Community Applicants

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A Community TLD is a regulated type of generic top level domain name (gTLD) made possible through ICANN's New gTLD Program; it is intended for cohesive, community groups that are interested in operating their own TLD registry. Community TLDs must represent and receive strong, written support from a clearly defined group of people such as cultural, religious, social groups or industry sectors. The existence of the group must be unquestionable.[1] [2][3]

Community groups are given precedence for TLDs in contention; that is, if there are multiple applicants for a given string, and one of the applicants applies and proves community status, the community group is automatically given precedence to the TLD. Community status is proven through a process known as Community Priority Evaluation.

The full requirements for a community TLD can be found here.

Generic Community Applications[edit | edit source]

1. .art, is one of the most highly contested strings, with a total of 10 applicants, which include 2 competitive community priority applicants.

The two competing community bids have been submitted by EFLUX.ART, LLC and Dadotart, Inc.. Dadotart claims it "is submitting this application on behalf of the Arts community, which it regards as Artists and those who have an identifiable engagement with the Arts worldwide. This naturally evolving community is the community represented by Dadotart in its application for the extension, .ART. The community is not static just as the arts themselves never stand still...Dadotart is owned and directed by deviantArt, an innovator in creating an Arts community online which has proven its commitment to support the Arts community online with more than 20 million members and 60 million monthly unique visitors. " A statement of intent at the time of registration will be used to determine if the registrant is part of the art community as defined by Dadotart, Inc.[4]

EFLUX.ART, LLC notes that it "already enjoys the support of a vast international community of individuals, organizations and companies that are active in the art community, with whom e-flux has extensively discussed its plans. This is shown by the vast amount of support letters from leading public and private art institutions as well as noted international artists, critics and curators, received by e-flux, and attached to our response to Question 20." Their eligibility and verification processes will include the need for registrants to be endorsed as legitimate by two existing .art registrants. Thereby creating a network of verifiable art professionals.[5]


2. .bank, has been applied for by two applicants, with only one, fTLD Registry Services LLC applying as a community applicant. That company is a partnership between the American Bankers Association (ABA) & BITS, the technology policy arm of the Financial Services Roundtable.[6] The ABA and Roundtable initiative is endorsed by the Australian Bankers' Association, American Bankers Insurance Association, British Bankers' Association, European Banking Federation, Independent Community Bankers of America, the International Banking Federation, and numerous financial services institutions.[7]

The non-community applicant for .bank is Radix, a portfolio applicant and subsidiary of Directi that has applied for 31 new gTLDs.


3. .gay There are 4 total applicants for the .gay TLD, including one community applicant, dotgay LLC. The company is supported by the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) and the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, New York (NGLCCNY). dotgay LLC plans to donate 67% of the revenue generated from the sales of .gay domain names to non-profit LGBT organizations.[8] Their registration policies will include participation by "authentication partners", which will be gay and lesbian membership organization, ".gay is restricted to members of the Gay Community. Eligibility is determined through formal membership with any of dotgay LLC’s Authentication Partners (AP) from the community." Generic terms, such as "travel", will be reserved at the second level to create community resources, i.e. "travel.gay". [9]


4. .mls, there are a total of 3 applications for .mls, a TLD aimed at the real estate agency. "MLS" is an acronym for multiple listing service, which is a widely used real estate database in North America. There are 3 applications, but only 2 applicants, as the Canadian Real Estate Association applied as a community priority applicant and as a standard gTLD applicant. This is a means of ensuring that the Canadian Real Estate Association is still in a place to be delegated the TLD, even if it is not accepted as a community TLD.

While .mls has been applied for by the Canadian Association, it has already reached a deal to allow partners in America, the MLS Domains Association, to verify and sell its domains in the USA.[10] Their registration policies state: "Only members of CREA and its Foreign Affiliates will be permitted to register .MLS websites. The .MLS TLD will initially be made available to CREA’s Board members and Foreign Affiliate members. After undertaking any required assessments, CREA may enter into a second phase where the TLD would be made available to broker and salespeople members of CREA. Boards using the .MLS TLD will be required to use their corporate name, or an acronym of their corporate name, as the second level domain. Foreign Affiliate members will be required to include geographical modifiers in their second level domains on the .MLS TLD or clearly indicate the geographical area served by their system on any site page. For example, the Durham MLS would not be able to simply register Durham.mls, as this domain could be confusing with Durham, Ontario. The Durham MLS would be required to include a geographical modifier, like DurhamNorthCarolina.mls, or they would have to display something like a map of North Carolina on their home page."[11]

Brands as Community[edit | edit source]

IDNs as Community[edit | edit source]

Geographic Communities[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

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