.heart Domain Information

Applicant Full Legal Name

American Heart Association, Inc.

Legal Establishment

not-profit institution

Applicant Address

7272 Greenville Avenue
Dallas Texas 75231
US

State Jurisdiction

New York Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, Article 4 - Formation of Corporations

Applicant Website

http://www.heart.org

Applied for gTLD

HEART

Mission/Purpose of Domain Extension

The mission of the .HEART TLD is to provided a unified and consistent communications and fundraising platform which will be used to communicate and carryout the American Heart Associationʹs mission of saving people from heart disease. Under the unified and consistent communications, fundraising... Read more

The mission of the .HEART TLD is to provided a unified and consistent communications and fundraising platform which will be used to communicate and carryout the American Heart Associationʹs mission of saving people from heart disease.

Under the unified and consistent communications, fundraising and advocacy platform of .heart, the American Heart Association will aggregate its many educational and fundraising campaigns, promote and publicize outstanding research of cardiovascular disease, make accessible information about hospitals and local centers providing a high standard of care for heart disease, promote heart-healthy campaigns by corporations, and recognize outstanding contributions to the AHA mission.

AHA was founded in 1924 by six cardiologists in New York. We relocated our current headquarters to Dallas, Texas, in 1975. AHA is proud to be the oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting cardiovascular diseases in the United States. Since 1949, we have funded more than $3.3. billion in research on cardiovascular disease, more research than any organization in the US outside the federal government. We have 150 local offices, 2600 employees, and 22.5 million volunteers and supporters, all of whom will be served by the .HEART platform.

More than 82 million people around the world suffer from one or more forms of cardiovascular disease, and heart disease is Americaʹs No. 1 killer - killing more than 813,000 Americans annually, and many more worldwide. The .HEART TLD will serve as a united platform to allow us to aggregate all of our campaigns, communication, education, research and key stakeholders in a unified and consistent way that will directly advance our aggressive health goal of reducing heart disease in the US by 20% by 2020 and saving people worldwide from heart disease.
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Benefits

Fundraising and health education have changed significantly with the Internet. For over a decade, AHA has used domain names to reach a community of universities, hospitals, donors and individuals. We have collected online donations from over 90,000 donors, worked closely with thousands of... Read more

Fundraising and health education have changed significantly with the Internet. For over a decade, AHA has used domain names to reach a community of universities, hospitals, donors and individuals. We have collected online donations from over 90,000 donors, worked closely with thousands of corporate customers who have supported our mission, and shared public health information with millions of people in the US and around the world. The overall benefits of the .HEART gTLD will be:
o streamlining AHAʹs communication and campaigns on a single, unified TLD as a communications platform;
o extending and deepening relationships with key AHA Stakeholders;
o reinforcing key AHA messages; and
o raising the funds we need to continue the life-saving research and education to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease.
Quite simply, the key benefit of the .HEART TLD will be saving lives.
Benefits for Internet users
The .HEART TLD will benefit Internet users by enabling individuals worldwide to quickly and easily find everything we do, including AHAʹs:
o community-based programs to fight cardiovascular disease;
o targeted initiatives that reach diverse populations with educational, scientific and developmental opportunities;
o safe and secure locations for online donations;
o local events where they can join other volunteers in education and fundraising efforts; and
o online health assessments (e.g. "My Life Check") and free patient management tools.
o hospitals operating under the AHAʹs high standards of care for cardiovascular treatments;
o corporations receiving certification for their "heart-healthy" foods, and;
o cutting-edge research in cardiovascular science from universities receiving research funding from our grants.
Benefits for Registrants
The .HEART TLD is envisioned as a restricted namespace. Registrations in the .HEART TLD will bring together organizations, institutions and individuals whose work furthers our goals and mission specifically:
o hospitals following the "Get with the Guidelines" program of cardiovascular care;
o top-tier donors whose donations fund research and education to prevent and treat heart disease;
o local centers in the US and around the world providing CPR and emergency cardiovascular care following AHA education and training;
o instructors and individuals who have received certification for CPR and ECC following AHA programs:
o corporations supporting AHAʹs campaigns and earning the "heart-healthy" certification;
o universities and schools engaged in AHA-supported cardiovascular research;
o scientific institutions who are members of AHA;
o individuals engaged with AHA through journals, meetings and professional education; and
o our corporate campaigns to raise money for research and education.

The registrants will benefit from identification with AHA, and the added credibility and assurance it brings. As a result, Internet users will benefit from knowing that the information residing on the .HEART TLD is provided by trusted and reputable sources within the AHA community.
i) What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?
AHA's goal is to make .HEART a unified, consistent communications and fundraising platform to help advance our mission of saving people from heart disease. We are mindful of the need to provide a safe and secure platform as Internet users seek information about care for themselves and their families, evaluate their own lifestyle choices, seek out our campaigns, and donate so generously to our work. To that end, AHA will:
1) Consistently maintain and exceed the ICANN's compliance requirements as set forth in the New gTLD Registry Agreement (specification 9 and 10). This would require accurate and timely monthly reporting to ICANN.
2) Monitor and enforce service level agreements with the registry back-end provider of choice: Afilias. Please see answer to Questions 30 to 43
Monitor and enforce Abuse Mitigation policies in a timely manner. See Answer to Question 28 ("Abuse Prevention and Mitigation").
3) We will set clear eligibility criteria for scientific institutions, hospitals, universities local centers, donors, corporations, campaigns, and individuals authorized to register .HEART domain names.
ii) What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
The .HEART TLD is a clear and identifiable namespace, something that has not been available to those seeking to support the AHAʹs mission of preventing heart disease. The single TLD will clearly identify our work, enable Internet users to easily find our AHA research and educational materials, and bring together our AHA community in a single TLD platform.
Through the central platform of a .HEART TLD and its clear taxonomy for organization of sites and information for hospitals, local centers, schools, donors, institutional members, and ECC providers, the .HEART TLD will improve cooperation and communication between members of our community and with Internet users and their families. Consumer choice will be served by enabling consumers worldwide to quickly, easily and authoritatively find AHA educational and research materials, and information about hospitals and local centers providing AHA standards of care for cardiovascular disease. This information, in turn, will support knowledgeable choices by consumers about treatment facilities --- "competition" at its most best and most informed level.
Further, the .HEART TLD will make it easier and faster for consumers to find:
o hospitals and local centers featuring AHA programs and standards of care for cardiovascular diseases;
o schools working with AHA to implement our educational curriculums or host our elementary or middle school fundraising programs;
o Universities or Academic Centers receiving research grant funding from the AHA;
o corporate customers will have .HEART secondary domain names on which to present their "heart-healthy" certifications together within information about their healthy foods and products; and
o award-winning hospitals will be able to present their cardiovascular care specialists, facilities and treatment information on a .HEART domain name.
All registrants will be able to leverage their affiliation with AHA for greater visibility and enhanced reputation.
iii) What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
The user experience we envision for .HEART will be far more safe and trusted than what is possible today. As described above, users will rapidly find authoritative and credible life-saving information, heart-healthy choices, local campaigns for health, and safe ways to donate online.
The .HEART TLD will give us control over all aspects of our namespace, and this will allow us to improve the user experience, strengthen the AHA community, and ensure that users searching for hospitals and local centers that meet treatments meeting AHA-guidelines are easily findable.
The clear taxonomy of the .HEART TLD greatly improves the safety and security of our online fundraising and donations. AHA, like many organizations, suffers from confusion as donors encounter "copycat websites" and phishing scams. The .HEART TLD will make it far harder to scam our online donors (over 90,000 to date), and far easier for any existing and prospective donor to locate the credible and authorized AHA fundraising websites.
We fully expect that the ease and speed with which patients and their families can find information about the treatment and care of those with heart disease will save lives. They will be able to quickly, easily and authoritatively find the hospitals and local centers in their area that provide the highest level of cardiovascular care, and seek out the treatment in these facilities.
Further, the ease of access and privacy of the online personal assessment tools will enable more people to find these resources, and help foster the high level of trust necessary to enter personal information about health and lifestyle into the online tools. The resulting assessment and education will help prevent heart disease and improve lives.
Additionally, consumers will be able to more quickly to find foods by companies operating under the AHA certification for "heart-healthy food," and those corporate customers, should they choose to register, will have an additional opportunity to share information about their products on a .HEART domain name. Such registrations might include General Mills, Kashi Company and Quaker Oats Company. .
For those millions of volunteers hoping to take part in one of our many campaigns, the .HEART domain name websites will provide assurance that the campaigns are indeed affiliated with AHA, and will serve to further AHAʹs mission.
One of the most important aspects of the .HEART user experience is the ability to provide online donors with a means to easily identify credible and authorized campaigns associated with the AHA, before they input their credit card info or personal data.
iv) Provide a complete description of the applicant's intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.
As .HEART will be a restricted TLD, we strengthen the AHA community through the registration of domain names to organizations and individuals meeting AHAʹs high eligibility standards, including: donors, hospitals, universities, scientific institutions, corporations earning AHA certifications, Local Centers providing high standards of care, Individuals members and those engaged with AHA education, journals and meetings, CPR and ECC Trainers, and Individuals trained to provide updated CPR and ECC care.

First, AHA will offer a select group of organizations, institutions and top tier donors who are part of our core community, the opportunity to register .HEART domain names at no cost during the Limited Sunrise period. This select group includes AHAʹs top-tier donors, corporate customers, institutional members and award-winning hospitals providing cardiac care in accordance with AHA programs and guidelines. The Sunrise Period will then allow registration of .HEART domain names to a wider circle of our community, including some corporate, professional and institutional members for a fee.

Second, AHA will offer registrations of domain names in .HEART TLD to the larger AHA community of institutions, individuals and organizations, such as:
o hospitals providing care under the "Get with the Guidelines" AHA program/"unique hospitals"(over 2000 qualifying at this time);
o corporate customers furthering the AHA mission with support for campaigns, donations and food offerings meriting the AHAʹs "heart-healthy" certification (over 22,500 qualifying at this time);
o schools affiliated with AHA and involved with research, education, campaigns and development (over 35,000 qualifying at this time);
o Instructors providing professional education and training in AHAʹs updated guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) (180,000 qualifying at this time);
o Individual members of AHA, and those attending our professional education programs, subscribing to our journals and attending our meetings (over 1.028 million qualifying at this time); and
o individuals trained in the US and internationally to provide ECC care (13.5 million Qualifying at this time).
Lastly, General Registrations, will signal the opportunity for the larger AHA community, to register .HEART domain names.

(Note: the numbers above indicate the potential number of institutions and individuals eligible to register domain names in .HEART at this time, but we do not expect registrations to reach these levels.)

AHA will establish clear criteria to ensure that only those meeting the strict registration criteria will be able to register the domain names. We will communicate the criteria clearly to the ICANN-Accredited and Registry-accredited Registrars offering the domain name registrations.

Entities eligible to register domain names by paying the registration fees may be registered for periods of 1, 2, 5 and 10 years, provided the institutions and individuals continue to meet the criteria. However, the standard registration term will be one year.

In all cases, AHA will monitor the use of all .HEART domain names to ensure that the content and use of the associated websites is consistent with the registration and use policies we have set out..


Reserved Names:
In .HEART, we will reserve the following classes of domain names, which will not be available to register via the Sunrise or subsequent periods:
• The reserved names required in Specification 5 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement.
• The geographic names required in Specification 5 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement, and as described in Q21 and Q22 ("Protection of Geographic Names").
• Our own name and variations thereof, and registry operations names (such as nic.heart, registry.heart, and www.heart). This has been a standard practice in ICANN's past gTLDs.
• Names related to ICANN and Internet standards bodies (iana.heart, ietf.heart, w3c.heart, etc.). Whereas AHA sees no practical reason to assign these domains to the relevant entities, should any of these organizations bring a valid consideration, or should ICANN require it, AHA will provision the domain accordingly.
• AHA will reserve a set of generic domain names for its own use and to further its mission and goals. Examples would include: "donate.heart", "tribute.heart" etc.

Dispute Resolution Mechanisms:
• AHA will operate a Sunrise Dispute Policy to provide special protection of qualified trademark rights. See Q 29 for more detail.
• The ICANN required Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) will apply to .HEART. Should AHA lose a UDRP challenge, the default action will be to remove the domain from the registry and add it to the reserve list unless the challenging party qualifies to use the registration as defined under the .HEART domain use policy. See Q 29 for more detail..
• As required by ICANN, .HEART domains will also be subject to the Universal Rapid Suspension (URS) policy. See Q 29 for more detail.
• Although AHAʹs current operating model should make erroneous transfers unlikely, we will comply ICANN's Registrar Transfer Dispute Resolutions Policy ( http://www.icann.org/en/transfers/dispute-policy-12jul04.htm ). Our technical and operational services are designed to support this dispute mechanism.
Limited Sunrise Period, Regular Sunrise Period and Indefinite Trademark Claims Services System:
We plan to implement a Sunrise period of 45 days for the purpose of complying with ICANN requirements. Prior to the regular Sunrise Period, there will be a Limited Sunrise Period where we will offer to our core members, as set out in section 18(b)(iv) above, .HEART domain names at no cost to the core of AHAʹs top-tier donors, corporate customers, institutional members and award-winning hospitals providing cardiac care in accordance with AHA programs and guidelines.

These domain name registrations will be checked against the trademarks in the Trademark Clearinghouse (TC) by a contracted third party (Note: AHA will comply with any ICANN requirements in the selection of said contractor). Should the mark be present in the TC, AHA will check whether the registered trademark owner meets the registration requirements of the restricted .HEART TLD. If it does, the trademark owner in the TC will receive priority for the domain name. If it does not meet the .HEART registration requirements, AHA, in its sole discretion, may check the credentials of the domain name requester and register the domain name.
AHA will strictly follow the ICANN Sunrise period of 45 days. Further, AHA will incorporate an indefinite Trademark Claims Services system from the start of Sunrise, exceeding requirements by ICANN. When the Claims Service is active, there will be a notice sent to the prospective registrant of any .HEART domain name, prior to its registration, should such domain name constitute an identical match of a mark registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse. Moreover the right owner or owners, as recorded in the Trademark Clearinghouse, will be informed once any such domain name has been registered following this event.
v) Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users?
A restricted registration environment affords great control over the creation and maintenance of the .HEART TLD. AHA will take considerable measures to insure the security of online transactions while respecting and protecting private and confidential information. AHA will deploy DNSSEC in .HEART and comply with all of the other policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and/or via any Consensus Policy. AHA will also comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to Internet security and the privacy of users' confidential information.
AHA employs security and privacy practices that meet and exceed those of its industry. With respect to the security of its online donations, AHA complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards ("PCI DSS") for financial transactions. For security purposes, its network is composed of access controlled measures, security monitoring tools, vulnerability management program, SSL encryption, scheduled network scans and internal and external penetration tests.
Dot-HEART will continue the Privacy Policy currently used by AHA and the respect for users' private or confidential information. AHAʹs privacy policy is posted at: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/General/Privacy-Policy_UCM_300371_Article.jsp#.T3LxOtlLNCQ and summarized below:
"The American Heart Association values and respects an individualʹs right to keep certain Personal Information private. Likewise, the AHA values the need to collect and use Personal Information, which will enable the AHA to effectively deliver products and services leading to a reduction in disability and death from heart diseases and stroke. This Privacy Policy applies to activities of the AHA and additionally to persons visiting AHA Web sites, signing up for AHA publications and mailings, or entering into transactions with the AHA, and covers the collection, use, storage and disclosure of information and data as described in this Privacy Policy."

The following Section, not currently on the AHA website will also be added.
Children's Privacy Policy
From time to time, the AHA collects information about children who enroll in the AHA's campaigns. The AHA is committed to protecting the privacy of children under the age of thirteen who live in the United States as required by the Federal Trade Commission. The AHA does not operate commercial websites which are solely aimed at children under 13. Federal laws and FTC regulations apply only to commercial websites. The AHA does have websites (for fund raising, not commercial purposes) directed to children who participate in Youth Market events. The AHA strives to comply in good faith with all applicable laws and regulations, including but not limited to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, to the extent it may be applicable to the AHA's charitable operations. The AHA is also interested in addressing the spirit of the law by providing practical notices to parents on the Youth Market sites that explain the programs.
Privacy and Proxy Services
Please reference our answer to Q28, we describe our proposed policies to limit the use of privacy and proxy services by malicious parties.

Registry lock services
AHA will offer a "Registry Lock" service. This service protects registrant data from unauthorized modifications and transactions such as domain transfer and delete.
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Operational Rules and Cost Benefits

i. How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come/first-serve basis? In the limited sunrise period, domain names will be registered to core members of the AHA community on a first come, first served basis. During the Sunrise... Read more

i. How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come/first-serve basis?
In the limited sunrise period, domain names will be registered to core members of the AHA community on a first come, first served basis. During the Sunrise Period, members of the AHA community who meet the requisite criteria for .HEART domain name registration and meet Trademark requirements will be allowed to register on a first come, first served.
After the Sunrise Period, .HEART domain names will be registered on a first come, first served basis, to members of the AHA community.

Regarding conflicts, because the addressable market for .HEART TLD is much smaller in comparison to many other gTLD, and the names of large universities, major donors and their foundations, scientific institutions and corporations are largely distinct and identifiable, we expect few duplicate domain name requests
However, such conflicts may occur as registration opens to individuals, as allowed by the .HEART registration policies, and on a more limited basis among the institutions who participate in the AHA mission.

Should any of these parties to receive a .HEART domain name request use of the same string at the same time, then consideration will be based on the order of the request and the relevance of the intended use to AHAʹs mission in the .HEART namespace and our domain use policy.
Should a second authorized party request use of the same string at a later time, for example, a second ECC trainer also named "John Smith", he will be referred to an AHA-operated conflict department to be assigned a variation of his name (e.g., perhaps a .HEART second level domain name with a middle initial)
The restricted registration system envisioned here for .HEART is, by design, a tightly controlled system, allowing a limited number of planned and hence organized registrations. These precautions will ensure that the .HEART TLD starts as and remains a safe and secure name space. As an additional measure, AHA will conduct a limited Sunrise exercise as summarized below and described in detail in question 29.
ii. Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

As mentioned above, the .HEART TLD is intended to become our own unified branding, marketing and communications platform. Therefore immediate adoption and usage is key to achieving the envisioned benefits of the TLD. AHA plans to give domains way to certain segments, e.g., hospitals with award-winning cardiovascular care and our largest donors, will encourage uptake and adoption.
For those purchasing .HEART domain names, and complying with the registration requirements of this restricted TLD, they will be offered the option of registering domain names for periods of 1, 2, 5 and 10 years, provided the institutions and individuals continue to meet the criteria. We anticipate no need for bulk discounts, advantageous pricing or other schemes which are irrelevant and thus not needed.
iii. Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registration for period of one ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation. If so, please describe your plans.
Given that all the domain names in .HEART will be registered by AHA members of the AHA community authorized by AHA, the price of domain names is not the main purpose or motivation for the TLD. Accordingly, for those purchasing a TLD, the price will be fixed at $70 a year with a good amount of the registration fee being a charitable donation to the AHA.
While AHA, at this time, does not anticipate a rise in that fee over the next decade, operational costs and other needs for safety and security may change these plans. AHA understand the Registry requirement of advance written notice to registrants regarding the timing and magnitude of price changes. Further, AHA will undertake no more than incremental changes should operational, safety and security costs increase. We note it is a goal of the .HEART TLD to build and strengthen AHA's relationship with key stakeholders, so it is not seeking to eliminate registrant members of the AHA community through rapid price escalation and changes.
iv) Additional steps to minimize negative consequences/costs imposed upon consumers
AHAʹs own use of the .HEART TLD will highlight the new TLD and encourage interaction among the AHA community on this platform. We will, as mentioned before, be especially sensitive to the misuse of .HEART TLD for abusive or malicious activities.
All domain name registration agreements will incorporate the usage requirements set out in the Domain Name registration and Usage Policy for .HEART located elsewhere in this application. We will detect and mitigate any domain in the .HEART TLD which:
- Infringes any other third parties rights
- Is in breach with any applicable laws, government rules or requirements
Or is operated for the purposes of:
- Disparaging AHA, its programs, its donors and its programs, campaigns and affiliated institutions, organizations, schools, donors and members.
- Is undertaking any illegal, malicious or fraudulent activity, including but not limited to spam and/or phishing activities.
Please refer to our answers to Questions 26, 28, and 29 for detailed explanation for detection and mitigation approach.
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Is this a Community-based TLD?

No

Is this a Geographic-based TLD?

No

Protection of Geographic Names

Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement requires the registry operator reserve all geographic names at the second level as well as any subordinate levels for which the operator controls and issues registrations. As per the draft registry agreement "the country and territory names... Read more

Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement requires the registry operator reserve all geographic names at the second level as well as any subordinate levels for which the operator controls and issues registrations. As per the draft registry agreement "the country and territory names contained in the following internationally recognized lists shall be initially reserved at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry Operator provides for registrations":


5.1)

the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-
1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is
exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 toany application needing to represent the name European Union 〈http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-3166--1_decoding_table.htm#EU〉;

5.2)

the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference
Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of
the World; and
5.3)

the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared
by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the
Standardization of Geographical Names;

Release of Geographic Names at the second or subordinate level (where managed and issued by the Registry Operator):
.HEART has no current or immediate plans to release any of the aforementioned reserved geographic domains. AHA commits to, in the event this intention changes in the future, first develop agreements with the applicable governments affected by any proposed release, then bring said agreements and a full plan for the release of said geographic names to the Governmental Advisory Committee and ICANN for their approval.
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