.sina

Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Afilias
Type:	Brand TLD
Priority #:	1616 - Sina Corporation
More information:

.sina is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Sina Corporation.

Application Details

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

"The mission and purpose of .SINA Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) represents SINA Corporation’s (SINA) continuous and proactive effort on international trademark protection in the Internet domain name system. SINA plans to make every possible attempt to ensure its brand recognition, reputation, and user experience at the Internet Top-Level. Based on further research and findings in domestic and international marketplace, there could be other areas and goals that SINA may identify prior to or upon launching the TLD registry.

SINA Corporation (NASDAQ ticker: SINA) is an online media company and Mobile Value Added Service (MVAS) provider in the Peopleʹs Republic of China and for the global Chinese communities. With a branded network of localized websites targeting Greater China and overseas Chinese, the Company provides services mainly through SINA.com (online news and content), Weibo.com (microblog) and SINA Mobile (MVAS). Through these businesses and properties and other business lines, SINA offers an array of services including region-focused online portals, MVAS, microblog, blog, video and music streaming, photo sharing, online games, email, search, classified listings, fee-based services, e-commerce and enterprise e-solutions. The Company generates the majority of its revenues from online advertising and MVAS offerings and, to a lesser extent, from fee-based services.

As of end of 2011, the aggregated number of daily unique visitors to SINA websites is around 70 millon people, with daily page views of exceeding 2 billion hits. SINA websites are able to reach in average of approximately 400 million Internet users per month. As of March 2012, www.sina.com.cn is one of the top 20 websites in the world, and one of the top 5 websites in China, according to Alexa.com .

SINA Corporation, a Cayman Islands corporation, was founded in March 1999 through the merger of Beijing SINA Information Technology Co. Ltd. and California-based SINANET.com. In April 2000, the Company completed its initial public offering and was listed on the NASDAQ market. With more than 4,000 employees now, SINA is headquartered in Shanghai, China and the principle place of operations is located in Beijing, China. SINA has offices throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S.

..

Initially, .SINA can be only registered (e.g. example.SINA) by SINA itself, therefore SINA is the only eligible registrant. SINA plans to adopt this approach and expects to maintain it for 3 years from the launch of the “.SINA” registry service. Such approach will be regularly evaluated and adjusted if appropriate and necessary. Depending a various internal and external factors, including market demand and user expectation, SINA may consider a phased roll-out approach for a broader commercial marketplace but will do so after the conclusion of the initial 3-year period. This defensive and conservative approach shall meet the purpose of trademark protection, minimize potential technological, marketing and operational risks, and allow ample time for SINA’s management to evaluate best possible and long-term strategy of utilizing .SINA TLD prominently.

SINA is also analyzing the definition of “eligible registrants” and the potential use case options on the type of domain name that is permitted for registration and by whom. To the best of SINA’s knowledge as a registry operator, the eligible registrants may include the following: -- a subsidiary or branch company -- an official or frequently-used name of the department or business unit -- a channel, service, product, event, or campaign -- a member of Board, Staff, affiliated person, partner or collaborator -- Other entity, sub-group, or personnel to be further defined

The eligible registrant is authorized to be a user or administrator of a .SINA second level domain. Subject to operational requirement and other business factors, the eligible registrant should be able to register one or multiple .SINA domain names. Specific roles and responsibilities of a registrant will be defined prior to the launch of the .SINA TLD. SINA will ensure that its registrants are provided with clear guidance on registration policy, and the registry services are offered in a safe and trusted environment."

Top-Level Domain