.ibm

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Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	ARI Registry Services
Type:	Brand TLD
Priority #:	928 - International Business Machines Corporation

.ibm is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is International Business Machines Corporation.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"“International Business Machines”, more familiarly known by the abbreviation “IBM”, is a world-famous corporation and the oldest technology company in the world. Headquartered in Armonk, N.Y., IBM has offices and affiliated companies around the world and employs over 400,000 people globally. Tracing its roots to the 1880s, IBM is and has been a leading innovator in the design and manufacture of a wide array of products that record, process, communicate, store and retrieve information, including computers and computer hardware, software and accessories, and has received the most United States patents annually for the past 19 years. The company was incorporated on June 16, 1911 as Computer-Tabulating-Recording Co. (“C-T-R”), an amalgamation of three previously existing companies, and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the C-T-R name in 1915. IBM officially became International Business Machines Corporation on February 14, 1924, and has been traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the International Business Machines name, stock symbol ʺIBMʺ, since then. IBM’s market capitalization is currently over $237 billion.

IBM owns trademark registrations for the IBM mark in 170 countries all around the world, including numerous federal registrations in the United States that have become incontestable, for a broad range of goods and services, including but not limited to information technology-related goods and services. IBM also uses multiple URLs and its content is accessible through various IBM-identified websites, such as ibm.com and a large domain name portfolio consisting of 259 domain names and including 223 ccTLDs, all contributing to the high global recognition of the IBM name and brand. In fact, the IBM trademark is one of the two or three most recognizable global brands according to independent surveys conducted by brand management agencies Interbrand (http:⁄⁄www.interbrand.com⁄en⁄best-global-brands⁄best-global-brands-2008⁄best-global-brands-2011.aspx) and Millward Brown (http:⁄⁄www.millwardbrown.com⁄BrandZ⁄default.aspx).

IBM sells its offerings and services in over 190 countries around the world. IBM’s business spans the manufacture of computer products, computer parts, software, servers, and related technology, and the provision of consulting and system integration services, including design and installation of computer systems, servers and software, and trouble-shooting and maintenance services. In 2011, IBM was ranked the 18th largest firm in the United States by Fortune magazine and the 31st largest by Forbes. Other rankings this year include #1 company for leaders (Fortune), #2 best global brand (Interbrand, for the fourth year in a row), #1 green company (Newsweek), #12 most admired company (Fortune), and #29 most innovative company (Fast Company).

Mission ⁄ Purpose of the .IBM gTLD: The intended mission and purpose of the .IBM TLD is to provide clarity, authenticity and logic to the IBM brand’s many parts including business units, geographic divisions, products, services, and applications, and to create an intuitive web identity for the company, its employees and departments, and its customers, vendors and business partners (“IBM Users”). Websites that are launched using .IBM domain names will be able to reflect and differentiate among IBM’s various markets and product architecture, likely incorporating either descriptive identifiers or IBM trademarks, i.e. software.ibm, smarterplanet.ibm, smartcloud.ibm, etc. Domain names under the .IBM TLD may be used to denote separation between traditional Internet marketing sites and consumable applications or services. In addition, use of the TLD will enable the company to strengthen and preserve its brand name and reputation, and provide IBM Users with a trusted space that will ensure they are accessing IBM and are not falling victim to piracy or other internet schemes. IBM is not intending to use the TLD to sell domain names or host third party websites, however in certain instances URLs under the TLD may point to content on third party servers. There will initially be no registrants of the .IBM TLD other than the IBM Corporation, and access will only be provided to verified IBM Users. The .IBM TLD will be a closed registry."