.gmbh

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Status:	Proposed
country:	Germany/Europe
Type:	Generic TLD
Category:	Commerce
Priority #:	184 - TLDDOT GmbH 556 - InterNetWire Web-Development GmbH 1090 - Donuts (Extra Dynamite, LLC) 1269 - STRAAT Investments (NU DOT CO LLC) 1828 - Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.)

.gmbh is a new generic top level domain name (gTLD) proposal to the new gTLD expansion program of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers. Gmbh is a German term for "Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung" meaning limited liability and it is generally used in various European countries including Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland.

Current Applicants

1. TLDDOT GmbH, a newly established registry operator based in Germany. The .gmbh TLD was filed by the company as a Community gTLD and its application is supported by eco eV (Association of German Internet Industry). The company aims to provide a dedicated online space GmbH community, which according to TLDDOT is composed of around 1.4 million companies in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Its back-end registry services will be provided by TLD-Box Registrydienstleistungen GmbH. Dirk Krischenowski, CEO of TLDDOT is the main contact person listed in the application.
2. STRAAT Investments (NU DOT CO LLC), the parent company of .co Internet also submitted its application for the string. Neustar has been selected by the company to provide its back-end registry services.
3. Donuts (Extra Dynamite, LLC)- The .gmbh TLD is one of the 307 new gTLDs filed by Donuts, which raised $100 million to support its registry operations. Its objective is to provide an online identity for corporations in various countries using the gmbh as part of their corporate name and to operate the domain name space legally and securely. Donuts has strategic partnerships with Demand Media to serve as its registry provider, AusRegistry to provide DNS service and DNSSEC Extension, Equinix and SuperNap to provide datacenter facilities and infrastructure and Iron Mountain as data escrow service provider. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
4. InterNetWire Web-Development GmbH- The company plans to provide a trusted domain name space where registrants will be validated to ensure that they are legitimate GmbH entities.Registry.Net will provide back-end registry services for the company. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
5. Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.)- This is one of the 101 new domain name strings proposed by the search engine giant to ICANN through its subsidiary, Charleston Road Registry Inc. Its main goal is to provide a dedicated domain space and opportunity for verified GmbH (limited liability corporations) to create their unique and branded online identity. The back-end registry services and the entire technical operations will be provided by Google.

Former Applicants

1. GMBH Registry, LLC. The company had chosen Verisign as its back-end registry service provider. The application was withdrawn in late 2012.

Community Application

A community application was submitted by TLDDOT GmbH. The CEO of the company is the long-time ICANN participant, Dirk Krischenowski. GmbH is an acronym for the German corporate mark "Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung", which means "company with limited liability". The designation is equivalent to an LLC mark elsewhere, and it is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. The applicant delineates the GmbH community along 3 layers: first, the Governments, responsible for the oversight of the title; second, Chambers and Associations, which represent whole collections of GmbH companies, and are sometimes required to exist by law; and thirdly, the GmbH companies themselves.

The applicant sees itself as a member and leader of the community, as it is itself a GmbH; that it has worked with the governments of the respective countries using GmbH within ICANN's GAC; and that it has maintained relations with major GmbH associations, such as the BVMW (The German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses). The only letter of support that is attached to its application is a letter from the latter association, which is the largest such association in Germany.

Objection

An official Legal Rights Objection was filed by the applicant TLDDOT GmbH against fellow applicant InterNetWire Web-Development GmbH.

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."