.qpon Pre-Register Domain - .qpon Domain Information

18(a) .QPON Mission/Purpose

.QPON's mission is to provide a secure and reliable domain name registry service that helps consumers find great deals and offers on a wide variety of products and services without needing to search endlessly to find them.

Our purpose is to foster healthy competition in the current TLD space by allowing anyone in the world to register a useful and meaningful domain name that allows them to promote deals and great offers while making it easy for consumers to save money.

18(b) Benefits of the .QPON Registry

The .QPON Registry will benefit registrants, Internet users, and the TLD space as a whole.

I. .QPON Goals

It is the stated goal of .QPON to provide a service that helps consumers find great deals and offers on a wide variety of products and services. The registrant benefits by being able to register a meaningful domain name that allows them to promote great offers in a cost-efficient manner. Internet users benefit greatly by being provided an efficient method of finding the best deals on a wide variety of products and services to save money. In addition, .QPON fills a niche that is not specifically catered to by any existing TLDs, benefiting the TLD space as a whole.

.QPON understands that any proposed benefits are dependent on its ability to provide a secure and stable domain name registry service to its registrants. By partnering with Neustar, Inc to provide back-end services for the .QPON registry, we are confident in our ability to meet or exceed all security, stability, and technical standards. Neustar already possesses a production-proven registry system that can be quickly deployed and smoothly operated over its robust, flexible, and scalable world-class infrastructure. These existing registry services will be effectively leveraged for the .QPON registry. Neustar has demonstrated a strong track record of security and stability within the industry. .QPON will work closely and diligently with Neustar, ICANN, and registrars to ensure the highest levels of service are consistently provided to its registrants.

II. Addition of .QPON to the Current gTLD Space

Currently, there is no one within the TLD space that provides a service that helps consumers find great deals and offers on a wide variety of products and services. There are several existing ".com" websites that offer "Deal of the Day" type services; however, they are built around business models that are unfair to businesses. For example, businesses are commonly required to discount their product or service by at least 50%. In addition, the "Deal of the Day" service keeps 50% of what little revenue is left, meaning that the business (which is often a small business owner) is lucky to receive 25% of the retail value of their product or service. There have been numerous cases of disgruntled business owners, claiming they lost a significant amount of money during their "Deal of the Day" promotion and gained very few, if any, new customers in the process. Although "Deal of the Day" promotions are seemingly great for consumers, this is not always the case. Often, consumers are locked into an inconvenient timeframe to claim their discount or they miss out on the "deal" entirely because they are so short-lived. Frankly, it is our opinion that the "Deal of the Day" business model is broken. It is sometimes great for consumers but almost always bad for businesses. The .QPON registry is great for both the consumer and the business owner. A business can register a .QPON domain (a relatively small marketing expense) and cost-effectively advertise their best deals and promotions. In addition, they are in complete control of how much they wish to discount their product or service. More importantly, they do not have to split the revenue with anyone. Consumers benefit by being able to easily find the best deals available when they are looking for them. By expanding the TLD space to include the .QPON registry, registrants wishing to secure a meaningful domain name to promote their own products or services. With over 100 million .com registrations, there is an ever-increasing lack of availability of useful and meaningful domain names. It has even been suggested that this "supply problem" could slow and impede the growth of the DNS environment, global communications, and e-commerce. The .QPON registry helps to alleviate this "supply problem" within its niche. The combination of our very specific niche, multiple benefits to the registrant, and multiple benefits to the Internet user differentiates us from other TLDs and will lead to healthier competition within the TLD space.

III. The .QPON User Experience

.QPON enhances the user experience by providing Internet users a reliable registry service that helps them to easily find the best deals on a wide variety of products and services when they need them. If they are looking for a specific service, they simply type ExampleService.QPON. If it's a particular product, they simply type ExampleProduct.QPON. Whatever the product or service may be, the .QPON registry makes it easy for them to save time and money.

IV. .QPON Registration Policies

The .QPON registry will implement standard registration policies following international best practices to best inform and protect registrants, allowing anyone in the world to register a .QPON domain. There will be no specific business rules or limitations put on those wishing to register a .QPON domain, allowing for a simple and unencumbered registration process. The creation of the policies governing a new TLD is often one of those most daunting and time-consuming tasks; therefore, we are working closely with Neustar, our back-end registry services provider, and its policy and legal team, which has many years of domain industry experience, including specific experience in working with ICANN, constructing consensus policies, devising sunrise and land rush processes, and creating TLD specific policies. All policies will be in accordance with those outlined in the "Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement," including, but not limited to, Specification 1 - Consensus Policies and Temporary Policies, Specification 5 - Schedule of Reserved Names at the Second Level in gTLD Registries, Specification 7 - Minimum Requirements for Rights Protection Mechanisms, and Specification 9 - Registry Operator Code of Conduct.

V. Protection of Privacy and Trademark Holders

A major concern regarding the creation of new TLDs has come from trademark holders and GAC (Governmental Advisory Committee) members who view the creation of additional TLDs as an increase in the potential for undesirable Internet activity and potentially forcing trademark holders to secure hundreds of new TLD domains to protect their intellectual property. In response to these concerns, the .QPON registry has made it a top priority to work diligently to protect the rights of trademark owners through the use of Sunrise and Trademark periods before live launch to the public, implementation of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), implementation of the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system, and implementation of a Thick WHOIS to make it easier for rights holders to identify and locate infringing parties. These policies are described in greater detail in response to Question 29 - Rights Protection Mechanisms.

The .QPON registry will work closely with Neustar, Inc., its Back-End Registry Operator, and ICANN to ensure that the privacy and confidential information of its registrants and users is protected. Neustar has a proven track record of compliance with high security standards, implementing highly developed security policies, and high levels of registry security that include: multiple redundant data centers, multiple security layer architecture, diversified firewall and networking hardware vendors, physical security access controls, and a 24x7 manned Network Operations Center that monitors all systems and applications and mitigates Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks using traffic scrubbing technologies. These security policies are described in greater detail in response to Question 30 - Security Policy.

VI. Outreach and Communications

The success of the .QPON registry is dependent upon raising consumer awareness about the availability, uniqueness, and benefits of the new .QPON TLD. Our marketing plan incorporates a variety of strategies, including a multitude of press releases, trade shows for the Internet community, viral marketing through our own .QPON websites and social media, online newsletters, and more traditional advertising through billboards, radio, and TV as our marketing budget allows. In addition, we will release multiple press releases in conjunction with Neustar that inform the public of the new .QPON TLD and the high level of security and stability provided by the .QPON registry with Neustar as the back-end operator.

18(c) Minimizing Social Costs

The .QPON registry aims to provide a unique and beneficial service to registrants, Internet users, and the TLD space as a whole; therefore, it is imperative that consumers are protected at all times.

The first step we have taken to ensure that social costs are minimized is by partnering with Neustar to provide our back-end registry services. Neustar already possesses a production-proven registry system that can be quickly deployed and smoothly operated over its robust, flexible, and scalable world-class infrastructure. Our technical operator, Neustar, has secure and geographically dispersed facilities that include the global diversification of SRS, DNS, WHOIS and operational facilities. Neustar operates and maintains a world-class registry infrastructure, including fully redundant Shared Registration System (SRS) data centers, a third disaster recovery SRS site, two WHOIS sites, operations and customer support facilities in Sterling, Virginia and Louisville, Kentucky, and 16 nameserver hosting sites geographically dispersed for diversity and global reach. The facility locations provide diverse network connectivity and appropriate network capacity necessary to effectively operate the Registry with associated support and administrative functions, and also protect against natural and man-made disasters. Neustar has been operating a global DNS network for over 10 years and currently operates the DNS for several TLD customers, such as .CO, .US, .TEL, .BIZ and .TRAVEL. This makes them an optimal choice as a dependable, world-class back-end services provider.

In addition, .QPON understands that strong abuse prevention of a new gTLD is an important benefit to the Internet community. .QPON and its registry operator and back-end registry services provider, Neustar, agree that a registry must not only aim for the highest standards of technical and operational competence, but also needs to act as a steward of the space on behalf of the Internet community and ICANN in promoting the public interest. Neustar brings extensive experience establishing and implementing registration policies. This experience will be leveraged to help .QPON combat abusive and malicious domain activity within the new gTLD space.

One of those public interest functions for a responsible domain name registry includes working towards the eradication of abusive domain name registrations, including, but not limited to, those resulting from: Illegal or fraudulent actions, Spam, Phishing, Pharming, Distribution of malware, Fast flux hosting, Botnets, Distribution of child pornography, and Online sale or distribution of illegal pharmaceuticals. These steps to minimize social costs and negative consequences on consumers are outlined in greater detail in response to Question 28 - Abuse Prevention and Mitigation.

As discussed previously, it is also a top priority of the .QPON registry to work diligently to protect the rights of trademark owners through the use of Sunrise and Trademark periods before live launch to the public, implementation of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), implementation of the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system, and implementation of a Thick WHOIS to make it easier for rights holders to identify and locate infringing parties. These policies are described in greater detail in response to Question 29 - Rights Protection Mechanisms.

I. Resolution of Multiple Trademark Applications

In researching how to best resolve multiple trademark applications, it became clear that awarding a domain name on the basis of an auction would be the least fair. Auctioning trademarked names would favor those trademark holders that are financially well off enough to buy out everyone else. To make it as fair as possible to applicants, our policy will be to time-stamp all Sunrise submissions and allow the review process to proceed on a first-come, first-served basis. If multiple applicants with qualified trademarks (regardless of country) apply, the application that was submitted first will be evaluated first, and if their trademark is determined to be valid, then they will be awarded the string. Other valid trademark holders that want to challenge the award can do so under the UDRP or through a legal jurisdiction that arbitrates in trademark disputes.

II. Cost Benefits to Registrants and Registrars

Although .QPON does not plan to provide any immediate discounts for registrants, we do aim to implement additional cost benefits as quickly as possible as the .QPON registry grows. For example, we would like to offer bulk registration discounts to our registrars based on monthly volume (e.g., 100 domains a month will receive a 3% discount, 250 domains will receive a 5% discount, 500 domains will receive a 7% discount, 1000 domains and above will receive a 10% discount). As the registry grows and our marketing budget allows, we aim to run various promotions with significant discounts with the goal of spreading the word about the benefits of owning a .QPON domain and increasing our number of domains under management. All discounts and promotions will be equally available and transparent to all registrars in accordance with ICANN's Equal Access policy.

III. Price Escalation

Any future increases in our wholesale pricing to registrars will not exceed the Maximum Service Fee during the preceding calendar year multiplied by 1.10. The same Service Fee shall be charged to all ICANN-accredited registrars for new and renewal domain name registrations. Any price increases will be done in compliance with the ICANN escalation policy, including, but not limited to, providing no less than six months prior notice in advance of any price increase for domain name registrations and continuing to offer domain name registrations for periods of up to ten years.

22.1 dotCOOL's Commitment to the Protection of Geographic Names at the Second Level

dotCOOL, Inc. is keenly aware of the struggles that many local, city, state and national governments face in seeking to protect their geographic identifiers from misappropriation and/or misuse by third parties. dotCOOL, Inc., understands firsthand the economic benefit that the licensing of these rights can bring.

In preparation for answering this question, dotCOOL, Inc. reviewed the following relevant background material regarding the protection of geographic names in the DNS, including:

-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,ʺ 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); and

-ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Reserved Names Working Group - Final Report (see http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/final-report-rn-wg-23may07.htm).

22.2 Initial Reservation of Country and Territory Names

dotCOOL, Inc. is committed to initially reserving the country and territory names contained in the internationally recognized lists described in Specification 5 of the proposed New gTLD Registry Agreement contained in the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook at the second level and at all other levels within the .QPON gTLD at which domain name registrations will be provided. More specifically, dotCOOL, Inc. will reserve:

-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);

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

22.3 Protection of Regional and Local Geographic Names for Misleading Use

In addition to ICANN-required geographic names, dotCOOL, Inc. may also reserve certain regional and local geographic names to ensure that such names are used for the benefit of regional and local Internet communities.

22.3 Potential Future Release of Initially Reserved Country and Two Character Names

As stated above, dotCOOL, Inc. shall initially reserve (i.e., it shall not register, delegate, use or otherwise make available) all two-character strings and Country and Territory Names at the second level within .QPON. Although dotCOOL, Inc. does not have immediate plans to make use of these initially reserved names at the second level within .QPON, dotCOOL, Inc. recognizes that there have been numerous successful and non-misleading use of two character second level names in gTLDs. These names, including ck.com, ge.com, ie.com and ua.com, to name a few, are used by legitimate businesses that cannot be said to cause confusion with corresponding country codes. Therefore, in the event that dotCOOL, Inc., wishes to use the two character strings for businesses or organizations, dotCOOL, Inc. shall propose the release of such strings in a manner designed to avoid confusion with the corresponding country code.