.lefrak Domain Information

Applicant Full Legal Name

LeFrak Organization, Inc.

Legal Establishment

corporation

Applicant Address

40 West 57th Street
New York New York 10019
US

State Jurisdiction

The State of New York

Applicant Website

http://lefrak.com

Applied for gTLD

LEFRAK

Domain Registration Status

Closed

Mission/Purpose of Domain Extension

The mission and purpose of the new restricted .lefrak gTLD is to benefit internet users by ensuring increased trust, convenience and utility. The .lefrak gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of customers and end users by providing an authoritative Internet space where... Read more

The mission and purpose of the new restricted .lefrak gTLD is to benefit internet users by ensuring increased trust, convenience and utility.

The .lefrak gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of customers and end users by providing an authoritative Internet space where information and resources regarding The LeFrak Organization's (LeFrak) real estate products and services can be easily and intuitively accessed. The .lefrak gTLD will be closely controlled by LeFrak and will be utilised to provide targeted services and content to customers. Domain name registrations in the .lefrak gTLD will be predominantly used in the promotion and communication of the LeFrak brand and services. A subset of domain names has the potential to be created for Lefrak's specific real estate development, investment and management products and services, as well as for communication and marketing purposes, with internet users assured of brand authenticity.

Founded in 1901, LeFrak and its affiliates own an extensive portfolio of real estate concentrated in the New York, Los Angeles, and London metropolitan areas. LeFrak focuses primarily on the development of and investment in the residential and office sectors but affiliates also own significant hotel and retail assets. Recognized as one of the world's leading building firms, LeFrak and its affiliated companies have developed and built a majority of their own property portfolio. The firm continues to maintain internal development and construction management capabilities and has been acclaimed internationally for responsible community development. In this regard, consumer trust and continuous innovation are paramount considerations in all its activities. LeFrak believes the .lefrak gTLD will further strengthen its responsible corporate presence in the communities in which it serves, lives and works. The new .lefrak gTLD will strengthen LeFrak's reputation and increase awareness of its real estate products and services, as well as simple and easy navigation for customers and internet users.

Since the inception of the current domain name system, business activities conducted on the internet are constantly changing and evolving with increased complexity. The volume of commercial transactions over the internet is constantly growing and bringing benefits of simplicity and lowered transaction costs to businesses and consumers. However, at the same time, criminal activities over the internet including data breach, hacking and phishing activities have also become more sophisticated resulting in loss of consumer confidence beyond mere monetary harm. The .lefrak gTLD will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with LeFrak online, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction.
LeFrak's mission and purpose of the proposed new gTLD share ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest. LeFrak is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:

- consumer trust: the .lefrak gTLD registry will be operated in a centralised manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to LeFrak and its affiliate entities, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .lefrak domain names are trustworthy. As .lefrak domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under LeFrak's control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .lefrak domain space;
- competition: the proposed new gTLD is not intended to instigate competition and consumer choice at the level of registration of domain names among prospective registrants. Instead it is anticipated to contribute to ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest through its operation focused on promoting consumer trust. Increased trust in the .lefrak gTLD will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs; and
- consumer choice: the proposed new gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations assisting LeFrak's marketing efforts through its ability to create new second and third level domain names on demand. These names will provide the consumers with more choices for interacting with LeFrak. As LeFrak has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under .lefrak domain space, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.

Given the restricted nature of the .lefrak gTLD, the projected number of registration is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that a more limited number of about 5 domain names will be registered in the first year. However, over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to around 15 domain names as LeFrak develops and implements new services and marketing campaigns.

As the new .lefrak gTLD expands and evolves, LeFrak will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, as well as maintaining consumer trust and the stability of the internet. LeFrak will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to the .lefrak gTLD including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.

LeFrak intends to create relevant domain names for use including real estate products and services in the second or third level domain names. In accordance with registration policy and the proposed measures for protection of geographic names as outlined in response to Question 22, LeFrak may use geographic names to localise its websites in the various countries in which it operates. The use of geographic names is intended to:
- connect internet users with relevant information as applicable to the territory; and
- comply with required rules and regulations in the national territory.

LeFrak is a well-recognised American brand with its "LeFrak" trademark registered in the United States for the following categories: Financial and real estate services including commercial, residential and retail real estate investment and management (Class 36); Building construction and repair services relating to commercial, residential and retail real estate development; oil and gas drilling (Class 37); Scientific and technological services including oil and gas exploration (Class 42).
LeFrak has two domain names, lefrak.com and lefrak.mobi, which are an exact match to its "LeFrak" trademark and the applied-for .lefrak string. In addition, LeFrak 47 existing domain names which contain the "LeFrak" trademark in spaces including .com, .org, and .net.

LeFrak City, a New York City housing development built, owned and managed by the applicant, now has some common usage as the name of a neighbourhood, but the area of LeFrak City is all private property, and the phrase "LeFrak City" is a registered trademark of LeFrak.

LeFrak believes that the .lefrak gTLD is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs. LeFrak trademark is a leading brand in the United States of America and has a strong international reputation. LeFrak has used the term LeFrak in conjunction with its real estate development, investment and management businesses for more than 106 years. As such, the LeFrak brand is well known for property development and management.×