.chat

Status:	Active
Date Implemented:	20 May 2015
Type:	Generic
Category:	Technology
More information:

.chat is an active TLD in ICANN's New gTLD Program. Donuts (Sand Fields, LLC) manages the TLD and is its Registry. The proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 20 February, 2015. The TLD became generally available May 20, 2015.

Applicants

Current Applicant

The applicants for the .chat TLD are:

1. Donuts (Sand Fields, LLC), a start-up registry operator that filed for 307 new gTLDs. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.

Private Auction

A private auction resolved the contention set for this string in November 2014, with Donuts winning the rights for the gTLD.

Previous Applicants

1. Top Level Spectrum, Inc., Jay Westerdal, is the president of the company. He is also the founder & CEO of Name Intelligence, a company that offers solutions for centralized domain management and intellectual property protection.
2. Radix, .chat is one of 31 applications submitted by the company.
3. Famous Four Media (dot Chat Limited), a registry service provider based in Gibraltar that applied for 61 new gTLDs.

Radix

Radix received a GAC Early Warning as an entire applicant, where each one of the applicants was flagged by the U.S. Government. This seems to be the only time a portfolio applicant had all of their applications warned. The issue does not deal with the technical capabilities or thematic content of their applications, but rather the inclusion of an email address associated with the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation. It seems that Radix included correspondence with this address as a recommendation with each of their applications.

Top-Level Domain