.zone

Status:	Delegated
Registry Provider:	Demand Media
Type:	Generic
Category:	Commerce
PIC Submitted:	Download Here
More information:

.zone is a proposed TLD in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Donuts (Outer Falls, LLC). The proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 14 January, 2014.

Application Details

Many of Donuts' applications, including this one, seem to have been 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."

Objection

An official Legal Rights Objection was filed by AutoZone Parts, Inc., against the applicant Donuts.

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."

Contract Signed

On 14 November 2013, Donuts received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .zone after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.

Delegation and Availability

.zone was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on January 14, 2014, completing the successful application for the string.

Top-Level Domain