.hot Pre-Register Domain - .hot Domain Information

DotHot LLC ("DH") has been created for the purpose of providing the .HOT gTLD to the internet community. DH is owned and operated by the same management team which currently owns and operates the .JOBS sponsored gTLD.

The mission/purpose of .HOT is to promote competition and consumer choice in the namespace, and to further provide marketing opportunities and domain names for registrants to promote and provide product, service and brand marketing. It is a further mission/purpose of the .HOT gTLD to promote consumer trust by providing a gTLD operated in a professional and commercially reasonable manner by an experienced management team and powered by a world-class back end registry provider.

It is DH's intent to provide .HOT as a standard gTLD for the general benefit of the Internet community, and to provide opportunities to product, service and brand marketers which are no longer practically available in the current namespace (for reasons such as the unavailability of relevant names in other TLD's and the high cost of acquiring such names - for example, the high price of domain acquisition in the secondary market).

In fulfilling this intent, DH intends to explore ways of promoting adoption and use of the .HOT gTLD to fulfill its mission/purpose, and will likely obtain input from marketers, advertisers and others towards investigating many such ways.

One exemplary way DH intends to explore is providing geographic and/or generic, product and service terms not otherwise reserved from registration and/or use for use at the second-level to provide marketing opportunities in the area associated with the geographic term or the product/service associated with the generic, product or service term. DH believes that such use would bolster user awareness of the .HOT gTLD and further help brand the gTLD as marketing-savvy, which DH believes will aid in driving user acceptance of the gTLD. DH will investigate provision of a founder's-type program, similar to such as provided for the .ASIA gTLD, for promoting allocation of any such (premium) geographic and/or (premium) generic/product/service terms not otherwise reserved from registration and/or use, potentially first by request for proposals (RFPs) and then by first-come, first-serve at a potentially higher fixed annual fee.

DH will be managed in a highly professional and commercially reasonable manner, consistent with any applicable ICANN Consensus Policies, ICANN's registry agreement and any applicable rules of law, providing a level of comfort to registrants and Internet users alike as being a gTLD powered by the industry's leading back end provider (Verisign, Inc.) and backed by a management team already experienced in the operation of a gTLD.

DH pledges to assist ICANN in reviewing the New gTLD Program as specified in section 9.3 of ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments as such relates to .HOT and the materials set forth in this application, including consideration of the extent to which the .HOT gTLD has promoted competition, consumer trust and consumer choice, as well as effectiveness of the application and evaluation process for .HOT, and all safeguards put in place for .HOT to mitigate issues involved in running .HOT.

The proposed .HOT gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users and others by, among other reasons, promoting competition and consumer choice in the namespace by providing marketing opportunities and domain names for registrants to promote and provide product, service and brand marketing. The proposed .HOT gTLD will further benefit registrants, Internet users and others by promoting consumer trust by providing a gTLD operated in a professional and commercially reasonable manner by an experienced management team and powered by a world-class back end registry provider.

Registration and use of .HOT will be complementary to other gTLDs such as .COM, .NET and .INFO, and will provide potential registrants with domain name options not practically available in other gTLDs. As the term "hot" connotes current, trendy and/or popular products, services and/or brands, DH believes that potential registrants will be able to benefit from second-level domains in .HOT by providing marketing content related to the products, services or brands the registrant desires to promote as "hot". Users who seek such information will benefit from the expanded options such registrants gain via domain availability in the .HOT gTLD. Awareness of the existence of the .HOT gTLD will also benefit Internet users -- such awareness will create new choice within the DNS for how to access and locate current, trendy and/or popular products, services and/or brands.

1. The goals of the .HOT gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels and reputation.

As a standard gTLD with an inherent meaning related to current, trendy and/or popular products, services and/or brands, DH believes that registrants and users alike will likely associate .HOT with the marketing and promotion of such current, trendy and/or popular products, services and/or brands. While it is DH's belief that the inherent meaning of the term "hot" will foster this association with potential registrants, it is not DH's intent to provide any registrant or user restrictions with regard to such specialties. Rather, DH views the inherent meaning of the term "hot" as a powerful incentive to motivate potential registrants towards this goal. DH firmly believes that the generic term "hot" cannot qualify as a community-based gTLD under ICANN's community criteria. However, in the spirit of promoting competition and user choice as set forth by ICANN, and given the limited available constructs provided by ICANN in this gTLD expansion round (i.e., standard or community), DH believes that market forces, as compared to registration and use restrictions, are the most efficient and commercially reasonable drivers of such goals.

In terms of service level goals, it is DH's goal for users to experience robust DNS industry standards for technical back-end operations, including but not limited to near 100% uptime; timely zone file dissemination; searchable WHOIS capabilities; and additional security measures such as for DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC).

In terms of reputation, it is DH's goal to provide a gTLD operated (and recognized as being operated by users) in a professional and commercially reasonable manner by an experienced management team and powered by a world-class back end registry provider.

2. What the .HOT gTLD will add to the current space in terms of competition, differentiation and innovation.

Creation of .HOT will provide competition to existing TLD's in the form of a new name space for registration of domain names relating to current, trendy and/or popular products, services and/or brands.

Over time, DH anticipates a single dedicated name space under the unique .HOT gTLD, in combination with the inherent meaning of the term "hot", will resonate with potential registrants and users of the Internet alike to create differentiation that otherwise could not exist in current gTLD's. DH anticipates that association of the term "hot" in the minds of consumers with current, trendy and/or popular products, services and/or brands will differentiate .HOT from other TLD's which do not benefit from such consumer association with the descriptive nature of the TLD itself, or by association of the TLD with products and/or services unrelated to current, trendy and/or popular products, services and/or brands. Registrants of .HOT domain names providing use which does not relate to the inherent meaning of the term "hot" will likely produce marginal value, resulting in little end-user participation and/or repeat visitation, which DH believes will provide little incentive, and even less repeat incentive, on the part of such registrants to so act.

While it is difficult to predict in exact terms what future innovation may occur as a result of the existence of the .HOT gTLD, DH expects to demonstrate the same capacity to innovate and adapt to new media as has been done with the .JOBS gTLD. For example, DH intends to consider the potential of the use of a first come, first serve (at a higher fixed annual fee) basis to determine string allocation in appropriate circumstances, such as in allocating any premium names.

3. User experience goals of the .HOT gTLD.

A goal of .HOT is for users to experience robust DNS industry standards for technical back-end operations, including but not limited to near 100% uptime; timely zone file dissemination; searchable WHOIS capabilities; and additional security measures such as for DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC).

Over time, an additional goal is for users to experience .HOT websites as sources for information related to current, trendy and/or popular products, services and/or brands. DH believes that, over time, registrants will recognize the association by users with the inherent meaning of the term "hot" and register, and use, domains in the .HOT gTLD accordingly.

4. Intended registration policies in the .HOT gTLD in support of the goals listed above.

In support of the goals and the mission/purpose set forth above for the .HOT gTLD, DH will implement registration policies required to comply with any applicable ICANN Consensus Policies, ICANN's registry agreement, any applicable rules of law, any policies implicated for compliance with DH's response to Questions 28 and 29 related to mitigation of abusive registrations and rights protection mechanisms, and any policies implicated for compliance with DH's response to Question 23 as such relates to allocation/launch/premium names. Beyond that, DH does not intend to have any additional registration policies, believing that market forces, consistent with ICANN's mandate to promote competition and choice, are the most efficient and commercially reasonable drivers of the stated goals and mission/purpose in light of the inherent meaning appurtenant to ".HOT" along with registrant and user recognition thereof.

DH does, however, reserve the right to create, implement and enforce any registration policy(ies) to further the mission/purpose of .HOT and the goals of .HOT, so long as any such policy is consistent with the stated mission/purpose of the gTLD. DH further reserves the right to determine how domains in .HOT may be used.

During initial operation of the .HOT gTLD, DH may elect to adopt more restrictive registration policies, such as additional rights protection mechanisms that may be provided pursuant to this new gTLD round, and to provide other policies and practices relating to registration and use of domains in .HOT, which are reasonably necessary for the management, operations and purpose of the gTLD, so long as any such restrictions, policies or practices are consistent with the mission/purpose of .HOT and any other restrictions on registration set forth above. This will allow DH the ability to explore and implement user experience goals noted above and to find ways of achieving the missions/purposes identified above.

5. Measures for protecting the privacy and confidentiality of registrants and users.

Applicant does not at this time propose any measures for protecting the privacy of confidential information of registrants or users of .HOT domain names, outside of what is required under applicable statute, contract or law.

6. Outreach and communications which will help achieve projected benefits.

The primary outreach and communications that will occur for .HOT will be through registrar promotions and promotional activities by DH, in DH's sole discretion, based upon DH's determination of registrant and user adoption of .HOT, furtherance of the mission/purpose of .HOT and progress towards meeting the goals stated above. DH will consider a combination of one or more radio, television, print and Web advertisements to produce widespread awareness for .HOT.

It is DH's intent to operate .HOT as a standard gTLD. To help eliminate or minimize social costs, DH will implement all abuse mitigation and rights protection mechanisms set forth in applicable ICANN Consensus Policies, ICANN's registry agreement, any applicable rules of law and any policies implicated for compliance with DH's response to Questions 28 and 29 related to mitigation of abusive registrations and rights protection mechanisms.

Further, DH is committed to operating the .HOT gTLD in a professional and commercially reasonable manner. DH does not believe that operating a gTLD in a manner that unreasonably facilitates undue and unreasonable (at DH's sole determination) social costs is professional or commercially reasonable. In that regard, DH will reserve the right to adopt registration and use policies as commercially reasonably necessary, in DH's sole discretion, to mitigate any such undue and unreasonable social costs towards fulfillment of the mission/purpose of the .HOT gTLD and the goals set forth in DH's answer to Question 18(b).

1. Resolving multiple applications for a particular domain name.

DH anticipates that the bulk of multiple applications for a particular domain name will be resolved on a first-come, first-serve basis. Any such registrations may be at a higher fixed annual fee.

In the event of multiple applications for a particular domain name in a request for proposal (RFP) process, DH will review the applications in light of the mission/purpose of the .HOT gTLD and explore contention resolution options between the applicants consistent with such mission/purpose. In the event multiple applicants are not distinguishable in light of the mission/purpose of the gTLD, DH will likely explore resolving the contention via an auction process. Any such auction would be performed by an experienced domain auction provider under best auction practices.

2. Cost benefits for registrants in the .HOT gTLD.

DH intends to investigate the provision of one or more introductory discounts, advantageous pricing and/or bulk registration discounts during initial operations of the .HOT gTLD, and will review the results of any such discount(s) or pricing to determine if further discounts or other advantageous pricing should be implemented at any further time during operations of the .HOT gTLD.

3. Price escalation.

DH does not intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation.

In responding to the issues indicated in Question 22, DotHot LLC (DH) has considered GAC advice set forth at https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/New+gTLDs and https://gacweb.icann.org/download/attachments/1540128/gTLD_principles_0.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1312358178000. DH has also considered the methodology developed for the reservation and release of country names in the .INFO tld, and specifically the information relating to .INFO at Resolution 01-92 at http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-10sep01.htm and ICANN's proposed action plan at http://www.icann.org/en/meetings/montevideo/action-plan-country-names-09oct01.htm . DH has also reviewed 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, at http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/processes/process2/report/html/report.html and ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organization Reserved Names Working Group - Final Report at http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/final-report-rn-wg-23may07.htm.

Initial Reservation of Country and Territory Names

DH is committed to initially reserving, at no cost to governments, public authorities or inter-governmental organizations, 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 Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement at the second level and at all other levels within the .HOT generic top-level domain (gTLD) at which DH will provide for registrations. Specifically, DH 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, 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 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

To the extent Article 5 of Specification 5 of the final version of the New gTLD Registry Agreement is amended to include additional country, territory or other geographic identifiers, DH will similarly initially reserve all such names.

It is DH's intent to initially reserve the names mentioned above by blocking them from registration at the registry level (for example, DH's back end provider, Verisign, would block the names from registration), but DH may use any other method for initially reserving the names as not prohibited by the final version of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, such as, for example, registering such names in its own name in order to withhold them from delegation or use.

Use of Non-Reserved Geographical Identifiers

DH believes that it is important to be able to register and/or use non-reserved geographical identifiers to promote competition in the DNS, competition among TLD operators, and to promote user acceptance and registrant interest in .HOT. However, DH recognizes that such registration and/or use should be in a fair and non-misleading manner.

DH recognizes that there is concern regarding misuse of geographical identifiers in the international, regional and national levels. DH is committed to working with governments, public authorities, or IGOs to quickly resolve any such potential disputes, and as such ensures that such governments, public authorities and IGO's will at minimum have access to .HOT's abuse prevention procedure(s) and rights protection mechanisms set forth in answers to Questions 28 and 29 of this Application in order to ensure an ability to address alleged abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level of .HOT.

As set forth in the answer to Question 29, an additional registry service which DH will offer is the use of first come, first serve (at a higher fixed annual fee) to determine string allocation in appropriate circumstances, such as in allocating any premium names. Yet another service which DH may offer, commonly used in the marketplace today, is the use of RFPs (Request for Proposals) and Auctions to determine string allocation in appropriate circumstances. DH intends to explore allocating some non-reserved geographical identifiers as premium names or otherwise as set forth herein and in DH's answer to Question 18.

Potential Future Release of Initially Reserved Names

DH looks forward to collaborating with other new gTLD Registry Operators in potentially working with the GAC and ICANN to explore processes that could permit the release of initially reserved country names, such as Registry Service Evaluation Processes (RSEP) requests that have been filed by existing gTLD Registry Operators in releasing previously reserved domain names.

Creation and Updating the Policies

Should the need arise in the future for the creation or updating of the policies regarding this class of domain names, DH will act in an open and transparent manner to develop such a policy and/or recommendation.

DH is also committed to the ongoing review and updating of these lists to prevent the misleading use of geographical identifiers. Consistent with this commitment, DH intends to participate in any ongoing ICANN policy discussion regarding the protection of geographic names within the DNS.