.moscow Pre-Register Domain - .moscow Domain Information

This gTLD is a volume related top-level domain that will sell names at the second-level.

It will reserve some names at the second-level for public-facing entities or entities that perform services for the public, including but not exclusively governmental bodies, and populate the related third-level free of cost.

FAITID is applying for two related but independent strings: .MOSCOW and the Cyrillic version of .MOSCOW (.МОСКВА). These strings are economically independent and separate financial modeling and projections have been developed for each string. Conceptually, the two strings are related to the extent that they relate to the same word expressed in English and in Cyrillic.

Mission

Creation of opportunity and content: the new gTLD will provide new opportunities for Internet users to create Moscow-associated content.

Branding for Moscow: the gTLD will make the city more visible on the Internet and help to create its online brand.

Example to others: as the first city domain in Russia, the gTLD will serve as an example for other Russian cities. Other Russian cities have already expressed their potential interest in emulating this model to create their own city gTLD.

Mission In Context

ICANN has set out a number of goals regarding the introduction of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Among the most important of these are the following:
o the need to maintain the Internetʹs stability, and especially the protection of domain name holders from the effects of registry or registration system failure;
o the extent to which approval of the application would lead to an effective proof of concept concerning the expansion of the number of top-level domains including:
- the diversity the proposed TLD would bring to the top-level of the Internet to include fully open top-level domains, restricted and chartered domains with limited scope, commercial domains and personal domains;
- support of a variety of business models and geographic locations.
o the enhancement of competition for registration services at the registry and registrar level;
o the enhancement of the utility of the DNS;
o the extent to which the proposal would meet previously unmet needs;
o the importance of appropriate protections of the rights of others, including intellectual property rights in connection with the operation of the TLD, especially during the start-up phases.

Purpose

The purpose of this TLD is to:
o advance the goals of ICANN as set out above;
o fulfill the TLDʹs mission as stated above.

i. Goal In Terms Of Specialty, Service Levels Or Reputation

Definitions

Registrants: registrants include all those who register a domain name in the TLD and who act in accordance with the stated user policies.

Users: users include the broader Internet community of users who interact with the TLD.

Others: others whose interest is relevant to this application include regulators, policy makers and other public authorities.

Specialty

The team operating the TLD brings considerable speciality experience in the Internet industry in relation to high-level policy development, launch, operation and management. Significant marketing resources together with registrar partnerships and technical facilities, enable FAITID to specialise in the provision of a competitive open top-level domain that provides a genuine alternative to existing TLDs and opens the top-level of the Internet to new users.

Focus on Moscow: the local market is currently largely served by .RU and Cyrillic .РФ country codes. The proposed new gTLD will enable particular focus on the city of Moscow as opposed to the entire country of Russia. Registrants in the gTLD will be communicating an explicit association with the Russian capital. This will help attract users towards their websites. Thus websites under the gTLD could become an additional business tool for the online presence of Moscow companies. FAITID is applying for both .MOSCOW and the Cyrillic equivalent .МОСКВА. FAITID considers these two domains as complementary services that could be inter alia offered as a package at a special price. Users will benefit from a better focus and search facility of Moscow-related websites.

Economic stimulus: the gTLD implementation will stimulate the start of new Internet projects and consequently the development of Internet technologies in the city of Moscow. FAITID anticipates associated benefits and synergies, including the overall enhancement of investment in Moscow.

Charitable re-investment: TheLlandrush application window will start with high domain registration cost that will be reduced in a step-by-step way and at the start of General availability will become standard. By organizing Landrush in this manner the most valuable names will be allocated in a transparent and fair way. A major portion of the Landrush proceeds resulting from contested names will go to a charitable fund to assist Internet-related projects in the Moscow area.

Service Levels

In order to advance its mission as stated above, FAITID has brought together a team with expertise, experience and technical capacity to ensure that the TLD is operated to the best industry standards in the provision of services. FAITID will provide a substantial network infrastructure that can guarantee maximum performance and reliability as well as scale seamlessly to meet variations in demand.

FAITID domain name registry services will be driven by customer focus, technological innovation and channel management expertise. The creativity and participation of the online community are important drivers of the services provided by FAITID. FAITID is mindful of the critical importance of confidence in the operation of the Internet. It is core to the application to be a registry that is a leading model for Internet innovation and development..

Reputation

FAITID is concerned to ensure that both the reputation of the TLD as well as the reputation of the Internet generally is enhanced by this delegation.

FAITID takes the view that its responsibility as a registry extends beyond registrants and users of the Internet, to potential users, governments, regulators, policy-makers and communities at large. To this end, FAITID has a Board of Trustees with representatives of government, law enforcement bodies and public organisations. The Trustees maintain an oversight role with a specific mandate to represent the public interest.

ii. Added Competition, Differentiation, Innovation

Competition

The relevant market is currently served largely by the .RU and Cyrillic .РФ country codes. The new gTLD will provide additional opportunities for registrants and users for Moscow-related websites. This will eventually make the Russian domain market itself more competitive. .MOSCOW will become an alternative to .RU for registrants who would like to get an ASCII name for placement of Moscow-related content. At the same time .МОСКВА will become an alternative to .РФ for registrants who would like to get a Cyrillic name for placement of Moscow-related content.

Differentiation

.MOSCOW and .МОСКВА gTLDs will provide differentiation from the TLDs where Russians currently register. Currently, registration is either in undifferentiated generics such as .COM or the country-wide ccTLD of .RU or Cyrillic .РФ for Russia.

The gTLD will also reserve a number of second-level names for use by public entities or entities that perform services for the public, but not exclusively governmental bodies. This will create a hierarchy for subsequent population at the third-level. Domain names of this type will also be reserved in Cyrillic under the Cyrillic .МОСКВА gTLD. This hierarchy is not available under existing TLDs. Examples of such second-level names are .MUSEUM.MOSCOW for .MOSCOW. and .ШКОЛА.МОСКВА (can be translated as .SCHOOL.MOSCOW) for .МОСКВА.

Innovation

The gTLD implementation will stimulate the start of new Internet projects and consequently the development of Internet technologies in the city. FAITID is committed to innovation by evolution, consistent with the overarching objective of a stable and secure Internet. By investing in new developments at the top-level of the Internet, FAITID is declaring itself to be an advocate for the goals of the Internet, for the city of Moscow and for the advancement of industry related to this innovation.

iii. User Experience Goals

Consistent with FAITID key goals to work co-operatively and positively in the provision and management of a vital public resource, FAITID aims to ensure that the user experience is centered on the following goals:
o rapid, responsive and reliable customer service;
o full accessibility;
o robust neutrality;
o robust data security and privacy;
o robust data escrow;
o Internet standards regarding naming and reserved names;
o industry standard acceptable-use policy and registrar agreements;
o leading protocols on technology, anti-cybersquatting and WHOIS.

A key user experience goal is improved focus on where the user can find what they are looking for, as a result of greater geographic specificity and easier search. The second-level public sector hierarchy will further enhance the user experience. This hierarchy will be the result of reservation of names for entities at the second-level that will allow related third-level registrations to fall into a natural order beneath a specified category. FAITID has determined to reserve these names so that key public-facing services will have the opportunity to establish their presence in the domain and ensure that information of value to the public is searchable in a clear and reliable manner.

iv. Policies To Support Goals of iii

General Registration Policy

In general names will be openly available on a first-come first served basis. FAITID will additionally provide an early launch period that gives preference to companies and organizations from Moscow, Russian Federation. No similar priority will be given to individuals. This preference will advance the utility of the TLD as a designated and defined location for the registrations with a clear connection to the city of Moscow.

Reservation and registration of sub-domains: reservation and registration of second-level domain names for the state needs will be done in order to protect the interests of governmental and municipal bodies, enterprises and organizations. The list of domains registered and reserved for this purpose will be composed in cooperation with Moscow Government.

Pre-registration reservation will be arranged on the basis of existing industry standards relating to reserved names. Reservation will be followed by Sunrise A where top-priority names registration will be given to trademark holders.

A small number of domains such as .MUSEUM.MOSCOW and .THEATRE.MOSCOW will be reserved for further third-level registrations. A similar list will be implemented for Cyrillic .МОСКВА.

Third-level registration in these domains will then be available or allocated. An example of allocation is the reservation of .MUSEUM.MOSCOW which will, at the third-level, be intended for names for Moscow museums.

Telephone Hotline

FAITID will establish its own or cooperate with an existing telephone hotline for complaints about abusive registrations and content, providing advice on dispute resolutions mechanisms and its own registration policies.

v. Privacy And Confidentiality Measures

Protection Of Privacy

FAITID recognizes the importance of balancing individual privacy rights with the rights of intellectual property owners, law enforcement and other interested third parties to have access to WHOIS data for legitimate uses. Comprehensive privacy and authentication rules are built into the operation of the proposed gTLD consistent with requirements under the Registry Agreement.

As privacy and confidentiality of personal information is a key element in the provision of a positive user experience, FAITID will take all reasonable steps to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. FAITID will also comply, in accordance with the Registry Agreement, with all existing and future consensus policies as formally adopted by ICANN.

FAITID will operate a WHOIS service in accordance with Specification 4 of the Registry Agreement and operate this service in full compliance with applicable privacy laws or policies. FAITID will also implement appropriate measures to avoid abuse of WHOIS in order that access is restricted to legitimate authorized users. As FAITID will only use ICANN-accredited registrars, the registrars will be required to implement the data privacy policies as defined in the Registrar Accreditation Agreement.

Outreach And Communication

Website

A promotional website www.domainmoscow.org has been live since September 2010.

Signature Campaign

Via the website www.domainmoscow.org, a signature collection campaign was launched in September 2010 with a view to:
o setting up an informal gTLD launch-related community;
o informing the target audience about the gTLD.

Events

The gTLD is regularly presented at Russiaʹs important IT events (exhibitions, conferences and workshops).

Press And Media

An ongoing press and media campaign has resulted in good coverage in major Russian mass media including:
The Izvestia (30.09.2011, ʺThe Capital Tends to Be Equal to the State on the Internetʺ), The Vedomosti (30.09.2011, ʺMoscow Wants its Own Domainʺ), RBC TV channel (30.09.2011, ʺA .МОСКВА TLD Can Appear on the Internet for Moscowʺ), NTV (05.09.2011, ʺWebsites With ʺMoscow Registrationʺ May Appear on the Internetʺ), The Kommersant (21.06.2011, ʺThe Internet with Three Dots Markʺ), The Argumenty i Fakti (03.09.2010, ʺ.MOSCOW and .МОСКВА TLDs Will Appear on the Internetʺ), The Metro Russia (02.09.2010, ʺA TLD for Moscow Can Appearʺ).

Chamber Of Commerce

After delegation FAITID plans to work with the Moscow Chamber of Commerce to promote the gTLD to businesses as potential registrants.

SME Organisation

After delegation FAITID plans to work with the trade-association Union of Moscow SMEs to promote the gTLD to businesses as potential registrants.

i. Resolving Competing Applications

In relation to competitions that involve intellectual property, FAITID will minimise costs to consumers in protecting their intellectual property through the following mechanisms:
o implementation of the Schedule of Reserved Names set out in Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement;
o implementation and adherence to rights protection mechanisms that may be mandated from time to time by ICANN, including all mechanisms mandated in Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement;
o implementation in accordance with the requirements established by ICANN of each of the mandatory rights protection mechanisms set forth in the Trademark Clearinghouse;
o compliance with ICANN rules on dispute resolution mechanisms as they may be revised from time to time, including the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP) and the Registration Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) when the final procedure is adopted;
o compliance with the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS);
o Sunrise registration services in accordance with the Registry Agreement;
o a Notification service to trademark owners who have registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse that someone else is applying for a Sunrise registration for an exact match;
o a Trademark Claims service (for at least 60 days) to provide notice to potential registrants of existing trademark rights that are registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse (i.e. a warning to NOT register a name that might infringe).

Competing Applications - Landrush And General Availability

The Applicant is dedicated to ensuring a fair opportunity for all users to register a domain name to which they are legally entitled:
o following Sunrise FAITID will operate Landrush to allocate premium names and in accordance with the general registration policies described above;
o at the close of Landrush, General Availability will start. This will be on a first-come first-served model;
o expired names: the Registry believes that all domain name registrants should be on an equal footing in terms of securing an expired domain name. For this reason, certain expired names may be pooled for auction.

ii. Cost Benefits eg Pricing

Consistency With Existing Market Pricing

Pricing will be competitive for this market place. The gTLDs pricing policy will reflect the prevailing prices of the existing ccTLDs .RU and Cyrillic .РФ.

Discounts For Registrants In Both New TLDs

As FAITID is applying for both .MOSCOW and its Cyrillic equivalent .МОСКВА, it plans to offer a special package price for registrants who register two names in both gTLDs at once.

iii. Price Increase Policy

There are no plans to increase prices in the first three years. After that the pricing policy will reflect local inflation rates as they affect the cost base.