.academy
| Status: | Active |
| Registry Provider: | Demand Media |
| Type: | Generic |
| Category: | Education |
| PIC Submitted: | Download Here |
| Priority #: | 544 - Donuts (Half Oaks, LLC) |
More information: 
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.academy is an active gTLD that was proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The Registry and manager of the TLD is Donuts. Their proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 17 December, 2013.[1]
Background[edit | edit source]
The application was filed by Half Oaks LLC, one of the companies created by Donuts to submit its applications. They applied for 307 total TLDs. According to the company, it is financially stable and it raised $100 million from various investors to support its registry operations safely, securely with world-class infrastructure and high-quality organizational management. The company partnered with Demand Media to provide back-end registry services.[2] [3]
Application Details[edit | edit source]
Seemingly all of Donuts applications were applied for using the same boiler-plate application in which the TLD is defined as a means of providing greater expression on the Internet and will be an open TLD without pre-registration policies. It notes its plans to adhere with all registration policies required by ICANN and its intent to have remediation and takedown policies clearly defined to fit within these requirements. Pre-registration verification will not be used and this as defined as causing "cause more harm than benefit by denying domain access to legitimate registrants." They intend to control abuse through "extensive user and rights protections."[4]
Objection[edit | edit source]
An official Legal Rights Objection was filed by Academy, Ltd., d/b/a Academy Sports + Outdoors against Donuts.[5]
A Legal Rights Objection, as defined by the ICANN approved mediator, WIPO, is when, "third parties may file a formal objection to an application on several grounds, including, for trademark owners and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) [..] When such an objection is filed, an independent panel (comprised of one or three experts) will determine whether the applicant’s potential use of the applied-for gTLD would be likely to infringe [..] the objector’s existing trademark, or IGO name or acronym."[6]
The objection was dismissed and Donuts prevailed, meaning they can continue with their application for the string uninhibited by the objection. The case was determined on August 16, 2013 and published by ICANN on September 25, 2013.[7]
Contract Signed[edit | edit source]
On 07 November 2013, Donuts received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .academy after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.[8]
Delegation and Availability[edit | edit source]
.academy was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on December 17, 2013, completing the successful application for the string.[1]
Sunrise[edit | edit source]
The Registry announced that the Sunrise Period for the string would begin 07 January 2014 and end on 08 March 2014.[9]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The plurals debate is over as ICANN delegates 17 more New gTLDs, DomainIncite Retrieved 18 Dec 2013
- ↑ Donuts raises $100 million, applies for 307 new TLDs
- ↑ Donuts Application for .Academy
- ↑ ApplicationDetails, gTLDresult.ICANN.orgRetrieved 12 Dec 2012
- ↑ LRO Cases, WIPO.int
- ↑ LRO, WIPO.int Retrieved 25 March 2013
- ↑ Objection Determinations, ICANN.org Retrieved 07 Nov 2013
- ↑ Registry Agreements, ICANN.org Retrieved 11 Nov 2013
- ↑ TLD Startup Information, ICANN.org Retrieved 24 January 2014