.eco

Over half of online consumers say they want products and services that are better for people and the planet.

The new .eco domain - a gTLD established as part of the 2012 ICANN new gTLD application round - is for organizations, businesses and people committed to positive change.

Further information is available at: www.home.eco.

Launch Schedule

The .eco domain will launch with a 60 day end date sunrise, followed by a two week quiet period.

Launch will begin with a 7 day early access window, followed by general availability.

Key launch dates:

• February 1 - April 2, 2017 - Sunrise (end-date)
• April 18 - 25, 2017 - Early Access Program
• April 25, 2017 - General Availability

Registrars can participate by signing up at: www.home.eco/registrars

Eligibility

.eco is open to not-for-profits, businesses and people committed to positive change for the planet.

Every .eco registrant is offered free membership in the .eco Community Organization, allowing them to join the community as part of activating their .eco domain.

The community includes:

• Not-for-profit mission-based organizations, both small and large, that work for the good of the planet.
• Businesses of all sizes committed to providing products and services that encourage positive environmental change.
• Government bodies that support sustainability through programs, infrastructure, and funding among other policies and actions.
• People who participate in and support environmental change.

The community welcomes those that have been working toward positive change for years or even decades, as well as those who are ready to get started today.

Review registry and launch policies at: www.home.eco/registrars/policies

Contention History

Original Applicants

Prevailing Applicant

1. Big Room Inc. - The only Community-priority application. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.

Other Applicants

1. Donuts (Little Birch, LLC) - one of 307 gTLD applications submitted by the company. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
2. planet.ECO LLC - A US-based Small Disadvantaged Business, (SBA-SDB), and exclusive owner of the only US-based .ECO® trademark.
3. Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. (TLDH) - one of 68 gTLD applications submitted by the company. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.

Contention

.eco was one of the most publicly contested gTLD applications. By early 2009 Big Room Inc. and Dot Eco LLC had declared their intent to apply for .eco. Dot Eco LLC was endorsed by Al Gore, the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation, but eventually chose not to seek community status. Big Room Inc. was initially endorsed by Green Cross International and WWF International.

In August 2009, Dot Eco LLC released a 'green paper' critiquing Big Room's approach. Big Room did not respond to the critique other than that it was 'unfortunate'. In 2011, Al Gore withdrew support for Dot Eco LLC. A spokesman explained that they had decided to focus on global climate issues. Despite losing Gore's support, Dot Eco LLC maintained its intention to submit a .eco application. TLDH eventually acquired Dot Eco LLC and applied for .eco without requesting a community priority evaluation.

Big Room's application by this time had gathered the support of more than 50 of the world's leading environmental organizations, including UN Environment, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, WWF, Greenpeace, and many others. These groups had collaborated independently on developing a unified vision for how .eco could support the interests of the community. This vision formed the backbone of the community priority section of Big Room's .eco application.

In 2012 it was revealed that four groups applied for .eco - Big Room, Donuts, Planet.eco and TLDH. Of these, only Big Room sought community priority.

Big Room passed ICANN's community evaluation process and now operates the .eco Registry.

.eco Trademark Contention

planet.ECO LLC, a small disadvantaged business based in Connecticut is the registrant and exclusive trademark holder of .ECO®. The small business was also a gTLD contender for the ".eco" string and filed an infringement case against gTLD contenders Big Room Inc. and Dot Eco LLC on March 2, 2012. The complainant asked the court to order Big Room and Dot Eco LLC to stop infringing on their mark, submitting further documentation and withdraw their application for the .eco string with ICANN. Dot Eco LLC responded to the complaint with an argument that the trademark was obtained illegally by planet.ECO and it should be cancelled by the court. In total, five trademark cancellation attempts were made by Big Room Inc. and Dot Eco LLC, all of which were dismissed without prejudice.. Dot Eco LLC also argued that the complainant is is trying to prevent competition. On the other hand, Big Room filed a motion to dismiss because of lack of jurisdiction. Big Room's motion to dismiss was granted. Planet.eco withdrew the case against Dot Eco LLC.

European Commission Communiqué to ICANN

The European Commission flagged all applications for .eco outside of ICANN's defined remediation processes. Just after ICANN's GAC issued its Early Warnings, which are advice given from one GAC member country to an applicant warning it of potential issues within its application, the European Commission issued a letter to all applicants within the new gTLD program. The letter highlights 58 applications that "could raise issues of compatibility with the existing legislation .. and/or with policy positions and objectives of the European Union." It notes a desire to open a dialogue with each offending applicant. Big Room Inc. entered into a dialogue and as a result of those conversations - and in dialogue with the environmental community - updated its PIC spec to include specific references to issues raised by the Commission.

The Commission specifically notes that this objection is not a part of the GAC Early Warning process, and goes on to note that "the Commission does not consider itself legally bound to [ICANN] processes," given that there is not legal agreement between the two bodies.

Economic Cooperation Organization Complaint to ICANN

An international governmental organization, the Economic Cooperation Organization, sent a letter of complaint to ICANN in February 2013 given that they use the 'eco' acronym for their work. In its letter the ECO states that it “expresses its disapproval and non-endorsement to all the applications for .ECO gTLD and requests the ICANN and the new gTLD application evaluators to not approve these applications.”. However, neither the Economic Cooperation Organization nor any of its member states objected to any .eco application via the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee or as part of the new gTLD program.

Planet.eco Legal Rights Objection Against Top Level Domain Holdings

A Legal Rights Objection was filed by the applicant planet.ECO, LLC, against fellow applicant Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd.. 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." The objection was rejected by a WIPO panelist on August 26, 2013. See: Expert Objection Legal Rights Determination PDF . The Determination noted: "However, even assuming that, in view of the substantial identity of the applied-for string and the mark .ECO, there could be a likelihood of confusion between the two, the Panel finds that it would not be “impermissible”, since there is no evidence that the public would perceive it as a source identifier as opposed to as a descriptive term or prefix relating to ecology or environment."

Big Room Inc. Community Priority Evaluation and Contention esult

On 6 October 2014 the Economist Intelligence Unit, ICANN's community priority evaluator, awarded Big Room Inc.'s .eco application priority, scoring the application 14/16 points. On October 24, 2014, approximately 2 weeks after passing the community priority evaluation, the status was changed to "on-hold" pending the resolution of ICANN accountability mechanisms, including a reconsideration request submitted by Little Birch, LLC (Donuts) and Minds + Machines Group Limited (née Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd). On 18 November 2014 the ICANN Board issued a final determination denying this reconsideration request.

On February 20, 2015 Big Room Inc. also submitted a reconsideration request to ICANN pertaining to delays associated with the Cooperative Engagement Process. The request stated: "Big Room Inc. (“Big Room”) respectfully requests Board reconsideration of ICANN staff inaction in connection with its failure to terminate the ongoing Cooperative Engagement Process (“CEP”) pertaining to the .ECO generic top-level domain (gTLD) subject matter." The request was withdrawn prior to ICANN Board consideration of the matter as a result of the CEP being terminated.

Subsequently, an independent review panel was convened to consider whether the ICANN Board Governance Committee acted appropriately in issuing a final determination denying Little Birch, LLC and Minds + Machines Group Limited's reconsideration request.

A hearing was held on December 7 2015. A final declaration was issued on February 12 2016 . The determination upheld Big Room's .eco application CPE evaluation result, noting: "And, "[a]s for the .eco IRP, it is clear that the Reconsideration Request [14-46] was misconceived and was little more than an attempt to appeal the CPE decision. Again, therefore, the .eco IRP was always going to fail." (Final Declaration at ¶ 156.)". The ICANN Board adopted the final declaration March 10 2016 .

Conclusion

The .eco domain was delegated to Big Room Inc. on August 29th, 2016.

• Delegation record: https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/eco.html

• Registry agreement: https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/eco-2016-07-08-en

Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).

World Intellectual Property Organization

Independent Review Process