.aetna

Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Neustar
Type:	Brand TLD
More information:

.aetna is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Aetna Life Insurance Company.

Application Details

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

"As the life and health insurance subsidiary of health care company Aetna Inc., Aetna Life Insurance Company (“Aetna”) offers group life policies, health policies and related health care benefits, and select individual products throughout North America. It also provides disability insurance and related services. Aetna was founded in 1853 and is the primary entity that makes up Aetna Inc.ʹs Group Insurance, health care and legacy large case pensions businesses.

Aetna, through its parent, Aetna Inc., owns various trademarks in the United States, including: “AETNA”, Serial No. 85⁄576,962; “AETNA”, Registration No.: 1,939,424; “AETNA NAVIGATOR”, Registration No.: 3,308,001; “AETNA HEALTHFUND”, Registration No. 2,765,645; and “DocFind”, Reg. No. 2,075,630, among hundreds of others.

Aetna also owns over 1,200 domain names related to the AETNA® brand. For example, Aetna has owned aetna.com since 1993, and also owns⁄operates aetnamedicare.com, and docfind.com. Applicant actively uses aetna.com to provide insurance products, services, and information to its policyholders. Aetna markets its products and services under the AETNA® marks and related brands. It has continuously used the AETNA® marks and name in commerce in the United States – prominently using and promoting the AETNA® marks in advertising, in sales, and in various other ways. As a result of these efforts, the AETNA® marks are highly regarded, well-known and widely recognized by consumers, and serve to identify and indicate Aetna as a source of its products and services. The marks also serve to distinguish Aetna’s products and services from the products and services of others. As a result, Aetna has spent considerable resources protecting these marks and its brand.

..

Therefore, following the delegation of the applied-for gTLD, the gTLD is likely going to be a so-called “single registrant TLD” as contemplated by ICANN in Article 4.5 of the template Registry Operator Agreement. While Aetna has not fully determined the exact types of domain names to be registered and the exact use of such domain names, the Applicant nonetheless initially contemplates a single registrant TLD. For the avoidance of doubt, a “single registrant TLD” is a TLD where “(i) all domain name registrations in the TLD are registered to, and maintained by, Registry Operator for its own exclusive use, and (ii) Registry Operator does not sell, distribute or transfer control or use of any registrations in the TLD to any third party that is not an Affiliate of Registry Operator.” The term “Affiliate” has been defined in Article 2.9 (c) of the draft Registry Operator Agreement as follows:“a person or entity that, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, or is controlled by, or is under common control with, the person or entity specified.”

This means that parties who are not Aetna or – insofar and to the extent Aetna deems appropriate – an Affiliate of Aetna - will not be entitled to register domain names in the .AETNA TLD. As a result, it is unlikely that there will be multiple applications for a particular domain name. There likely will also be no social costs for third parties, given the fact that they will be unable to register domain names in the applied-for gTLD in any event."

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