.med

Status:	Proposed
country:	International
Type:	Generic
Category:	Health
Priority #:	483 - DocCheck AG 1614 - Second Generation Ltd. (Medistry LLC) 1732 - HEXAP SAS 1867 - Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.)
More information:

.med is a proposed TLD in ICANN's New gTLD Program.

Applicants

Current Applicants

1. Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.)
2. HEXAP SAS, Community Priority Application
3. Medistry LLC This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.

Withdrawn Applicants

1. DocCheck AG, Community Priority Application

Community Applications

Of the 4 applications for .med, two of them are community priority applications. The two community applicants are DocCheck AG and HEXAP SAS.

DocCheck AG defines the community as falling into 6 groups: Medical, Scientific-Technical, Nursing/Assisting, Pharmacy, Collegiate, and Business/Publishing. DocChecl is known for its DocCheck.com site, which is the largest community of healthcare professionals in Europe. In its application it notes that there is no onde authoritative medical body that oversees the international medical community, but that its own service and 860,000 registered members make it a significant part of the international medical community. It is a German company.

Registration of a .med domain will require registration on DocCheck's exisiting .com site, where they have been verifying medical credentials for 10+ years and are consequently experienced in determining and classifying individuals in the medical profession.

The second community applicant, HEXAP SAS, has significantly more endorsement letters attached to its application, including letters from The Mayo Clinic, Stanford, The World Dental Federation, The French Medical Order of Physicians, and other international and regional organizations. "Registrants cannot be anonymous in that sense that they have to provide accurate and full-contact information to the Registry Operator, which information will be published in the .MED Whois. In order to register a domain name, the candidate registrant must certify that he or she is a health-care professional who is licensed to practice in the country where he purports to be working. Any such information will need to be reported to the Medical Clearinghouse, operated by HEXAP, and must be kept up-to-date at all times throughout the life-cycle of the domain name."

IO Objections

ICANN's Independent Objector (IO) filed a Community Objection against the .med applications from Google and Medistry LLC; he also filed a Limited Public Interest objection against all of the applicants, including a second filed objection against Google and Medistry LLC. The IO is an appointed authority on international law whose role is to object to strings on the grounds of Community harm and Limited Public Interest were detailed in the applicant guidebook. His objections are official objections and are funded by ICANN, though his office is otherwise independent. Reasons for the specific case against .med were not initially given, but the community objection generally argues that the TLD faces opposition or is contrary to a significant portion of a community which it purportedly aims to serve. The IO must determine: That the community is a clearly delineated community; that there is a strong association between the community and the string applied for; there is a strong association between the segment of the community on whose half we objects and the string itself; and he must determine that the TLD would produce a significant material detriment to this sizable portion of the community.In the case of Limited Public Interest, "the applied-for gTLD string must be contrary to generally accepted legal norms of morality and public order that are recognized under fundamental principles of international law. The expert panel appointed by the ICC will base its decision on the existence of such a contradiction." The applied for string must threaten an incitement to violence of lawless action, discrimination, child pornography, or "be contrary to specific principles of international law as reflected in relevant international instruments of law."

The majority of the IO's objections are to health related TLD applications.

The community priority application from DocCheck AG was withdrawn only a few days after the posting of the IO's objections. The applicant qualified for a 70% refund of its $185,000 application fee by withdrawing at this time.

Top-Level Domain