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Business Constituency (BC) comment on Release of Geo-Names in .EMERCK, .HAMBURG and .BERLIN TLDs
- To: "comments-emerck-hamburg-berlin-amendment-02mar15@xxxxxxxxx" <comments-emerck-hamburg-berlin-amendment-02mar15@xxxxxxxxx>
- Subject: Business Constituency (BC) comment on Release of Geo-Names in .EMERCK, .HAMBURG and .BERLIN TLDs
- From: Steve DelBianco <sdelbianco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2015 17:31:21 +0000
The Business Constituency (“BC”) appreciates the opportunity to provide
comments to the proposed amendments to the .EMERCK, .BERLIN, and .HAMBURG
registry agreements submitted through the Registry Services Evaluation Policy
(“RSEP”) on 23-Jan-2015, 08-Feb-2015, and 08-Feb-2015 respectively, and posted
for public comment on 2-Mar-2015 at
https://www.icann.org/public-comments/emerck-hamburg-berlin-amendment-2015-03-02-en.
The .EMERCK Request
In its RSEP request, Registry Operator Merck KGaA seeks the release of all
country and territory names, as defined in Section 4 of Specification 5 of the
Registry Agreement, at all levels of the .EMERCK TLD. The BC fully supports
this request. [see endnote 1]
The BC believes that the use of country and territory names will allow such a
.BRAND registry to segment its TLD in a way that is meaningful to Internet
users around the globe. Geographic segmentation will bring greater efficacy to
.BRAND TLDs, ultimately benefitting businesses and consumers by helping the
registry operator target content to audiences in specific geographic regions,
using linguistically appropriate domain names and content.
In addition, we firmly believe that the release of country and territory names
for .BRAND TLDs will enhance security and trust in online commerce by
permitting businesses to exercise more control over the security and stability
of their customized web sites.
Finally, the BC notes the historical availability of country and territory
names at all levels in all legacy TLDs. .BRAND TLDs should be afforded the
same freedom to allocate such names, given that the risk of abuse or confusion
by the use of such names in a .BRAND registry is low – likely much lower than
their use in legacy TLDs.
For all these reasons, the BC fully supports this proposal and urges ICANN to
amend the registry agreement for the .EMERCK TLD accordingly.
The .BERLIN and .HAMBURG Requests
In their RSEP requests, Registry Operators dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG and Hamburg
Top-Level-Domain GmbH seek the release of all country and territory names, as
defined in Section 4 of Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement, at all
levels of the .BERLIN and .HAMBURG TLDs, respectively. The BC fully supports
these requests as well.
Geographic TLDs such as .BERLIN and .HAMBURG, which by definition have the
backing and support of the official governments of their respective
municipalities, represent secure, stable, and safe spaces where the likelihood
of abuse or misconduct in the use of country and territory names is low.
Further, because of the geographical nature of these TLDs, use of country and
territory names at other levels of the TLDs is not likely to confuse the public
as to any official affiliation between the domain and the country or territory.
In addition, the ability to use country and territory names at all levels in
geographic TLDs would allow enhanced community-building for Internet users in
those geographic areas, as well as enable businesses in those geographic areas
to provide targeted service to those communities. For example, INDIA.BERLIN
could facilitate the development of a trusted online space for the Berlin-based
Indian community, or the development of a trusted online space to enhance
Berlin residents’ access to travel, tourism, and trade with India. These
opportunities for enriched competition, choice, and innovation serve the goals
of the new gTLD program.
Finally, the BC notes the historical availability of country and territory
names at the second level in all legacy TLDs. Geographic TLDs such as .BERLIN
and .HAMBURG should be afforded the same freedom to allocate such names, given
that the risk of abuse or confusion by the use of such names in these
registries is no higher than their use in legacy TLDs.
For all these reasons, the BC fully supports these proposals and urges ICANN to
amend the registry agreements for the .BERLIN and .HAMBURG TLDs accordingly.
________________________________
[1] The BC has previously supported the release of country and territory names
at all levels in .BRAND TLDs; this comment aligns with those prior comments.
See Business Constituency comment on Neustar's proposal for country and
territory names (Nov. 8, 2014), available at
http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-ctn-release-neustar-19sep14/pdfjYdQmbpklt.pdf;
Business Constituency comment on Release of Country and Territory Names in
.BMW and .MINI TLDs (Jan. 24, 2015), available at
http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-bmw-mini-amendment-11dec14/msg00001.html.
These comments were drafted by Andy Abrams and approved in accordance with our
charter.
Steve DelBianco
Vice chair for policy coordination
ICANN Business Constituency
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