.staples

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Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Verisign
Type:	Brand TLD
Priority #:	913 - Staples, Inc.

.staples is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Staples, Inc.

Application Details

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

"Staples, Inc. (“Staples”) is the worldʹs largest office products company and a trusted source for office solutions. Staples provides products, services and expertise in the categories of office supplies, technology, furniture, Copy & Print, and cleaning and breakroom. In 2011, Staples had annual total sales of $25 billion and ranked second in the world in eCommerce sales. Staples customers include small and medium businesses as well as Fortune 100 companies. Staples has a presence in more than 26 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Staples’ headquarters is located outside of Boston, Massachusetts. The preservation of the Staples brand is of paramount importance to Staples in all aspects of its operations, including on the Internet. Staples content is accessible in the .COM gTLD, as well as in many ccTLDs.

The intended future mission and purpose of the .STAPLES gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace provided by Staples for Staples’ customers and Internet users in general.

Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD specification in the current version of the Applicant Guidebook, it is widely anticipated within the brand-owner community that this will become a specialty subset of gTLDs. The .STAPLES gTLD is intended to be one of those .BRAND gTLDs, with the goal of protecting Staples’ online presence and identity, expanding its marketing and promotion efforts, providing a secure channel for online products and services, and offering a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of Staples.

Staples intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .STAPLES gTLD to Staples and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow Staples to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution, coupled with the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the template Registry Agreement, is intended to exempt Staples from its annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements."