.coop

Status:	Active
country:	International
Manager:	DotCooperation LLC wholly-owned subsidiary of National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA)
Registry Provider:	DynDNS subsidiary of Midcounties Cooperative, Ltd.
Date Implemented:	2001
Type:	sTLD
Community:	Yes
More information:

.coop is one of the sponsored top-level domain names (sTLD) delegated in the root zone of the domain name system (DNS) of the Internet. It was created for the use of cooperatives and cooperative organizations. The National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) is the sponsoring organization responsible for developing and implementing registry policies for the .coop domain space; it is committed to using the surplus revenues earned from the registry to develop cooperatives in underdeveloped countries through the Digital Divide Fund. DotCooperation LLC (dotCoop), a wholly owned subsidiary of the NCBA, manages the operations of .coop while Midcounties Cooperative provides back-end registry solutions through its subsidiary DyDNS. The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is responsible for the global marketing and outreach of the the .coop sTLD.

Background

During the first round of ICANN's TLD expansion program in 2000, the NCBA proposed the establishment of the .coop TLD in cooperation with the ICA and Poptel, a cooperative Internet services provider (ISP) based UK to serves as registry operator. .Coop was one of the seven sponsored top-level domain names approved by ICANN to be delegated in the DNS root zone along with .aero .biz, .info, .name .pro and .museum.

On May 25, 2001, the NCBA created the DotCooperation LLC to ensure that the .coop registry will be operated independently. The NCBA and ICANN signed the Sponsorship Agreement on November 21, 2001. The .coop TLD was implemented in the DNS root zone on January 15, 2001. Poptel also signed a contract with NCBA to serve as the registry backend. On July 16, 2007, DotCoop renewed its Sponsorship Agreement with ICANN. ICANN also approved the release of the Go.coop domain name on September 18, 2007.

Dot Coop submitted a request to ICANN to allow the organization to allocate one and two character domain names under the .coop domain space through an RFP process on May 27, 2008. In i's letter to ICANN, DotCoop cited the RSTEP report, GNSO Names Working Group Recommendation and the approval of the releases of two-character domain names for .jobs in support for its request. The RSTEP reported that the release of two-character domain names does not create reasonable risk to the security and stability of the DNS while the GNSO Reserve Names Working Group recommended that registries may request the release of two-character domain names as long as procedures to avoid confusions with any corresponding ccTLDs will be implemented On June 13, 2008, ICANN approved DotCoop's request to release single and two-letter domain names after determining that there is no associated competition or security and security risk.

Founders

The founding organizations of the .coop TLD include:

• National Cooperative Business Association
• International Cooperative Alliance
• National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative
• Cooperatives UK
• NCB
• National Dairy Development Board

Registration Eligibility

The .coop TLD is restricted; only cooperatives, cooperative support organizations, and businesses owned by cooperatives are allowed to register a domain name. Registrations are verified and all registrants are required to submit an affirmation of membership from two cooperative organizations in their country or region.

Dispute Policy

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was selected by dotCoop to handle all disputes under the .coop domain name space.

.Coop Accredited Registrars

The following companies are accredited registrars for .coop registry:

• EuroDNS
• EnCirca
• NamesBeyond
• Secura Gmbh (DOMAINREGISTRY.DE)
• AB NameISP
• GoodLuck Internet Services
• Domains.coop
• Tuonome.it
• Firstserver
• Gandi SAS
• CORE
• Domain Bank