.scot

Status:	Contract Signed
country:	Scotland/ International
Manager:	Dot Scot Registry
Type:	Generic/Community TLD
Category:	Culture
More information:

.scot is a new Community Priority Application in ICANN's New gTLD Program; the goal is to provide an online identity for the Scottish culture, people, businesses and organizations is Scotland and around the world. The Dot Scot Registry, a non profit organization is applying for the .scot string to become its registry operator. Its bid is supported by the Scottish Government and the UK Government.

The name was applied for as a GeoTLD, which includes obtaining the respective government support, but ICANN deemed that the term in question does not in fact refer to a geographic area as defined by its standards. The ruling was made by the Geographic Names Panel, and has no necessarily overt, negative repercussions for the application.

The international community of Scots is defined through: "birth or residence as Scottish; by ancestry as of Scots origin;businesses located in Scotland or registered in Scotland; organisations and their memberships whose stated remit is to celebrate or further the heritage, arts, music, languages, sports and culture of Scotland."

The applicant has the support of the UK and Scottish governments. Registration will be verified by a statement of intent and maintained through good-faith registration.

Application Details

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

"Q18 a) - Mission⁄purpose

The .scot TLD application is submitted by dotScot Registry Limited in name and on behalf of the Scottish community, composed of individuals and organizations linked to the community on a cultural or business basis, or by any other activity conducive to the welfare of the Scottish community

Registrations under the .scot TLD are restricted to bona-fide members of the Scottish community, and subject to the further requirement that the registrant’s actions in the .scot TLD community, as well as the registrant’s use of the registered domain name, must be:

1. generally accepted as legitimate; and
2. beneficial to the cause and the values of the Scottish community; and
3. commensurate with the role and importance of the registered domain name; and
4. in good faith at the time of registration and thereafter.

The goals of the .scot TLD are to:

(a) facilitate digital communications from, to, and within the Scottish community;
(b) provide a platform for the development in the digital space of the Scottish community.
(c) strengthen the image of the Scottish community in the on-line world;
This is to be achieved by:

1. actively designing and developing the .scot TLD name space with a focus on the needs of the Scottish community, involving cultural, welfare, business and public stakeholders;
2. facilitating registrations using Scottish languages other than English such as Gaelic, Scots, Doric, Shetlandic and Orcadian many of which use non-ASCII characters. This is especially true for Gaelic, Shetlandic and Orcadian;
3. allowing registrations of second-level domains in the .scot TLD by individuals and organizations with a bona fide nexus to the Scottish community; the basic criterion to elucidate this bona fide nexus will be established by the requirement to use the domain names registered conducive to the welfare of the Scottish community.
4. operating the .scot TLD under the stewardship of the Scottish community:. As will be elaborated and detailed under 20 b), Dot Scot Registry has the explicit support of the Scottish public authorities, its most relevant cultural and professional institutions and private sector stakeholders.

The .scot TLD will contribute to increase the cultural diversity of the DNS, which is one of the main objectives of the gTLD process.

• The previous experience of a TLD, .CAT, offered the possibility to evaluate the beneficiary ripple effects of such a TLD. and its significant contribution to the profile of the catalan speaking community on the Internet. the .scot TLD’s cooperation with Fundació puntCAT throughout ECLID - European Cultural and Linguistic Internet Domains - the working group which both entities are founding members of, will contribute to the benefit of the cultural communities TLDs’ knowledge, and to the development of a network of multistakeholder non-for-profit organizations committed to the aim of developing the advancement of the Internet in their respective cultural areas of influence. Information about ECLID may be found at: http:⁄⁄www.eclid.eu⁄

Registrations under the .scot TLD are restricted to bona-fide members of the Scottish community, and subject to the further requirement that the registrant’s actions in the .scot TLD community, as well as the registrant’s use of the registered domain name, must be:

1. generally accepted as legitimate; and
2. beneficial to the cause and the values of the Scottish community; and
3. commensurate with the role and importance of the registered domain name; and
4. in good faith at the time of registration and thereafter.

The registration policies are differentiated between Pre-launch phase, Launch phase and General Availability.
1, Pre-launch phase
During Pre-launch, projects and content provision commitments are actively sought and negotiated, especially for key public-interest portions of the name space. All potential registrants and mandate holders are subject to screening and thorough pre-validation. For more details on the pioneer and the name space program, please see response to Q18 c) below
2.Launch phase
During the Launch phase, all registrations are thoroughly pre-validated; Launch phase pre-validation depends on priority status but will always involve community nexus. For further details about the community nexus, please see response to Q20 e) below. The Launch phase includes 3 categories for registrants with prior rights, and a fourth one, which is in fact, a Landrush, running in parallel in time, but being the lowest in priority. The categories are the following according to hierarchy:

Entities which have a specific vocation in promoting Scottish culture, including Public Authorities, such as:

• Public Administrations in Scotland including but not limited to Scottish Government, Regional Authorities, Local Authorities and other bodies in the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities;
• Public Administrations in the UK with a Scottish remit;
• European Administrations with a Scottish remit;
• Commonwealth Secretariat administrations with a Scottish remit;
• All other Administrations with competencies relating to Scotland, itʹs people, languages, culture and business.

• Trademark and other distinctive signs rights holders. This includes trademarks validated by the Trademark Clearinghouse, and designations of origin.

• Entities with their legal seat in Scotland. This category is restricted to legal entities, and does not allow “fantasy names”.

• No prior rights. Eligible registrants not able to claim any of the priorities listed above will be able to apply during the whole duration of the Launch phase, as a preparation for an orderly and transparent Landrush.

Applications in non-English languages will be welcomed, specifically in Gaelic, Shetlandic and Orcadian which often require the use of non ASCII characters, as well as in the other Scottish languages of Doric and Scots.
3. Post-launch: General Availability
At General Availability, community nexus is subject to post-validation by way of an extensive compliance program based on the same criteria that form the basis of the TLD: cultural, business and welfare of the Scottish community. The ongoing compliance program will regularly be adapted to current needs based on experience and audit findings. Community nexus validation combined with strong protection of trademarks helps stamp out cybersquatting and abusive registrations."

Contract Signed

On 23 January 2014 Dot Scot Registry received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .scot after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.

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