.vanish Domain Information

Applicant Full Legal Name

Reckitt Benckiser N.V.

Legal Establishment

Corporation, Public Limited Liability Company

Parent Company

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc

Applicant Address

Siriusdreef 14
WT HOOFDDORP 2132
NL

State Jurisdiction

The Netherlands/Dutch Jurisdiction

Applicant Website

http://www.rb.com

Applied for gTLD

VANISH

Domain Registration Status

Closed

Mission/Purpose of Domain Extension

The mission and purpose of the new restricted .vanish is to benefit internet users by ensuring convenience, increased trust, customer education and confidence through the elimination of user confusion and assurance of brand authenticity. The .vanish gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving... Read more

The mission and purpose of the new restricted .vanish is to benefit internet users by ensuring convenience, increased trust, customer education and confidence through the elimination of user confusion and assurance of brand authenticity.

The .vanish gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of end users by providing an authoritative Internet space where product information, services and resources will be closely controlled by Reckitt Benckiser NV (RB). The majority of the anticipated domain name registrations in the .vanish gTLD will be used in the promotion and communication of the VANISH brand, the world's number one stain removal brand. A subset of domain names has the potential to be created and used for communication, online sales and marketing purposes, with internet users assured of brand authenticity.

VANISH is the global stain remover market leader in the Fabric treatment category, which is sold in more than 60 countries across the globe. VANISH started as a stain removing bar laundry product produced about 1983 by a small Scottish company called Projectina Co Ltd established by Robert G Macfarlane in Skelmorlie, Scotland. The brand was soon acquired by Ecolab in 1986 and became a Benckiser brand in 1987 when the latter acquired Ecolab's consumer goods operations. Benckiser N.V. merged with Reckitt & Colman PLC in 1999 to form Reckitt Benckiser PLC. The VANISH name is now applied to a wide range of stain removing products across a broad range of textile materials, now including curtains and carpets. The RB Group of companies (RB Group) has several subsidiary entities worldwide, such as RB N.V. based in the Netherlands, the entity that holds the trademarks for the VANISH brand.

VANISH is the world's number one stain removal brand and it is available in both in-wash and pre-treat formats. VANISH is produced in powder, gel, tabs, gel caps, spray and solid bar formats and is sold in over 60 countries worldwide. VANISH consistently delivers outstanding stain removal performance first time. Recent launches in the VANISH range include VANISH OXI ACTION INTELLIGENCE, with intelligent stain seekers that hunt out and remove tough greasy stains, and VANISH OXI ACTION with POWERLIFT which has oxygen bubbles that penetrate deeply into the stain and powerlifters that gently pull the stains out of the garment. VANISH consistently delivers outstanding stain removal performance. In the UK ‘VANISH Extra Hygiene Stain Remover' (Laundry Stain Remover) received the Product of the Year Award 2011 and ‘VANISH Sensitive' received the Product of the Year award 2012. The RB Group has also been ranked as one of the Most Innovative Companies in the World in 2011 by leading business magazine Forbes.

Business activities are increasingly conducted over the internet, allowing for greater levels of interaction between businesses and customers. As a result, both businesses and end users benefit from ease of interaction and a wider range of choices with lower transaction costs. However, the development in this arena in the current domain name system has exposed both businesses and consumers to increased criminal activities over the internet, including data breach, hacking and phishing. These sophisticated criminal activities cause reputational damage to businesses as internet users lose consumer confidence and trust with the businesses targeted by such criminal activities. .vanish will facilitate greater trust and brand assurance from internet users connecting with RB online, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction.

RB's mission and purpose of the new gTLD shares ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest. RB is committed to contributing towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:
- consumer trust: .vanish will be operated in a centralised manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to RB and its affiliate entities, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .vanish domain names are trustworthy. As .vanish domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under RB's control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within .vanish;
- competition: the new gTLD is anticipated to contribute to ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest through its operations focused on promoting consumer trust. As .vanish is intended to operate as a restricted registry, it anticipates providing improved services and security, as well as assuring the authenticity of the FINISH brand to end users. We are hopeful that increased trust in .vanish will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs, thus, competition among registries to improve consumer trust will result in a more favourable user experience; and
- consumer choice: the gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations assisting RB'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 RB. As RB has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under .vanish, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.

Given the restricted nature of the .vanish gTLD, the projected number of registration is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that around 100 domain names will be registered in the first year. However, over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to about 500 domain names as RB implements new services and marketing campaigns.

As the new .vanish gTLD expands, RB may consider offering the use of second level domain names to its strategic partners with co-branding marketing agreements at a later date. In this endeavour, RB will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, as well as maintaining consumer trust and the stability of the internet. RB will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to .vanish including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.

RB will utilise Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at the second level, initially including languages that use the Latin Script and Simplified Chinese. The use of IDNs will allow internet users to engage with .vanish in their native language, creating a more positive user experience and encouraging diversity. As the .vanish gTLD evolves, it is anticipated that the use of IDNs, including additional languages, will increase within the .vanish domain space.VANISH is a well-recognised global brand with its trademark registered in 180 countries and territories for carpet cleaners and shampoos, laundry detergents, laundry additives and fabric and carpet stain removers.

The RB Group has 59 existing domain names that are an exact match to the "VANISH" trademark and the applied-for .vanish string, including:
-gTLDs: vanish.biz and vanish.info
-ccTLDs: vanish.de and vanish.co.uk.

The RB Group also has a number of domain names containing the "VANISH" trademark, including vanishdualpower.com and vanishoxiaction.com.
RB believes that the .vanish gTLD is unlikely to cause confusion with a generic term or any existing TLDs. RB's VANISH trademarks are a leading global brand with significant reputation worldwide as the world's number one stain removal brand. Reckitt Benckiser N.V. has trademarks for VANISH registered in 180 countries, some of these trademarks dating back to 1988, and sells VANISH products in 60 countries worldwide. The term VANISH has been used in conjunction with its stain removal products for over 30 years, as such, RB's VANISH brand is well known worldwide as a leading brand of stain removing products×