.wed Pre-Register Domain - .wed Domain Information

18.1 .WED gTLD Mission/Purpose

18.1.1 Company Mission

Atgronʹs mission for the .WED gTLD is to provide wedding couples around the world an unambiguous domain name of their choice via this niche gTLD. The .WED gTLD will be an open unrestricted registry but will institute policies designed to promote short-term annual registrations of domain names with the intent to create more frequent availability of domain names to a never ending supply of wedding couples.

18.1.2 Community Mission

While the .WED gTLD will not be a community-based gTLD, Atgron, Inc., the TLD Registry Operator, has a community mission. The community mission of the organization is to honor the service and dedication of soldiers and sailors in the United States by providing employment and training to veterans who wish to re-enter civilian work life in a technical field.

The driving force for both our Company and Community missions is our Chief Executive Officer, with the support of the Atgron, Inc. Board of Directors. Our CEO and Board chose a gTLD extension, which would create inherent leadership roles for women. Our CEO also spent a significant portion of her career working with soldiers and sailors and recognizes the invaluable training our veterans obtain while in service. There is a perception it is a civic duty to employ veterans and while that is a noble sentiment, it distracts from a far more important factor to a successful business. Veterans represent an outstanding candidate pool of capable resources with training and discipline that will benefit any company.


18.2.3 Pledge to Customers

The .WED gTLD will provide a wholesome, responsive venue for couples and families involved in the planning and execution of a wedding. We will strive to provide couples with their desired domain names in a timely fashion by discouraging domain name parking and other forms of domain name speculation.


18.1.4 Pledge to Employees

Our employees will enjoy a friendly, fair, and creative work environment, which respects diversity, new ideas, and hard work.

18.2 Goal of .WED gTLD

18.2.1. What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?


Wedding Couples

Our key constituency is couples planning their wedding around the world but with an initial marketing focus in the United States of America. Our target market is couples who want to share their experience via the internet without the need to use the gateways of wedding website resellers in the .com, .biz, .org, .net and other gTLD and ccTLD spaces. The .WED TLD brand will be one that epitomizes the special nature of a wedding and recognizes the significant investment families make in creating an event they will treasure forever. Couples will no longer have to provide their personal information to login to wedding website vendor reseller sites or leverage these reseller website offerings at the third level due to the limited availability of .com and other gTLD domain names. .WED provides an immediate connection between the domain name and the event eliminating the need for longer domain name strings.

.WED will be an open and unrestricted registry. The pricing strategy, registrar policies, Acceptable Use Policy and Wildcard Blocking program are designed to create the best opportunity for couples to obtain the .WED domain name of their choice. These components are also designed to minimize domain name speculation, cyber-squatting and human trafficking. We are particularly concerned with the possibilities of human trafficking and will actively combat this practice. The three policies designed to accomplish these goals are as follows:

Pricing Strategy: Annual registrations and renewals are priced affordably for couples who on average use a website for their engagement and wedding for a year or less and usually no more than 18 months. Any annual registrations over two years or initial registrations exceeding a two-year term will be priced significantly higher than any wedding couple would be expected to budget for a presence on the internet. We recognize this may create an inconvenience for some commercial enterprises that desire a longer-term domain name registration. The .com, .biz, .org, .co, and .net gTLDs as well as many of the new gTLDs and ccTLDs offer businesses and other commercial entities multiple opportunities to have a presence on the internet so Atgron doesnʹt think this represents a barrier to competition and could act as a deterrent to other forms of domain name misuse, particularly those related to intellectual property violations in the .WED TLD.

Registrar policies: Bulk registrations and renewals will only be allowed if registrars confirm the bulk registration or bulk renewal is a result of direct interaction between the registrant and couples or families planning a wedding. Any accredited registrars offering .WED TLD domain names for longer than two year terms, will need to obtain electronic acknowledgement from registrants of their understanding of the significant price increase for .WED TLD domain name registrations beyond two years.

Acceptable Use Policy: Material that promotes pornography, human trafficking, mail order bride services and forms of discrimination as well as hatred and violence are strictly prohibited. We will actively monitor registered domains for these violations and use our Wildcard Blocking feature to block common terms with pornographic intent. Please see the response to Question 28 for the detailed Acceptable Use Policy.

Wildcard Blocking: The .WED TLD will offer the ability for verified Trademark Holders to block variants of their trademarked name in perpetuity via a one-time premium wildcard blocking program. Blocked variants will be based upon demonstrable usage by the trademark holder and appropriate interpretation of the trademark intent. Details of this program are provided in the response to question 29.

Municipalities

Because weddings tend to be local events, we will provide unique spaces to countries, provinces, states, counties, and cities to promote tourism generated by weddings, if they so desire. No geographic domain names will be approved without the express request or approval of an authorized governmental agency. Violations of this policy will be handled using the Complaint Resolution Service (CRS) of Atgronʹs Registry Service Provider, CoCCA Registry Services Limited. For details of the CRS process, please see the response to question 28.

18.2.2 What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

A wedding is a special but fleeting occasion. The .WED gTLD will offer couples the ability to provide targeted communication conveying their special event using a channel designed for that specific purpose.

Competition

Currently, the .com, .biz, .org, and .net, gTLDs as well as ccTLDs are the most common strings used by wedding couples today. Many of these strings are saturated and couples are unable to obtain the domain name of their choice. The .WED TLD will offer wedding couples additional choices related specifically to their unique event.

Because Atgron, Inc. and its partners have no affiliation with any wedding industry vendors and conducts no business in the wedding industry, there is decreased risk of anti-competitive behavior. We have no incentive to steer registrants to any particular vendor, inhibit competition, promote products or leverage registrant information for competitive advantage. Our target market, wedding couples, will be our competitive advantage and our entire focus will be providing the best gTLD registry to meet their needs.

Differentiation and Innovation

Unlike other gTLDʹs, the .WED TLD is designed to offer domain names to couples planning and executing a wedding, a fundamentally short-term need. This niche TLD will offer a supply of domain names that can be recycled forever. Supplying domain names to families for this short-term need is the foundation of the differentiation and innovation of the business model.

18.2.3 What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?


The goal is to provide a consistent, wholesome, exceptional quality online wedding brand with a reputation for reliability and specialization in this area. Registrants must abide by local legal restrictions but will also be prohibited from promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups, on the basis of religion, ethnic origin, race, sexual orientation, disability, gender, age, or veteran status. While there is no way to eliminate these occurrences, we will provide these terms and conditions to hinder these activities. Violations of this policy will also be handled by the CRS process detailed in the response to question 28.

We will also work with our registrars to provide a .WED TLD central website which not only lists all the participating ICANN accredited registrars but also includes their prices for .WED TLD domain names and any additional services they may offer related to creating wedding products for couples. This site is intended to create ease of use for couples searching for registrars and will not collect any domain name fees. This site will be provided at no charge to .WED TLD registrars but will require registrars to keep the information up-to-date and accurate. Equal access will be provided to all accredited registrars who provide the .WED TLD to the public.

18.2.4 Provide a complete description of the applicantʹs intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.


The registry will comply with all consensus policies adopted by ICANN but the following policies directly support the goals listed above:
- Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) Policy.
- Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).
- Trademark Clearinghouse Policy - The Trademark Clearinghouse will be used during the Sunrise period as required by ICANN. The .WED TLD will also offer the ability for verified Trademark Holders to block variants of their trademarked name via a premium Wildcard registration program. Details of this program are provided in the response to question 29.
- Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP).
- Privacy Policy that provides registrants with the maximum privacy possible within the requirements of the WHOIS policy and Unites States legal requirements. Please see the Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy provided in the response to question 28.

18.2.5 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. Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.


The .WED gTLD will institute a Privacy Policy that provides registrants with the maximum privacy possible within the requirements of the WHOIS policy and Unites States legal requirements. The release of contact information for couples planning a wedding could present the opportunity for unwanted solicitations to domain name registrants and it will be our goal to minimize these possibilities. Please see the .WED TLD Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy provided in response to question 28.

18.3 .WED gTLD Operating Rules

18.3.1 How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come/first-serve basis?

During the Sunrise period, applications will be accepted via .WED TLD ICANN accredited registrars submitted to the Registry and verified electronically via the Trademark Clearing House. Multiple valid applications for a trademarked .WED TLD domain name will be auctioned using an experienced auction vendor.

During the Landrush phase, applications will be accepted via .WED TLD ICANN accredited registrars and submitted to the Registry. Any applications for duplicate .WED TLD domain names will be auctioned using an experienced auction vendor.

Due to the pricing policy, Atgron expects Sunrise applications to mainly focus on defensive mechanisms to avert possible trademark violations and use of the Wildcard blocking program. Any Landrush applications will most likely be for exploratory purposes to test the value of the .WED TLD brand or short-term promotions for commercial entities.

During General Availability, domains will be sold on a first come first served basis via ICANN accredited registrars.

18.3.2 Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).


We do not anticipate the need for bulk promotions or introductory discounts at this time but do not rule out the possibility of promotions in the future.

18.3.3 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.

With the advent of hundreds of new gTLDʹs and market uncertainty, we do not think it prudent to make contractual commitments regarding the magnitude of price escalation in the first two years of operations but will reassess this option in the third year of operations. At this time, we do not anticipate any price increases in the first three years of operation. We will adhere to all ICANN requirements for written notice of price increases to registrars per the Registry agreement and any updated ICANN policies. Registrars will be offered the opportunity to provide the .WED TLD for terms from one to ten years as required by the registry agreement.

22 Geographic Names

Registration of geographic names at all levels will only be granted if an official request is received by Atgron, Inc. from an authoritative governmental entity. Any non-authorized geographic name domain registrations will be inactivated after a review is conducted to confirm the lack of sponsorship by an appropriate governmental agent. The Complaint Resolution Service (CRS) of Atgronʹs Registry Service Provider, CoCCA Registry Services Limited, will be leveraged to address any abuse of this policy. For details of the CRS process, please see the response to question 28.