.ink Pre-Register Domain - .ink Domain Information

Top Level Design, LLCʹs goal for the .ink gTLD is to create a designated Internet space for the tattoo industry, and other industries that rely on ink, such as the printing and publishing industries. We recognize the various applications of a .ink TLD, and while we are specifically targeting the quickly growing and trendy tattoo industry, the TLD, and our approach to it, will be open to these other uses. This TLD will clearly identify tattoo artists, enthusiasts, and suppliers from among the billions of other web pages populating the Internet, and allow Internet users to easily find these websites that are relevant to their interests. Tattoos, found as early as 2000 BC on the bodies of Egyptian mummies, are a universal form of expression, a major aspect of many cultures worldwide, and a notable, growing subculture in Western society. .Ink itself is a fresh and exciting take on the tattoo industry, as it is a term that is associated with the progressive, urban aspects of contemporary tattooing. Although the TLD's intended purpose may not be readily apparent to all people on first glance, we at Top Level Design, LLC, believe that .ink is a more innovative and exciting addition to the root zone than a .tattoo or older alternatives. It is three characters long, like many other current TLDs, and a powerful single syllable with strong connotations. Presented in conjunction with its content, a domain name under the .ink TLD will be easily understood. It is our goal at Top Level Design, LLC to push TLDs beyond their current role as necessary naming mechanisms into engaging identifiers that comment on how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. Furthermore, we want to innovate at the root, and get beyond abbreviating commonly accepted terms and begin to use fresh, developing takes on language in the top-level. We believe that .ink will become a model example of how innovative ICANN's New gTLD Program is and how expansion of the root zone will enrich the Internet and human interaction as a whole.

The .ink TLD will be an open TLD, with wholesale pricing higher than currently available gTLDs. The TLD will be targeted at individual tattoo artists, tattoo parlors, tattoo product manufacturers, and tattoo enthusiasts; in addition, we also plan to leave room for innovation within the TLD and for any related industries or individuals that are involved with ink. This could include typographers, printers and publishers, and ink manufacturers. We believe that our niche pricing strategy will help encourage the productive development of the domain space, and encourage those individuals that wish to create malicious content, parked pages, or other irrelevant websites to use cheaper, more generic TLD offerings to host their content.

It is Top Level Design, LLC's goal to make the .ink 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.

.Ink will have an open registration policy targeted at members of the tattoo industry and tattoo enthusiasts. It will be available to any interested individuals, parlor, and company; websites will range from an individual tattoo artistʹs resume and gallery of their work, to a local tattoo parlor, to ink and tattoo gun manufacturers and suppliers. This will become an even more dynamic space when other ink industries and technologies are considered, and thus, it will become a creative hub for those involved in writing, drawing, and publishing.

We hope to quickly become a reputable and desired TLD for the tattoo industry by working with prominent tattoo artists, parlors, and related companies and franchises to ensure that they feel comfortable with the space and are ready and excited about creating their primary online presence within the .ink TLD. We will be working with these groups before and after our launch, and hope to secure prominent endorsements from influential members. However, we firmly believe that while these endorsements may help our marketing efforts, what ultimately matters most is the reputation created with each individual, and not with specific important members of one part of the ink industry. Thus, we will focus on creating a safe and secure space that is targeted at all relevant users and not some sections thereof; we believe that pursuing this bottom-up model is not only in the best interest of the productive development of the .ink TLD, but also that it further underscores the importance of the bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance.

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 the .com TLD is reaching a point of saturation, and that the best, most marketable domains were registered years ago. We believe that implementing a .ink TLD will bring greater attention and market success to the tattoo and ink related industries. At Top Level Design, LLC, we believe that the .ink TLD is an innovative top-level domain that represents a progressive development in how end-users utilize and identify via the root zone. Tattooing is a creative, collaborative process that is becoming increasingly more prevalent, and the .ink TLD clearly denotes the creative and innovative aspects of this specific market unlike any other current or possible TLD. The fact that we are using a fashionable term that speaks to the group's own self-identification, and not taking a more generic approach to identifying with the industry shows that we are keen to innovate the way in which top-level domains speak to and harmonize with Internet users' activities, both online and offline.

We do not expect that all tattoo-related sites will want to move to a .ink extension. Many individual tattooists, parlors, or companies may think that their business is better served by .com, or that they would prefer to stick to their old current TLD, or they may feel more attracted to one of the other new gTLDs to come about as a result of the New gTLD Program. However, by adding a .ink to the root zone, ICANN will be improving existing TLDs by allowing them to become more focused on their intended significance, while simultaneously providing a differentiated and specific extension for those who want to clearly label themselves as members of the tattoo scene.

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

By implementing a .ink TLD we hope to be creating a space where a niche, creative group can come together and showcase their talents.

Once we have established ourselves as a reputable space for tattoo and ink related websites, users can be sure that the TLD denotes a dedication to the productive dissemination and discussion of tattooing and similarly creative mediums. We also believe that individuals who are currently operating websites on sub-par domains, which were chosen out of constraint and necessity rather than passion, will be able to finally have a marketable and attractive domain.

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 .ink.

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

For the .ink TLD, 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 something related to tattoos and inking. 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. In this way, we are insuring that the .ink TLD will be open to all tattooists, tattoo enthusiasts, tattoo-related companies, and other ink users and manufacturers, while still maintaining a strongly delineated space.

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 .ink 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 .ink 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 .ink 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.