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.blackfriday

From ICANNWiki
Status: Delegated
Registry Provider: ISC
Type: Generic
Category: Commerce

More information:



.blackfriday is a gTLD that was proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant and now Registry Operator is Uniregistry.[1] The proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 23 April 2014.[2]

Application Details[edit | edit source]

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States. .BLACKFRIDAY domain names will be among the best labels for businesses hoping to capture the attention of shoppers on this exceptional shopping day.

DNS-based addressing brings with it unique advantages for branding Internet-based resources with semantic meaning and easily communicable and remembered labels. Domain Names are mnemonic devices, designed to help users remember and invoke the ʺlocationʺ of web sites, email servers, and the like (as opposed to having to remember IP addresses). The addition of many new, semantically meaningful, TLDs will enhance this mnemonic function, helping users to discover pertinent resources, differentiate among stored links, and remember how to reach sites they have visited before.

Top-level domains with specific semantic meaning, like .BLACKFRIDAY, will thrive when operated by a neutral registry-services provider like Uniregistry. A neutral registry does not provide preferential registration opportunities to any particular market participant, create anti-competitive rules that prevent domain name registration by competitors, or become so deeply involved in the target market that its presence as the registry services provider creates the appearance of impropriety or bias. Uniregistry always will act as a neutral services provider for .BLACKFRIDAY.

A specialized top-level domain string, like .BLACKFRIDAY, immediately conveys the purpose for which the user is seeking to access a site. Registrants who might get lost in a larger, undifferentiated TLD, and who seek to convey the specific purpose of the site or services, or who are unable to find a satisfactory SLD within existing TLDs, will find it easier to reach potential users.

.BLACKFRIDAY will be a specialty gTLD, with a flat pricing structure and fixed renewal costs, with no material price increases for the first five years. This moderately priced namespace is designed to offer registrants an attractive, competitive registration alternative or complement to existing registratiaons for the purpose of specialized content.

The registry will strive to bring value to both the users seeking to provide goods and services and the registrants who are offering that information by providing directory services, traffic-generation toolkits, and search-related functionality from central registry-operated resources designed to promote the .BLACKFRIDAY top-level domain and the companies, organizations, and individuals choosing to register .BLACKFRIDAY names.

The registry will implement safeguards to intellectual property interests, while fostering socially and commercially productive growth of its name-space for registrants, stakeholders, and Internet users.

ABOUT UNIREGISTRY

Uniregistry Corp. is a new venture formed by established domain name industry veterans to serve as the delegated registry services provider for the .BLACKFRIDAY top-level domain.

The mission and purpose of Uniregistryʹs .BLACKFRIDAY gTLD is to be the pre-eminent general and generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) choice for registrants offering Black Friday sales through the use of a Second Level Domain (SLD) name.

We want registrants in .BLACKFRIDAY to build their Internet services on a platform designed for long-term security, stability, and predictability in Internet naming. We will provide a sound foundation for registrants and their registrars by offering world-class technical infrastructure, excellence in organizational management, and low-cost, predictable pricing.

Consistent with the policies defined by ICANNʹs original Consensus Policy, ICP-1, that gTLD registries ʺare trustees for the delegated domain, and have a duty to serve the community,ʺ we believe that the registry should be managed both for the benefit of the individuals and companies that will choose to register domain names as well as Internet users worldwide. The honor of serving these constituents carries with it the obligation to work closely with ICANN, its component bodies and supporters, governments, and the registrants that will choose a .BLACKFRIDAY domain name for their Internet identity.

Uniregistry believes that first-come first-served is the most fair and inexpensive way to allocate registrations to the public. We plan egalitarian, flat-rate pricing made possible by the long-term payback horizon of our lead investor. Uniregistry plans to implement rate limited registration queues made equitable through a randomized, round robin acceptance of orders. This will make land-rush allocation of SLD registrations more balanced for all participants."[3]

Contract Signed[edit | edit source]

On 16 January 2014 Uniregistry received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .blackfriday after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.[4]

Delegation and Availability[edit | edit source]

.blackfriday was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on 23 April, 2014, completing the successful application for the string.[2]

References[edit | edit source]