.insurance

Status:	Proposed
country:	International
Type:	Community gTLD, Generic
Category:	Industry
Priority #:	195 - fTLD Registry Services LLC 297 - Radix (Dotfresh Inc.) 1318 - Donuts (Auburn Park, LLC) 1847 - Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.
More information:

.insurance is a proposed new generic top level domain name (gTLD) to ICANN's New gTLD Program.

Current Applicants

1. fTLD Registry Services LLC a partnership with BITS, the technology policy arm of Financial Services Roundtable, and the American Bankers Association (ABA). The application is a Community Priority Application.
   The American Insurance Association filed a Community Objection against this application, but the objection was later withdrawn.
2. Radix (DotFresh Inc.), a subsidiary of Directi Group that has applied for for 31 domains.
   The American Insurance Association filed a Community Objection against this application.

Former Applicants

1. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.
2. Donuts (Auburn Park, LLC) one of 307 TLDs the company has applied for. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here. The American Insurance Association and The Financial Services Roundtable filed Community Objections against this application.

Community Objections

The Financial Services Roundtable filed community objections against the other two applicants, while the American Insurance Association filed a Community Objection against all applicants of this string.

The American Insurance Association withdrew its objection to fTLD Registry Services LLC. In January 2014, the association lost its objection against the application from Donuts. However, the Objection to the Donuts application submitted by The Financial Services Roundtable was successful, forcing Donuts out of the contention set.

Applicant Background

ABA & BITS Bid (fTLD Registry Services)

ABA and BITS confirmed their application for the .insurance and .bank TLDs in a press statement released on May 31, 2012. Craig Schwartz, head of operations for Financial TLD Initiative, said that the partnership aims to "provide the highest security for the millions of customers conducting banking and insurance activities online and to ensure the safety and soundness of the industry." ABA & BITS applications for both domain name strings are supported by a number of financial services organizations including the Australian Bankers’ Association, American Bankers Insurance Association, British Bankers’ Association, European Banking Federation, Independent Community Bankers of America and the the International Banking Federation. The partnership formed the fTLD Registry Services, LLC to manage and operate .insurance and .bank domain name space.

Its application is a [[Community TLD|Community Priority Application. "The .insurance gTLD will be operated by FRS on behalf of the U.S. insurance industry. This includes 3,750 companies (according to a 2010 report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners) and 2,250,000 agents and brokers (according to a 2010 report by the National Insurance Producer Registry). It also includes over 233 state insurance associations and 52 other types of insurance-related associations. As of April 10, 2012, endorsers of the FRS .insurance initiative include the American Bankers Insurance Association, The Allstate Corporation, Nationwide, Prudential Financial, Inc., and State Farm Insurance Companies."

Registration will include the submission of information to be used to verify standing as an insurance company (referral to the regulatory authority issuing its charter), or mission statements, brokerage license numbers, or association members for those members of the community that are not themselves insurance companies. "Domain names that pass the vetting process will enter a 5-day Add Grace Period (AGP), or Pending Create, before becoming valid. Applicants whose domain name fails the vetting process will be notified with reasons for denial and procedures for appeal. Any applicant who is rejected for any reason can appeal the decision to FRS." All initial registrations must be made to correspond to valid trademarks, trade names, or service marks. Generic terms will be set aside to be used by FRS or to be sold at a date post-launch.

Radix Bid

Radix, a newly created subsidiary business of Directi Group also confirmed its application for the .insurance TLD. The .insurance string is one of the 31 gTLDs being applied for by the company with an allocated budget of $30 million. Bhavin Turakhia, CEO of Radix is prepared to face a string contention and an auction for the string. He also expressed that he is open to establish partnerships with other applicants. ARI Registry Services was chosen by Radix to serve as its back-end registry services provider.

Radix received a GAC Early Warning as an entire applicant, where each one of the applicants was flagged by the U.S. Government. This seems to be the only time a portfolio applicant had all of their applications warned. The issue does not deal with the technical capabilities or thematic content of their applications, but rather the inclusion of an email address associated with the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation. It seems that Radix included correspondence with this address as a recommendation with each of their applications.

Donuts

Donuts' application was issued a GAC Early Warning from the representative of Australia and GAC Chair, Heather Dryden. The warning system is noted as a strong recommendation on behalf of national governments to the ICANN Board that a given TLD application should be denied as it stands. Applicants are encouraged to work with objecting GAC members. The warning notes that the TLD refers to a regulated market but that the applicant has not provided for adequate measures to protect from consumer harm. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. was the only other applicant for insurance to receive such a warning.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.

The application was issued a GAC Early Warning from the representative of Australia and GAC Chair, Heather Dryden. The warning system is noted as a strong recommendation on behalf of national governments to the ICANN Board that a given TLD application should be denied as it stands. Applicants are encouraged to work with objecting GAC members.

The warning states that the applicant is "seeking exlcusive access to a common generic string .. that relates to a broad market sector," which Ms. Dryden notes could have unintended consequences and a negative impact on competition." The application was subsequently WITHDRAWN.