.weibo Pre-Register Domain - .weibo Domain Information

The mission and purpose of .WEIBO Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) represents SINA Corporation's (SINA) strategic and enduring effort on preserving Top-Level Domain resources for its existing and future businesses. It is also consistent with SINA's existing corporate policy on international trademark and brand protection in the Internet domain name system. SINA plans to make every possible attempt to ensure its brand recognition, reputation, and user experience at the Internet Top-Level. Based on further research and findings in domestic and international marketplace, there could be other areas and goals that SINA may identify prior to or upon launching the TLD registry.

In addition to "WEIBO" (USPTO serial #: 85320366; 85264899) as well as its the simplified Chinese equivalent, "微博 (or .xn--9krt00a in punycode; USPTO serial #: 85264957; 85296605)", SINA will be also filing for the "SINA" string (USPTO serial # 76694097; 76696855). .SINA, .WEIBO, and ".微博 (or .xn--9krt00a in punycode)" represent the ultimate brand value and core business competency of SINA Corporation. All three applications submitted by SINA are considered to be critically important to SINA's existing and future businesses.

About SINA Corporation
SINA Corporation (NASDAQ ticker: SINA) is an online media company and Mobile Value Added Service (MVAS) provider in the Peopleʹs Republic of China and for the global Chinese communities. With a branded network of localized websites targeting Greater China and overseas Chinese, the Company provides services mainly through SINA.com (online news and content), Weibo.com (microblog) and SINA Mobile (MVAS). Through these businesses and properties and other business lines, SINA offers an array of services including region-focused online portals, MVAS, microblog, blog, video and music streaming, photo sharing, online games, email, search, classified listings, fee-based services, e-commerce and enterprise e-solutions. The Company generates the majority of its revenues from online advertising and MVAS offerings and, to a lesser extent, from fee-based services.

As of end of 2011, the aggregated number of daily unique visitors to SINA websites is around 70 millon people, with daily page views of exceeding 2 billion hits. SINA websites are able to reach in average of approximately 400 million Internet users per month. As of March 2012, www.sina.com.cn is one of the top 20 websites in the world, and one of the top 5 websites in China, according to Alexa.com.

Besides the above mentioned websites and channels, SINA's Weibo.com (Weibo), a microblogging and social network platform launched in August 2009, has enabled its users to follow the hottest topics being discussed online as well as discussions related to people they know. As of end of 2011, Weibo has reached more than 300 Million registered users globally with more than 86 million microblog entries published every day. Weibo users consist of celebrities, commercial enterprises, government entities and grass root Internet users, who may send feeds in the form of text (up to 140 Chinese characters) and multimedia (photo, video and music) content to their opted-in followers. 96 out of Top 100 most popular government weibo accounts are active through Weibo microblogging platform, according to E-Government Research Center, CAG (http://www.chinaegov.org/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/ChinaEgovForum/wbpg/index.html). Weibo enables Chinese communities to participate in open discussions on PCs and mobile devices around the world, allowing easier and more frequent interactions, expediting the spread of information and elevating the social media and networking experience to a different level.

SINA Corporation, a Cayman Islands corporation, was founded in March 1999 through the merger of Beijing SINA Information Technology Co. Ltd. and California-based SINANET.com. In April 2000, the Company completed its initial public offering and was listed on the NASDAQ market. With more than 4,000 employees now, SINA is headquartered in Shanghai, China and the principle place of operations is located in Beijing, China. SINA has offices throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S. Its latest corporation and financial information can be found at http://corp.sina.com.cn/eng/sina_index_eng.htm


To SINA's best current thinking, all available second-level strings of .WEIBO (e.g. example.WEIBO) will be initially allocated only to eligible registrants and for internal corporate business purposes. SINA plans to adopt this approach and expects to maintain it for 6 to 12 months from the launch of the ".WEIBO" registry service. Such approach will be regularly evaluated and adjusted if appropriate and necessary.

The minimum requirement of a .WEIBO registrant is to have a verified Weibo.com user account or certified business account. SINA could place additional requirement (date of membership registration, length of membership, etc.) for the registrant in the initial period. All 2nd-level strings will be based on registrant's real name (i.e. lastnamefirstname.weibo) or a registered alpha-numeric Weibo ID or other registrant categories which can meet and satisfy SINA's policy and business needs. SINA itself could also be an registrant of .WEIBO domain name for its marketing or other business purposes.

The eligible registrant is authorized to be a user or administrator of a .WEIBO second level domain. Subject to operational requirement and other business factors, the eligible registrant should be able to register more than one .WEIBO domain names. Specific roles and responsibilities of a registrant will be defined prior to the launch of the .WEIBO TLD. SINA will ensure that its registrants are provided with clear guidance on registration policy, and the registry services are offered in a safe and trusted environment.

Depending a various internal and external factors, including market demand and user expectation, SINA may consider a phased roll-out approach for a broader commercial marketplace but will do so after the conclusion of the initial period. This conservative approach shall minimize potential technological, marketing and operational risks, and allow ample time for SINA's management to evaluate best possible and long-term strategy of utilizing .WEIBO TLD prominently.

All three applied-for strings (.SINA, .WEIBO and .微博), once approved and delegated, will be under the management of a single business unit at SINA Corporation to ensure business sustainability, policy consistency, and operational stability of each TLD.

How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
SINA believes that the proposed .WEIBO gTLD has the potential to offer two clear benefits to Internet users and consumers:

-- .WEIBO can provide the unique and clear identifier in the gTLD space for the convenience of existing and future SINA and Weibo.com users around the world
-- .WEIBO can help elevate SINA's overall brand value in the online marketplace and offer a higher level of user trust and confidence to SINA and Weibo.com as well as to the Internet in general

What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?
As Internet and mobile technologies evolve, SINA continues to evaluate opportunities to distribute its products and services to its users in China and in the rest of the world. While SINA's intention of filing this application is to proactively protect this ownership of the "WEIBO" trademark / service mark at the gTLD name space, and to provide a trusted and intuitive namespace for businesses and consumers that use Weibo.com services, it is also important to recognize that SINA continues to aim to become the media platform of choice for Internet users to research and retrieve information, share opinions and build social networks and for businesses to market and promote their products and services. The .WEIBO gTLD is planned to serve as a cornerstone of these goals.


What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
SINA believes that the success of the .WEIBO TLD will not be measured and determined by the total number of domain name registered. The eligibility requirement of .WEIBO is designed to promote trust and reliability of this gTLD. Using this benchmark, SINA strives to build consumer recognition and confidence to the level of that can be found in the existing numerous ccTLDs where user validation & authentication and local presence requirement are needed. The potential innovation of this TLD, based on a standard domain registry / registration service as described in our replies to Question 23 to Question 44, will be delivered through the proven success of SINA / Weibo.com wide range of innovative and reliable services which has served more than 300 million users to this date.

As noted above, SINA is a leading online service provider that is completely relying upon emerging Internet technologies and domain name system to deliver services to its consumers both domestically and abroad. A .WEIBO gTLD shall elevate its existing market leadership to another level. However, any broader adoption of this competitive advantage will only be undertaken after SINA has confidence that the concerns of various government and law enforcement regarding ICANN's new gTLD process are properly addressed to its satisfaction.


What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
SINA believes that the .WEIBO gTLD will provide an enhanced experience for the hundreds of millions of consumers both domestically and internationally that use its online services. This will also provide increased confidence and predictability for new customers and partners as SINA continues to expand into other markets around the world as a leading online media and Internet services platform.

In addition to providing consumers with shorter, memorable, and intuitive domain names to help customer navigate the website, SINA envisions best in class safeguards to minimize any potential phishing, pharming, or spam that have plagued the customers of other internet portals or content providers.

SINA has proven track of record on collaboration with major record label companies (EMI, Warner Music, Sony Music, etc.) as well as worldwide movie studios for online streaming services. Hundreds of Chinese celebrities have actively use Weibo.com services with verified credentials. SINA strives for the protection of copyrights and the operation of .WEIBO TLD will continue to ensure that the users can enjoy high quality entertainment without worrying about potential copyright infringement on the Internet.

SINA will make sure that accurate and current domain name information is collected from the registrant readily available in connection with each .WEIBO domain name. If other individuals and or companies are eventually permitted to register domain names in the .WEIBO gTLD, SINA will re-evaluate its policies at that time to ensure that its policies are in compliance with adequate policies / best practices at that time.


Provide a complete description of the applicant's intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.
As documented in Section 18(a), during the Initial Period of operation, SINA is intending to restrict registration and use of domain names with the gTLD to limited number of eligible registrant. Because of this condition precedent, any registration and use requirements are more appropriately vested in these corporate/subsidiary agreements and not in a domain name registration agreement. WEIBO mark is a valuable brand whose protection is of paramount important, any registration and use (e.g. trademark quality control provisions) must vest in these other agreements.

Aside from these concerns, SINA will incorporate all required ICANN consensus policies and other legal/policy requirements imposed on new gTLD applicants into the terms and conditions of the domain name registration agreement. Based on ICANN Registry Agreement, SINA sets and enforces .WEIBO registration policies. General Registry Policies will be developed and made available prior to launch of TLD. Such policy decisions, based on ICANN Registry Agreement and relevant industry best practices, include but are not limited to:
-- Registration eligibility requirements
-- Which registrars may become accredited and sell domains
-- Wholesale prices offered to registrars
-- Reserved names
-- Phased allocation (Sunrise, Landrush, etc.) of the domain space at the second and third levels
-- Dispute policies
-- Technical policies, including SRS security and access.

This .WEIBO General Registry Policies pertain techno-operational policies in the following areas:
1. Domain Registrations (Domain Objects) and the .WEIBO Zone File
2. Domain Contacts (Contact Objects) and WHOIS Service
3. Dispute Resolution Policies
4. Obligations of Registered Name Holders

The General Registry Policies provides the framework for the general operations of the .WEIBO Registry. Other policies, such as the .WEIBO Eligibility, Reserved Name Policies, Sunrise Policies and other relevant policies are described separately in other documents published at the .WEIBO TLD registry Websites. Pricing and technical specifications are published for Accredited Registrars only and provided separately.

The .WEIBO TLD registry is committed to maintaining the integrity of the data within the .WEIBO Registry and to implement policies that deter infringements. The .WEIBO TLD Registry adopts the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) for facilitating the resolution of disputes over the registration and use of a second-level domain name registered under the .WEIBO Registry. All domain name registrations must submit to the mandatory proceedings commenced under UDRP, which is available for review at http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/policy.htm. Complaints under the UDRP should be submitted to an approved dispute-resolution service provider listed at http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/approved-providers.htm.

Beyond the UDRP, all domain registrations must also submit to proceedings commenced under formally adopted dispute policies as set forth by SINA from time to time and published on the .WEIBO TLD registry Website(s). Such dispute policies will take effect at the time they are announced on the .WEIBO TLD registry Website(s), with or without prior notice to registrars or registrants.

Such dispute policies may include for example, but not limited to, expedited processes for suspension of a domain name by claims sought by intellectual property right holders (URS), Internet engineering and security experts or other competent claimants in the purpose of upholding the stability, security and integrity of the .WEIBO Registry. Dispute policies may also include for example challenge processes adopted by the .WEIBO Registry for special programs when occurred.

Moreover, based upon SINA's commitment and established track record in providing a safe eco-system for businesses and individuals, SINA intends to provide best in class safeguards that will evolve over time.


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
SINA will conform with section 1.8.6 of ICANN Registry Agreement:
Registry Operator will: 1) implement appropriate measures to avoid abuse of this feature (e.g., permitting access only to legitimate authorized users); and 2) ensure the feature is in compliance with any applicable privacy laws or policies.
Meanwhile, SINA recognizes that this is an evolving area of law in which there is no international standard, the measures for protecting the privacy and confidential information of registrants or users will be developed based on industry best practice such as Registrar Accreditation: Model Privacy Policy provided by ICANN (see http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/model-privacy-policy.htm)
SINA as a registry operator shall take reasonable steps to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. SINA as a registry operator shall not use or authorize the use of personal data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrar(s) / registrant(s). Personal data shall refer to all data about any identified or identifiable natural person. SINA as a registry operator will not make commercial use of, or collect, traffic data regarding domain names or non-existent domain names for purposes such as the determination of the availability and health of the Internet, pinpointing specific points of failure, characterizing attacks and misconfigurations, identifying compromised networks and hosts, and promoting the sale of domain names.
Publicly available registrant information such as WHOIS service is intended only for query-based access. Specific WHOIS service access policy will be listed within the general registration policy .

Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.
As noted above, while SINA sees the potential for the .WEIBO gTLD to serve as a cornerstone for its future online strategic initiative, there are a number of unanswered questions concerning consumer recognition, security and stability, and broader industry adoption of new gTLDs within the marketplace that must be satisfactorily answered first. Once these concerns have been answered to SINA's satisfaction, SINA is committed to making prominent use of the .WEIBO gTLDs in printed and online material as well as across its network of websites, affiliates, and partners. As of end of 2011, SINA spends over USD 135 Million on sales and marketing. SINA is expecting to allocate sufficient resources on marketing and branding of .WEIBO TLD when appropriate.

What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)?
Although SINA intends to offer .WEIBO TLD to eligible registrant, it is expected that trademark owners may wish to apply for 2nd level string in this TLD. SINA shall conform to necessary requirement in the ICANN New gTLD program Applicant Guidebook as well as ICANN Registry Agreement in regards to trademark protection (i.e. utilization of trademark clearinghouse on required Sunrise and Trademark Claim services, URS, etc.), as well as relevant domestic and international rules or best practices. This shall also provide eligible registrants and users at-large with a single trusted source for this gTLD with a substantially lower risk of fraud and/or scams for its customers. SINA believes that the safeguards set forth in the Applicant Guidebook and the proposed business modeled outlined in Section 18(a) will minimize and potential negative social costs.

What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences/costs imposed upon consumers?
SINA believes that the proposed operation of the .WEIBO gTLD as set forth in this application has no known negative consequences or cost implications on consumers. To the contrary, the proposed operation of this registry will likely lead to direct and quantifiable benefits to consumers. SINA believes that by following the core corporate goals as identified in Section 18(a) it will be able provide real value to consumer, and minimize any potential negative consequences/costs.



How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come/first-serve basis?
SINA plans to refer to past gTLD operation practices to resolve multiple applications for a particular domain name in a fair, predictable, and transparent way. This would include, and not limited to: Request for Proposal (RFP), public or private auction based on set(s) of policy and business requirements, lottery, or first-come/first-serve basis. Multiple applications may be processed at once or in batch, depending on various internal and external factors. This allocation policy (i.e. .WEIBO Registry Policies for Pre-sunrise, Sunrise, Landrush phases) will not be determined until SINA completely evaluates and decides upon a best in class allocation mechanism that can include and balance the interest of rights holders, registrants, registrars / resellers, as well as users in general.

Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).
SINA understands the discount benefits and price sensitivity to the market it currently serves, and shall be ready to adopt advantageous pricing or discount if necessary. On the other hand, it is irresponsible for SINA to determine any pricing strategy at this point, in which such strategy may sacrifice registry's long-term profitability and lead to financial risk of the registry. Therefore, SINA will not make the decision of offering introductory discount pricing or bulk registration discount for .WEIBO at this point.

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.
SINA is committed to providing the domain name registration periods set forth in the registry agreement. However, as noted above the registration and use of the domain name is conditioned upon the eligibility of a registrant initially, providing contractual commitments in a domain name registrant agreement regarding the magnitude of price escalations does not seem relevant or appropriate. SINA shall be ready to further explore this option when necessary.

We will protect names with national or geographic significance by reserving the country and territory names at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD, as per the requirements in the New TLD Registry Agreement (Specification 5, paragraph 5).
We will employ a series of rules to translate the geographical names required to be reserved by Specification 5, paragraph 5 to a form consistent with the ʺhost namesʺ format used in domain names.

We will also review and learn from other rules and best practices which were adopted successfully by existing TLDs:
-- 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;
-- 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, see http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/processes/process2/report/html/report.html;
-- The GAC Principles Regarding New gTLDs, see https://gacweb.icann.org/download/attachments/1540128/gTLD_principles_0.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1312358178000
-- ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organization Reserved Names Working Group - Final Report, see http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/final-report-rn-wg-23may07.htm

Considering the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) advice "Principles regarding new gTLDs", these domains will be blocked, at no cost to governments, public authorities, or IGOs, before the TLD is introduced (Sunrise), so that no parties may apply for them. We will publish a list of these names before Sunrise, so our registrars and their prospective applicants can be aware that these names are reserved.

We will define a procedure so that governments can request the above reserved domain(s) if they would like to take possession of them. This procedure will be based on existing methodology developed for the release of country names in the .INFO TLD. For example, we will require a written request from the country's GAC representative, or a written request from the country's relevant Ministry or Department. We will allow the designated beneficiary (the Registrant) to register the name, with an accredited Afilias Registrar, possibly using an authorization number transmitted directly to the designated beneficiary in the country concerned.

As defined by Specification 5, paragraph 5, such geographic domains may be released to the extent that Registry Operator reaches agreement with the applicable government(s). Registry operator will work with respective GAC representatives of the country's relevant Ministry of Department to obtain their release of the names to the Registry Operator.

If internationalized domains names (IDNs) are introduced in the TLD in the future, we will also reserve the IDN versions of the country names in the relevant script(s) before IDNs become available to the public. If we find it advisable and practical, we will confer with relevant language authorities so that we can reserve the IDN domains properly along with their variants.

Regarding GAC advice regarding second-level domains not specified via Specification 5, paragraph 5: All domains awarded to registrants are subject to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), and to any properly-situated court proceeding. We will ensure appropriate procedures to allow governments, public authorities or IGO's to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level. In its registry-registrar agreement, and flowing down to registrar-registrant agreements, the registry operator will institute a provision to suspend domains names in the event of a dispute. We may exercise that right in the case of a dispute over a geographic name.