.group Pre-Register Domain - .group Domain Information

Top Level Design, LLC's mission for .group is to provide a specific and clearly labeled domain space for any type of group. Just as previous TLDs have generally sought to organize domain registrants and online content providers, we will provide a more specific space for those entities who define themselves primarily through their mutual influence, common feeling of camaraderie and frequent interaction as a group, and view it as a meaningful point around which to create their online presence.

Group is a common designation among American and international commercial ventures, and use of the label has no formal requirements, registration, or entry barriers (as opposed to a LLC or Inc., for example). Group can also refer to non-commercial ventures, such as special interest groups in schools and other communities. ICANN's New gTLD Program will allow the Internet to develop in a way that sees individuals and companies more clearly connecting their identities and online activities to the top level domain they use. Thus, those entities that primarily identify as "groups" should be given the option of doing so. This seems especially relevant given that one of the most revolutionary aspects of the Internet is its ability to connect people across space and time, and so, through the .group TLD, physical groups will now be able to clearly label themselves as such on the Internet. This will also facilitate those non-physical, Internet-based groups to create stronger bonds that extend to their identification within the top level.

It is Top Level Design, LLC's goal to make the .group TLD a viable and profitable business. We believe this to be the most likely scenario, and the projections and financial analysis included in this application demonstrate such. We hope to grow at a rate that allows us to continually improve our registry offerings and increase benefits for both our customers and employees. However, our commitments and projections at this time are focused on conservatively estimating our revenue in order to best prepare for a TLD market with the possibility of many more TLDs.

A .group TLD is fulfillment of the Internet's cooperative and crowd-based capabilities. It will benefit those individuals and entities that encourage and participate in collaborative work and activities. It will provide a clearly marked space for those that participate in both physical and digitally based groups, and allow the top-level signifier to create more meaning in everyday Internet usage.

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

The .group TLD will be an open TLD, and it is our goal to create a safe and secure space that all Internet users can rely on and choose to join; we believe that pursuing this bottom-up model is in the best interest of the productive development of the .group TLD, which also further underscores the importance of the bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. Therefore, we hope to enjoy an esteemed reputation among our registrants, which will carry over to Internet users accessing content on the .group TLD.

ii.) What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of areas of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
It is our goal at Top Level Design, LLC to create a competitive, specified alternative to the popular but exceedingly generic TLDs available today. It is a commonly accepted notion that common TLDs are reaching a point of saturation, and that the best, most marketable domains were registered years ago. We believe that implementing a .group TLD will bring greater attention and market success to entities that proudly identify as collaborative groups. At Top Level Design, LLC, we believe that the .group TLD is an intuitive top-level domain that represents a progressive development in how end-users utilize and identify via the root zone.

iii.) What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

We hope that the general nature of the .group TLD will mean that end-users' normal Internet activities are not disrupted at all by its implementation. It is not a controversial or vague string, and as such its implementation should be well received. The .group TLD is a natural extension of current TLD offerings, and we believe that users will be positively impacted by the new offering. The content of a .group TLD would obviously vary, but by creating a safe and secure TLD provided by a small, accessible registry that

We will create a safe and secure TLD, and believe that this is the most important way to ensure that our users have positive experiences when using .group.

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

We intend to implement an open registration policy offered through ICANN-accredited registrars. There will be no proof of legitimacy required for registration, although we will encourage that the domains be used for hosting content or forum related to a specific group. Through targeted marketing efforts and niche pricing levels, we expect to see that a large majority of the domains registered will be by those with plans to develop relevant sites.

We will fully implement the requirements made by the ICANN Board with regards to the Trademark Clearinghouse, the URS, Trademark PDDRP, the RRDRP, and the UDRP. We believe the these measures have been suitably developed to prevent defensive registrations, bad faith registrations, and other malicious registrations.

v.) 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.

As per the current requirements in Section 4 of the Registry Agreement, we will implement all necessary thick WHOIS services. We recognize how imperative it is for each registry and ICANN-accredited registrar to be in full compliance with ICANN's current WHOIS standards, and we plan to update our policy in accordance with any future measures taken by the ICANN Board in regard to the continuous work by the GNSO's WHOIS Task Force and other recommendations from the SOs. We have no plans to implement any privacy or confidential measures other than fully implementing any and all such measures required by ICANN.

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

About six months following the signing of the registry agreement, we will hold a standard Sunrise Period reserved for those entities with appropriate IP and Trademark claims, which we anticipate to last about 3 months. Then, after the conclusion of the Sunrise Period, we will hold a Landrush Period that will be open to the public, and which will last a few weeks to a month. At the conclusion of each period we will hold closed auctions for the domains that have been applied for by more than one party. We anticipate separating the end of the Sunrise from the beginning of the Landrush by a few weeks.

For general availability of the .group TLD following the sunrise and landrush periods, we will be operating on a first-come, first-served basis. However, we reserve the right to create a list of domain names within our .group TLD to be set aside and then sold or auctioned off to interested parties. We have included auction related revenue in the first year of operations of our financial projections.

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

We have no plans to implement any cost benefits for registrants at this time. However, we have discussed the possibility of promotions, such as bulk registration discounts and advantageous pricings, should they be necessitated due to currently unforeseen circumstances or become part of a targeted marketing campaign during any part of our launch.

iii.) 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.

We intend to fully comply with the provisions in the Registry Agreement stating that registration being made available by our registrars for a period of one to ten years, while not exceeding ten years.

Wholesale price increases may be necessary due to inflation or other unforeseen circumstances. However, we recognize that it is important to protect registrants from unreasonable price increases, and therefore plan not to exceed the industry-precedented reasonable maximum annual wholesale price increase of 10%. As dictated by the Registry Agreement, we plan to provide ICANN and ICANN-accredited registrars 30 days written notice for price increases on initial domain name registrations, and 180 days for domain name renewals, excepting the provisions stated in Article 2, Section 10(b) and (c), which we shall follow as they are described. We plan to give written notice of at least 90 days to our registrants of such increases. We have no plans at this time to make further contractual commitments to our registrants regarding wholesale price escalation, but do intend to follow the best practices set forth by the industry and treat our registrants with respect, both financially and otherwise. We do not anticipate the need for significant price increases and are equally likely to lower the price in the future.

We plan to work with the GAC to protect their interests in country codes, country names, and major cities at the second level via a reserve list, as per the ʺGAC Principles Regarding New gTLDs" document of March 28, 2007, and per any forthcoming mandates from the GAC as approved by the ICANN Board. Pursuant to the specification provided in ICANNʹs Applicant Guidebook, the list will include country and territory names based on the following internationally recognized lists:

• the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list;
• 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;

As the above documents get updated from time to time, the exact list of reserved names will be compiled shortly before the TLD launch to account for any updates. The list of reserved names will be published on the Registry website. We recognize that we may need future permission from the GAC, its members, and the ICANN Board to use certain names.

Given the precedent of the .info TLD as described in the document "GAC Chair circular letter on Reservation of Country Names in Dot Info, ICANN Board Resolutions of 10 September 2001 and 14 March 2002" from September 9, 2003, we will protect/reserve the above described names for a suitable amount of time following the launch of the TLD, during which time we will encourage governments to register their country-specific domains. We look forward to working with all GAC representatives in order to ensure that their representation under the .group TLD is suitable to their wants and needs. Domains that are not permanently reserved or registered will be made available to the general public after securing any necessary permissions.

For ongoing operation, we will implement procedures that allow governments, public authorities, or IGOs to challenge potential abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level or other levels. Such procedures may include the blocking of offending domains in a system similar to URS. We intend to respect standard, ICANN-approved arbitration practices that consider both the registrant and the objecting government's rights and concerns.