deepen and broaden their relationships with new and existing consumers.

The .GIFTS namespace will be specifically targeted at businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits and other organizations seeking to register their trade names and category terms in the .GIFTS space with the purpose of using the .GIFTS domain names to provide gift-related goods, services, and information to consumers. It is envisioned that the .GIFTS namespace will provide these registrants with the opportunity to register their business name or category term in an Internet medium specifically designed for this purpose. This will be ensured by Lucy Ventures' requirement that registrants satisfy the three-fold compliance policy outlined above: Registrant Eligibility, Name Selection Criteria, and Authorized Usage Policy.

18.2.2 What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

It is anticipated that the .GIFTS gTLD will be a namespace targeted to specific group of individuals and entities, primarily those businesses seeking to provide gift-related products, services, and information. Thus, Lucy Ventures believes that the .GIFTS gTLD will offer these parties the ability to register a domain name that corresponds to their business or trade name in an intuitive namespace more specific to their business goals, instead of in the current commercial namespace that must be relied upon by all. In addition, businesses and other eligible entities that are not able to register their preferred names in the .COM space, for any number of reasons, will have another, more intuitive option. This will both differentiate these entities' domain names from their competitors' and allow multiple businesses with the same or similar trade names to register their names in differentiated namespaces.

Lucy Ventures intends to follow good business practices in dealing with law enforcement to create a marketplace with safeguards designed to minimize fraud and other illegal activity, e.g. its three-fold compliance policy, including Registrant Eligibility, Name Selection, and Authorized Usage. More specifics regarding the scope and implementation of these policies are set forth in the response to Questions 28, 29 and 30 of this application.

18.2.3 What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

As noted above, the registrant market for .GIFTS consists of large retailers, corporations, small businesses, non-profits, industry associations, entrepreneurs, and other third parties that provide or plan to provide an online platform for consumers to purchase and access gift related products, services, and information.

Therefore, Lucy Ventures believes that the .GIFTS gTLD will provide a single trusted ecosystem experience for the millions of businesses and other entities offering gift-related goods, services, and information and their consumers in which Internet users may access content through its online, mobile, and social platforms. By providing the foundation of this trusted ecosystem, all domain name registrants in the .GIFTS gTLD will be able to share in the benefits of this collective resource. Lucy Ventures also believes that the .GIFTS gTLD will provide Internet users and consumers with short and memorable domain names that will facilitate the ease with which they can locate information online. Lucy Ventures believes that it can be a pioneer in bringing innovation in consumer choice to this new Internet medium, the .GIFTS gTLD.

18.2.4 Provide a complete description of the applicant's intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

Lucy Ventures is fully committed to implementing all of ICANN's consensus policies and other Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) identified in the Applicant Guidebook. Moreover, Lucy Ventures intends to provide best-in-class safeguards that will evolve over time.

Registrant Eligibility will ensure that only those entities providing or those with a bona-fide intent to provide gift-related goods, services, and information will be able to register domains in the .GIFTS gTLD.

Name selection criteria will ensure that entities only register domain names that correspond with their business and/or trade name. This will minimize instances of phishing, malware, and cybersquatting in the .GIFTS gTLD registry.

Acceptable use: registrants must use domains registered in .GIFTS for bona-fide gift-related purposes.

Lucy Ventures intends to model the definitions of bona-fide use and intent, as well as registration restrictions and enforcement on the Registration Restrictions set forth for the .BIZ registry. See: http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/registries/biz/appendix-11-08dec06-en.htm.

18.2.5 Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.

Lucy Ventures recognizes that this is an evolving area of law in which there is no international standard. Because the proposed business model set forth in Section 18.1.2 initially envisions .GIFTS domain names being registered to Lucy Ventures, it has a vested interest to make sure that accurate and current domain name information is readily available in connection with each domain name.

In addition, Lucy Ventures intends to incorporate contractual language in its Registry-Registrar Agreement (RRA) modeled after language which has been included in the template Registry Agreement, and which has been successfully utilized by existing ICANN gTLD Registry Operators. The template Registry Agreement states "Registry Operator shall (i) notify each ICANN-accredited registrar that is a party to the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD of the purposes for which data about any identified or identifiable natural person ("Personal Data") submitted to Registry Operator by such registrar is collected and used under this Agreement or otherwise and the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data, and (ii) require such registrar to obtain the consent of each registrant in the TLD for such collection and use of Personal Data. Registry Operator shall take reasonable steps to protect Personal Data collected from such registrar from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. Registry Operator shall not use or authorize the use of Personal Data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars.ʺ

18.2.6 Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

As noted in 18.2.2, most of the generic-term gTLDs that ICANN has approved have primarily been operated by Internet start-ups created solely for the provision of domain name registration services, e.g., .INFO (Afilias), .BIZ (Neustar), and .TRAVEL (Tralliance). The .GIFTS gTLD will likely be operated in a similar manner.

Lucy Ventures will seek to leverage Afilias' existing network of registrars to expand the distribution network of its gTLD and facilitate outreach and communication.

18.3.1 What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)?

Lucy Ventures' proposed operating rules, e.g. Registrant Eligibility, Name Selection Criteria, and Acceptable Use Policies, will be incorporated through the use of post registration enforcement mechanisms. These policies and their corresponding safety mechanisms will limit registrations and provide registrants and the consumers that use their services a trusted online environment. This approach should by default minimize social costs. This ecosystem provides consumers with a trusted source for reliable content with a substantially lower risk of fraud and/or scams. Lucy Ventures does not anticipate consumer vulnerabilities.

18.3.2 What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences/costs imposed upon consumers?

Lucy Ventures believes that the proposed operation of the .GIFTS gTLD as set forth in this application has minimal known negative consequences or cost implications to consumers. To the contrary, the proposed operation of this registry will likely lead to direct and quantifiable benefits to consumers.

18.3.3 How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come/first-serve basis?

If there are multiple applications for a particular domain name, Lucy Ventures intends to use the default industry resolution process, which is currently an auction mechanism.

18.3.4 Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

Lucy Ventures will evaluate all potential pricing schemes in consultation with its backend registry provider as well as with its industry advisors before, during, and after launch. Given the potential paradigm shift that is likely to occur within the domain name industry as a result of ICANN's most recent round of new gTLDs, the Lucy Ventures is neither committing to nor excluding any potential pricing schemes/options.

18.3.5 Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars 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. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.

Lucy Ventures is committed to providing domain name registration services in accordance with the periods set forth in the registry agreement and providing domain name registrants with pricing predictability.

Lucy Ventures is fully committed to offering domain name registrants multi-year registrations that include pricing predictability and notice in connection with the terms of registration. Pricing for premium domain names will be determined before the domain names are offered for registration. In connection with potential premium generic domain names, there may be additional requirements that would legally bind these registrants in connection with the registration and use of these domain names. These terms will be known by this class of domain name registrants prior to the creation of any legal obligation between the parties.

22 Lucy Ventures, LLC Has Properly Researched This Topic

Lucy Ventures, LLC ("Lucy Ventures") is keenly aware of the sensitivity of national governments in connection with protecting country and territory identifiers in the Domain Name System (DNS). In preparation for answering this question, Lucy Ventures reviewed the following relevant background material regarding the protection of geographic 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, see http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-10sep01.htm;
-ICANN's Proposed Action Plan on .INFO Country Names, see 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, see http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/processes/process2/report/html/report.html;
-ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Principles Regarding New gTLDs, see https://gacweb.icann.org/download/attachments/1540128/gTLD_principles_0.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1312358178000;
-ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organization Reserved Names Working Group - Final Report, see http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/final-report-rn-wg-23may07.htm.

22.1 Initial Reservation of Country and Territory Names

Lucy Ventures is committed to initially reserving the country and territory names contained in the internationally recognized lists described in Article 5 of Specification 5 attached to the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook at the second level and at all other levels in the .GIFTS gTLD, within which Lucy Ventures will provide for registrations. Specifically, Lucy Ventures will reserve:

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, see 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 six official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

22.2 Fair & Non-Misleading Use of Geographical Identifiers

Lucy Ventures is bringing the .GIFTS gTLD to market with the intent that the registry will serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace for gift-related products, services, and information.

Large retailers, corporations, small businesses, non-profits, industry associations, entrepreneurs, and other third parties that provide or plan to provide an online platform for consumers to purchase and access gift-related products, services, and information throughout the world will be able to register names in the .GIFTS namespace. Given that the .GIFTS will have registrants seeking to display gift-related content to consumers around the globe, Lucy Ventures intends to explore the option of using geographical identifiers as second-level domain names. Lucy Ventures believes the use of geographical identifiers to the left of the TLD and as part of the domain name itself has a direct and material impact on search engine algorithms and their corresponding query results. In addition, such naming conventions are intuitive and practiced by direct navigation Internet users (those who type their intended destination into address bars as opposed to search engines). Lucy Ventures would like to determine if this type of hierarchical and intuitive use of second-level domain names within a gTLD provides increased consumer functionality, as premised by ICANN.

Lucy Ventures believes that the .GIFTS gTLD can provide an online, single-source identifying function for those seeking gift-related content around the world. This is in contrast to the present approach other companies have used as it expands into different markets around the world, which consists of registering the domain names that are available, rather than those that may be the most intuitive.

22.3 The Legal Protection of Geographical Identifiers

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) authored an authoritative resource on the current state of the law in connection with the protection of geographical identifiers, its 2001 "Report of the Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process: The Recognition of Rights and the Use of Names in the Internet Domain Name System" ("WIPO Report"). Section six of the WIPO Report was devoted exclusively to the protection of Geographical Identifiers.

From its analysis of the well established framework against the misuse of geographical identifiers at the international, regional, and national levels, WIPO identified the following two elements for the protection of geographical identifiers: (i) a prohibition of false descriptions of the geographical source of goods; and (ii) a more extensive set of rules prohibiting the misuse of one class of geographical source indicators, known as geographical indications (See WIPO Report Paragraphs 206 and 210). Neither false descriptions of the geographical source of goods, nor misuse of geographical indications, are present in Lucy Ventures' proposed use of geographical identifiers.

Notwithstanding WIPO's observation that the protection of geographical identifiers is "a difficult area on which views are not only divided, but also ardently held" (Paragraph 237), national governments within the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and other international fora have continued to advocate for increased safeguards to protect against the misuse of geographical identifiers within the DNS.

Lucy Ventures, acting as a responsible global business, seeks to avoid business practices that could potentially mislead consumers. Lucy Ventures does believe, however, that it is important to be able to use geographical identifiers in a fair and non-misleading manner, if such use can benefit Internet users and consumers as proposed in Lucy Ventures' business model.

22.4 Fair & Non-Misleading Use of Geographical Identifiers

In undertaking a thorough research of this subject matter prior to filing this application, Lucy Ventures was able to uncover the following representative sampling of fair and non-misleading use of geographical identifiers used in the existing gTLD domain name space:

Fair Use of National Geographical Identifiers

AUSTRALIA.COOP - Is operated by Co-operatives Australia, the national body for State Co-operative Federations, and provides a valuable resource about cooperatives within Australia.

UK.COOP - Is operated by Co-operatives UK, the national trade body that campaigns for cooperation and works to promote, develop, and unite cooperative enterprises within the United Kingdom.

NZ.COOP - Is operated by the New Zealand Cooperatives Association, which brings together the country's cooperative mutual businesses in a not-for-profit incorporated society.

USA.JOBS - Is operated by DirectEmployers Association (DE). While Employ Media, the registry operator of the .JOBS gTLD, is currently in a dispute with ICANN regarding the allocation of this and other domain names, DE has a series of partnerships and programs with the United States Department of Labor, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, and Facebook to help unemployed workers find jobs.

MALDIVIAN.AERO - Is the dominant domestic air carrier in Maldives, and provides a range of commercial and leisure air transport services.

Fair Use of Regional/Local Geographic Identifiers

TEXAS.JOBS - Is operated through a joint effort between DE, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the National Labor Exchange to connect job seekers with approximately 96,000 job openings. An additional domain name operated by this joint effort was WORKINTEXAS-VETERANS.JOBS, a resource devoted to helping Texas veterans translate their military skills to jobs in the civil marketplace.

BOISE.COOP - Is operated by Boise Co-op, a member-owned cooperative founded in 1973 by a few dozen individuals who shared a mutual interest in buying healthful and organic food at reasonable prices.

BROOKLYN.COOP - Is operated by Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, which began as a modest storefront business in 2001, but is now New York City's fastest growing credit union and a model for community development credit unions nationwide.

HYDERABAD.AERO - Is operated by the Hyderabad International Airport and provides a range of interactive services and information for both business and leisure travelers.

SACRAMENTO.AERO - Is a portal website operated by Sacramento County to provide links to each of the airports serving the Sacramento area: Sacramento International Airport (SMF), Mather Airport (MHR), Executive Airport (SAC), and Franklin Field (F72).

22.5 Protection of Regional and Local Geographic Names for Non-Misleading Use

Lucy Ventures has stated its intention to consider using non-reserved geographic identifiers as part of a hierarchical and intuitive framework in a fair and non-misleading manner to help consumers navigate the .GIFTS namespace. Lucy Ventures is committed to operating the .GIFTS gTLD in a manner that minimizes potential consumer confusion, and will actively work with others in the ICANN community regarding any future policy development in this area.

22.6 Potential Future Release of Initially Reserved Names

Lucy Ventures looks forward to collaborating with other new gTLD registry operators 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, Lucy Ventures 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.