.singles

Status:	Active
Registry Provider:	Demand Media
Type:	Generic
Category:	Lifestyle
PIC Submitted:	Download Here
Priority #:	185 - Donuts (Fern Madison, LLC)
More information:

.singles is an active gTLD that was proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The Registry Operator is Donuts (Fern Madison, LLC), and the company was the only applicant for the string. The application was delegated to the Root Zone on 6 November, 2013.

Contract Signed

On 27 August 2013, Donuts received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .singles after passing the Initial Evaluation.

Delegation and Availability

.singles was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on November 6, 2013, completing the successful application for the string. Donuts had 9 string delegated to the root on that day, including .camera, .clothing, .lighting, .ventures, .voyage, .guru, .holdings and .equipment.

Donuts announced that its first 7 gTLDs, including .singles, .bike, .guru, .holdings, .plumbing, .clothing, and .ventures, would have a Sunrise period starting November 26, 2013 and closing January 24, 2014. Interestingly, Donuts said they will not hold a Landrush period for any of these 7 domains, but go immediately to general availability on January 29, 2013.

Application Excerpts

This application is one of many Donuts apps that share a generic boilerplate. The response to qusetion #18 is excerpted in part below:

"ABOUT DONUTS’ RESOURCES

Donuts’ financial resources are extensive. The company has raised more than US$100 million from a number of capital sources including multiple multi-billion dollar venture capital and private equity funds, a top-tier bank, and other well-capitalized investors. Should circumstances warrant, Donuts is prepared to raise additional funding from current or new investors. Donuts also has in place pre-funded, Continued Operations Instruments to protect future registrants. These resource commitments mean Donuts has the capability and intent to launch, expand and operate its TLDs in a secure manner, and to properly protect Internet users and rights-holders from potential abuse.

THIS 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.

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."

Top-Level Domain