.free

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Status:	Proposed
Type:	Generic
Category:	Commerce

.free is a proposed new generic top-level domain name to ICANN's New gTLD Program.

Applicants

1. Amazon- The company applied for the TLD through its office in Luxembourg and partnered with Neustar to provide back-end registry services. Its goal is to use the .free domain name space as dedicated platform for Amazon to promote innovation, provide secure online communication and interaction and to protect its intellectual property rights.
2. Donuts (Over Keep, LLC)- This is one of the 307 domain name strings filed by Donuts, a start-up registry company with $100 million capital. Its investment for new gTLD applications alone is $56 million. Its main objective in applying for the TLD is to provide an online identity and expression for internet users that is currently unavailable. The company partnered with Demand Media Europe Limited (DMEL) to provide back-end registry services; AusRegistry Pty Ltd. to provide Domain Name System (DNS) services and Domain Name Service Security Extensions (DNSSEC); Equinix to provide abuse mitigation and prevention consultations; SuperNap for datacenter facilities and infrastructure and Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management, Inc. (Iron Mountain) to provide data escrow services.
3. Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.)- This is one of the 101 new domain name strings filed by yje search engine giant. Its main objective in applying for the .free TLD is to provide a dedicated online space for enterprises, small businesses, groups or individuals engaged in marketing and promoting free products, services, events and other activities. The Google Registry platform will be used to ensure the efficiency and security of entire technical registry operations of the TLD.
4. Top Level Domain Holdings- This is one of the 68 new gTLDs filed by the company for its own behalf. Its objective is to provide a dedicated platform for companies, not-for-profit organizations and individuals to share free products and services through the .free domain name space. Its subsidiary company, Minds + Machine will serves as its backe-end registry service provider.
5. Uniregistry, Corp.- This is one of the 54 new gTLDs filed by the company. Its plan is to operate the .free TLD with a flat pricing, fixed renewal cost and without price increase for the first 5 years if approved by ICANN. Uniregistry partnered with the Internet Systrems Consortium (ISC) to serve as its back-end registry service provider.

dotFree Group Initiative

The .free TLD is currently managed and operated by the dotFree Group s.r.o., a start-up services provider offering software development, internet and free domain name registration from the Czech Republic.

The company offered registrations of .free domain names without cost to all interested companies, individuals and organizations around the world. The pre-registration for the .Free domain started in October, 2010; and it is one of the few companies accepting pre-registrations while awaiting the approval of its application from ICANN to be included in the DNS root system. More than 160 thousand registrants have already reserved their desired domain names.

Its main objective for the .free gTLD is to improve the information exchange and interaction among individuals and to promote development and innovation in the Internet community worldwide and to give individuals and companies the opportunity to create their own trademark without spending a cent.

Launch Procedure

dotFree Group implements a 4-step procedure to ensure that users will have equal opportunity to claim their desired domain names and to protect their trademarks and intellectual property rights. The launch procedure adheres to the latest industry standards and the dotFree Group s.r.o makes sure that their procedure is regularly updated to be able to offer the highest quality services to their users.

1.Preregistration Period- The preregistration period is ongoing, however registrants will not be able to claim premium domain names and trademarks. Premium domain names and trademarks will be open for registration during the Sunrise and Landrush period. Domains that have been preregistered many times will be resolved and allocated during the Landrush period.

2.Sunrise Period- This is a priority registration period when brand owners are able to register their trademarks to avoid cybersquatting, which is considered a form of internet piracy. During the Sunrise Period, users are certain that their trademark and intellectual property rights are fully protected and .free will include a dispute resolution mechanism on this period.

3.Landrush Period- This follows the Sunrise and it will be open for everybody who preregistered their desired domain. All domains that had been preregistered multiple times by different users will be open for bidding.

4.General Availability- .free domains will be open to the public worldwide and it will be granted on a first come per serve basis through the dotFree registration, an ICANN accredited websites, and .free domain authorized resellers after the Sunrise and Landrush periods, with an exception for the premium domains.

The company did not submit an application to ICANN.