.futbol

Status:	Active
Manager:	Rightside
Registry Provider:	Demand Media
Type:	Generic
Category:	Sport
PIC Submitted:	Download Here
More information:

.futbol is an active gTLD that was proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant was Donuts (Atomic Falls, LLC), but ownership of the TLD was later transferred to Rightside. The proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 11 February 2014, making Rightside the Registry and manager of the TLD.

Ownership Transfer

In January 2014 Rightside announced that it had acquired the rights to .futbol and .reviews. Both strings were originally applied for by Donuts subsidiaries, under a major subsidiary Covered TLD, LLC. United TLD Holdco, Ltd. (The subsidiary of Demand Media that owns Rightside and applied for New gTLDs) has the right to gain an ownership stake in a number of Donuts' TLD applications because of the company's stake in Covered TLD. Donuts' subsidiary Extra Cover, LLC signed the RA with ICANN, but by the time the TLD was delegated the Registry was listed as United TLD Holdco, Ltd..

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicants response to question #18:

"ABOUT DONUTS Donuts Inc. is the parent applicant for this and multiple other TLDs. The company intends to increase competition and consumer choice at the top level. It will operate these carefully selected TLDs safely and securely in a shared resources business model. To achieve its objectives, Donuts has recruited seasoned executive management with proven track records of excellence in the industry. In addition to this business and operational experience, the Donuts team also has contributed broadly to industry policymaking and regulation, successfully launched TLDs, built industry-leading companies from the ground up, and brought innovation, value and choice to the domain name marketplace.

THE .FUTBOL TLD This TLD is attractive and useful to end-users as it better facilitates search, self-expression, information sharing and the provision of legitimate goods and services. Along with the other TLDs in the Donuts family, this TLD will provide Internet users with opportunities for online identities and expression that do not currently exist. In doing so, the TLD will introduce significant consumer choice and competition to the Internet namespace – the very purpose of ICANN’s new TLD program.

This TLD is a generic term and its second level names will be attractive to a variety of Internet users. Making this TLD available to a broad audience of registrants is consistent with the competition goals of the New TLD expansion program, and consistent with ICANN’s objective of maximizing Internet participation. Donuts believes in an open Internet and, accordingly, we will encourage inclusiveness in the registration policies for this TLD. In order to avoid harm to legitimate registrants, Donuts will not artificially deny access, on the basis of identity alone (without legal cause), to a TLD that represents a generic form of activity and expression.

.FUTBOL will be attractive to the millions of enthusiasts worldwide who play, enjoy or are otherwise involved with the world’s most popular recreational activity. The game known mostly as futbol, but as soccer in several countries, is played at every conceivable level, including professional, college, club, instructive, recreational, and by men, women, children and seniors. It involves players, officials, organizations, suppliers, equipment manufacturers, arena operators, broadcasters, promoters, fans, and others who make the activity so widely available and appealing. With such worldwide interest, .FUTBOL would be open and inclusive, and we would operate the TLD in the best interests of the activity’s full spectrum of enthusiasts and fans, and in a secure and legitimate manner.

DONUTS’ APPROACH TO PROTECTIONS No entity, or group of entities, has exclusive rights to own or register second level names in this TLD. There are superior ways to minimize the potential abuse of second level names, and in this application Donuts will describe and commit to an extensive array of protections against abuse, including protections against the abuse of trademark rights.

We recognize some applicants seek to address harms by constraining access to the registration of second level names. However, we believe attempts to limit abuse by limiting registrant eligibility is unnecessarily restrictive and harms users by denying access to many legitimate registrants. Restrictions on second level domain eligibility would prevent law-abiding individuals and organizations from participating in a space to which they are legitimately connected, and would inhibit the sort of positive innovation we intend to see in this TLD. As detailed throughout this application, we have struck the correct balance between consumer and business safety, and open access to second level names.

By applying our array of protection mechanisms, Donuts will make this TLD a place for Internet users that is far safer than existing TLDs. Donuts will strive to operate this TLD with fewer incidences of fraud and abuse than occur in incumbent TLDs. In addition, Donuts commits to work toward a downward trend in such incidents.

OUR PROTECTIONS Donuts has consulted with and evaluated the ideas of international law enforcement, consumer privacy advocacy organizations, intellectual property interests and other Internet industry groups to create a set of protections that far exceed those in existing TLDs, and bring to the Internet namespace nearly two dozen new rights and protection mechanisms to raise user safety and protection to a new level."

Contract Signed

On Sept 23, 2013 Donuts received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .futbol after passing the Initial Evaluation.

Delegation and Availability

.futbol was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on 11 February, 2014, completing the successful application for the string.

Top-Level Domain