.star Domain

STAR INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (SIPL) is a leading media and entertainment company, broadcasting 33 channels in eight languages to more than 400 million people every week across India and more than 100 countries across the globe. Its channel portfolio includes household brands Star Plus, Star Gold, Channel [V], Star World, Star Movies, Star Utsav, Life OK and joint venture channels Asianet, Asianet Plus, Star Vijay and Suvarna. The business has greater breadth and depth than any other broadcaster in the country.

SIPL is a subsidiary of News Corp (http://www.newscorp.com/management/startv.html). News Corporation is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ and NYSE with ticker symbol NWS and revenues of US$33.4 billion in 2011. News Corpʹs U.S. holdings include Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and Twentieth Century Fox. SIPL has adequate funding and the financial backing that significantly exceeds any needs to manage the TLD.

SIPL's mission/purpose is to establish an online extension that is immediately identifiable, secure, and exclusive for SIPL under the .STAR brand name; improve accessibility, usability and utility of the DNS; enhance user experience; creating a sustainable, competitive advantage through differentiation with a focus on innovation in the media and DNS space, business model diversification and customer service. With the .STAR TLD, SIPL will effectively differentiate itself by addressing the key online usage issues of safety, trust, consistency, and brand recognition associated with their brand and the millions of customers they serve globally.

.STAR will be used exclusively for SIPL to register domain names for their own use; and it will not be open for the public to register domain names under.
Under this mission the TLD will be operated as a critical public resource in an open, responsible, stable and secure manner with the highest level of technical security resources and mechanisms that are aligned with technical advancement and innovation in the TLD's sector and industry.

STAR registry operations and its management of the DNS is consistent with ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments (AoC) "ensuring accountability, transparency and the interests of global Internet users", "enhancing the operational stability, reliability, resiliency, security, and global interoperability of the DNS" while "adequately addressing consumer protection, malicious abuse, and rights protection issues" (http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/aoc/affirmation-of-commitments-30sep09-en.htm).

SIPL guiding principles for .STAR:

STANDARDS COMPLIANCE, SECURITY, RESILIENCY, AND STABILITY
Afilias is the DNS Registry provider for .STAR providing a standard, secure and stable technical operation of the TLD. Details of technical and operational capabilities matching the .STAR mission are provided in responses to questions #23-44.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION AND TRUST
Since .STAR will be a single-registrant gTLD intellectual property protection will be at the highest level and not be a significant concern. All registrations associated with the .STAR domain will be conducted, authorized, and verified by SIPL on a case by case scenario through the process described in response to question #18b. This way all Internet users are assured the highest level of trust and authenticity when they visit a .STAR domain associated with the SIPLʹs brands.

There will be two phases in the .STAR launch. The first phase will be the Sunrise period that will incorporate all ICANN trademark protection requirements developed for new gTLDs, including the trademark clearinghouse. In the second stage SIPL will register domains and use them to cater to their existing customer base globally under their trusted brand.×

The .STAR TLD will benefit the registrants and internet users directly by providing an immediately identifiable and exclusive .STAR TLD that their 400 million customer base from 100 countries can trust.

18b (i) The goal of .STAR is to provide an exclusive, trusted, safe STAR-branded domain to be used to represent SIPL and its media channels, and introduce new innovative non-registry related services in the media and entertainment business. SIPL will provide a trusted platform for its high profile channels and brands to project authenticated domain name destinations their customers and Internet users can associate the .STAR brand with.
Trust and authenticity in the operation of .STAR is paramount to SIPL, its high profile global entertainment channels and brands. This is built through (i) a safe, secure, and trusted technical operation of the TLD by the back-end operator; and (ii) the eligibility requirements and registration policy for SIPL to register domains under .STAR as a single registrant gTLD managed exclusively by SIPL.

18b (ii) .STAR will advance the current space of competition, differentiation and innovation by launching trusted and authenticated domains with legal entertainment-related content.

18b (iii) When visiting .STAR sites Internet users are provided an immediate identification and a level of confidence and trust not available today in the media business in regards to having a dedicated domain that is guaranteed to be legal and have no intellectual property issues associated with the content since it is appropriately licensed by SIPL. The exclusivity of domains under .STAR has provided the opportunity for SIPL to manually review every single registration through their established process prior to domain name registration. The process as described includes check points and authorization by SIPL executives to avoid any illegitimate registrations.

The .STAR domains will reduce exposure to unlicensed websites distributing content related to SIPL illegally. SIPL will serve official, authenticated and high quality SIPL-related content to search engines which will enable a higher ranked .STAR domains for terms associated with the business activities relating to the brands they represent. It is expected that search engines will modify their algorithms to accommodate relevant, high quality and unique content, especially if it can be used as a filter to counter unofficial websites, which is the case with .STAR domains. The official Google Blog highlights the new Google algorithm changes (http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/02/search-quality-highlights-40-changes.html) that will be leveraged by .STAR to benefit their clientele's associated .STAR domains achieve higher search rankings.

18b (iv) To reach the above mentioned goals, SIPL has implemented a single-registrant methodology of registering domains. This will function as a measure to protect intellectual property rights of the major brands and channels they represent in registrations under .STAR; and to ensure that .STAR domains are used in a manner benefitting SIPL associated brands, providing a consistent platform that users can access, consume and enquire information through.

The policies and protections are built to match existing SIPL's procedures in business management with their associated brands and channels; the ICANN established criteria; based on experience from the previous ICANN new gTLD introductions; and they are established to ensure a higher security level for .STAR domains than what is considered standard requirements for gTLDs.

The .STAR TLD will be launched with all the standard gTLD registration rules except that registrations will be made by a single registrant: SIPL. See response to question #27 for .STAR lifecycle.

STAR will adhere to all ICANN mandated rights protection mechanisms and consensus policies.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS AND REGISTRATION PROCESS
There will be a multi-stage internal process to identify, register and bring live all .STAR domains. The process will include executive approval authorizing any domain name registrations under .STAR. SIPL will consult with an ICANN accredited registrar to facilitate an interface through which the domains can actively be registered and managed. The detailed process relates to internal business decision-making processes currently existing at SIPL and is considered confidential. It can be provided under a confidentiality agreement.

RESERVATION PROTECTION: second-level names will be reserved per the requirements in the ICANN Registry Agreement Specification 5, including country-territory names (see response #22).

RIGHTS PROTECTION AND NOTIFICATIONS SYSTEM:
• Trademark Clearing House will be implemented in accordance with ICANN specifications.

ONE TIME-RESTRICTED LAUNCH PHASE: The .STAR launch will be initiated with a Sunrise restricted registration phase. In this phase only registrations that fulfill the eligibility requirement established above and that fulfill the ICANN established Sunrise criteria per the 11 January 2012 ICANN Applicant Guidebook Trademark Clearing House Specification, section 7.2 (or any subsequent versions that update that). Multiple applications for the same domain will not be possible since SIPL is the only single-registrant allowed to make registrations.

Following the completion of the Sunrise phase .STAR domains will be available for SIPL to register outside the Sunrise requirements but still solely through the above established procedure and eligibility requirement.

ANTI-ABUSE POLICY FOR .STAR; incorporated in the registration agreement for all .STAR registrations and thereby agreed to by SIPL when making domain name registrations under .STAR. It is in place to assure that any registration made by and for use by SIPL will not be used for malicious conduct or in a manner that can lead to security and stability issues for the registry, registrars, and registrants, and general users of the Internet. The abuse policy is detailed in response to question #28.

A point of contact for abuse related matters will be established at SIPL, but the Abuse policy is not a replacement for alleged violation of the Trademark PDDRP/UDRP/URS, which shall be enforced under the provisions contained therein.

18b (v) The .STAR TLD will use best practices around privacy and data protection, especially since .STAR is a single registrant TLD. Afilias, the back-end service provider, will administer specific WHOIS protections per response to question #26, and promote WHOIS accuracy per response to question #28. However the need for such services is limited as the WHOIS information will be accurate as only SIPL will be the registrant.

SIPL seek to have as much visibility and exposure as possible to market their activities and offer premium, niche destinations that advertiser would be interested in.

SIPL will provide this unique and branded visibility through its .STAR domain that will cater exclusively to its high profile brands and channels.

In order to meet the benefits described in responses to 18b (i-v) SIPL will include .STAR in its ongoing outreach and communication efforts continuing to build its brand as the leading media and entertainment company catering to the needs and business interests of high profile media and entertainment-related brands and channels based on trust and authenticity.×

STAR INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (SIPL) plan for launching the .STAR TLD is to offer a robust, cost-effective means for its high profile entertainment-related brands and media channels to assert their identities online. SIPL is committed to launching and managing .STAR in a responsible manner for its channels with enhanced safeguards. This includes minimizing and eliminating social costs; establishing a better financial income stream for its brands through advertising; creating new improved innovative services for its media-related brands that will benefit Internet users and consumers.

One primary benefit is the elimination of SIPL to pay extraordinary fees to secure their brand names under existing TLDs, such as .COM, that have been registered by other entities with the purpose of selling them for high profits. For example, the domain star.com would be worth millions of dollars according to recent domain sale trends. The .STAR TLD is a more cost efficient alternative.

Since .STAR is a single-registrant TLD, there will not be a fee for registration of a domain. The .STAR TLD will be a value-added service to leverage SIPL's existing brands and channels, while diversifying their existing business model. The .STAR TLD will be operated without profiting through domain registrations in mind and will be wholly funded by SIPLʹsexisting media revenue generation business model. The .STAR TLD will be operating under a loss leader strategy to stimulate more revenues in SIPL's primary business models, such as TV subscriptions and advertising.

SIPL does not have plans for advantageous pricing, no introductory pricing, or plans for any bulk registration discounts since they are the single registrant.
There will be no burden on the general public concerning defensive registrations as such will not be available to any interested registrant being a right holder or not.

SIPL will not offer long term or permanent contracts for domains. The registration length will be considered in a case by case basis and within standard requirements from ICANN (1-10 years and at any time a maximum expiration date of 10 years).

.STAR will use parked pages if it serves the interests of its brands and channels, but primarily use of parked pages is not expected.×

STAR INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (SIPL) protects geographic names at the second level of .STAR at the highest level due to their single-registrant registry. This will done more explicitly by the following described measures. These have been developed in response to the GAC's Principles regarding New gTLDs, dated March 28, 2007, and to adhere to the requirements of the ICANN Regis-try Agreement Specification 5.

In correspondence with GAC principle 2.7, SIPL will block all country and territory names as registrations under .STAR. To accomplish this SIPL will prior to launch (i) place the names on a reserved list that can solely be released as second-level registrations under .STAR by an agreement with the respective country or territory and with ICANN.

The names reserved as country and territory names will correspond to the requirements in the ICANN Registry Agreement Specification 5, paragraph 5; and paragraph 2 where all two-character labels will be reserved for registration to ensure that any release of such names is done to the appropriate corresponding country or territory and thereby avoid user confusion.

Concerning launching Internationalized Domain Names, SIPL will place translated versions of country and territory names on a reserved list that also only can be released for registration if an agreement has been reached with the corresponding country or territory and ICANN.

SIPL will implement dispute resolution policies to address dispute over any names not reserved by the above provisions; see response to question #28 and #29. In particular all domains are subject to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), and to any properly-situated court proceeding. SIPL will ensure appropriate procedures to allow governments, public authorities or IGO's to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance. SIPL will exercise right to suspend domains names in the event of a dispute. SIPL may exercise such right in the case of a dispute over a geographic name.

SIPL has no plans to release two-character, country, or territory name as second level registration under .STAR, but if such is contemplated in the future it will be done in agreement with the corresponding country or territory, ICANN. Further, in such case SIPL will define a procedure based on existing methodology developed for the release of country names in the current gTLDs. It will for example include a requirement for a written request from the country's GAC representative, or a written request from the country's relevant Ministry or Department.

Other GAC Principles regarding New gTLDs are defined elsewhere in this application, for example methods for limiting the need for defensive registrations in paragraph 2.9 is eliminated complete since the TLD will not be open for registrations, as described in response to question #18.×