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.alibaba New gTLD Application

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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Alibaba Group Holding Limited

 

Application Downloaded On: 21 Feb 2015

 

String: alibaba

 

Application ID: 1-1092-9273

 

Applicant Information

 

  1. Full legal name

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

 

  1. Address of the principal place of business

Fourth Floor, One Capital Place

P.O.Box 847 George Town, Grand Cayman - KY1-1103 KY

 

  1. Phone number

+ 852 22155100

 

  1. Fax number

+ 852 22155100

 

  1. If applicable, website or URL

http://news.alibaba.com/specials/aboutalibaba/aligroup/index.html

 

Primary Contact

 

6(a). Name

Karen Law

 

6(b). Title

Legal Counsel

 

6(c). Address

 

6(d). Phone Number

+852 98488202

 

6(e). Fax Number

852-22155200

 

6(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Secondary Contact

 

7(a). Name

Karen Law

 

7(b). Title

Legal Counsel

 

7(c). Address

 

7(d). Phone Number

+852 98488202

 

7(e). Fax Number

852-22155200

 

7(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Proof of Legal Establishment

 

8(a). Legal form of the Applicant

An exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands with Limited Liability

 

8(b). State the specific national or other jurisdiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).

The Cayman Islands

 

8(c). Attach evidence of the applicant's establishment.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

 

9(a). If applying company is publicly traded, provide the exchange and symbol.

 

9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.

 

9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.

 

Applicant Background

 

11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors

 

11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners

Name

Position

Joseph Chung Tsai Chief Financial Officer

Timothy Alexander Steinert Secretary

Yun Ma Chairman of the Board,President and Chief Executive Officer

 

11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares

Name

Position

SOFTBANK CORP. (together with its subsidiaries) Not Applicable

Yahoo! Inc. (together with its subsidiaries) Not Applicable

 

11(d). For an applying entity that does not have directors, officers, partners, or shareholders: Name(s) and position(s) of all individuals having legal or executive responsibility

 

Applied-for gTLD string

 

  1. Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.

alibaba

 

14A. If applying for an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").

 

 

14B. If an IDN, provide the meaning, or restatement of the string in English, that is, a description of the literal meaning of the string in the opinion of the applicant.

 

 

14C1. If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).

 

 

14C2. If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).

 

 

14D1. If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).

 

 

14D2. If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).

 

 

14E. If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.

 

 

15A. If an IDN, upload IDN tables for the proposed registry.  An IDN table must include:

the applied-for gTLD string relevant to the tables,

the script or language designator (as defined in BCP 47),

table version number,

effective date (DD Month YYYY), and

contact name, email address, and phone number.

Submission of IDN tables in a standards-based format is encouraged.

 

 

15B. Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.

 

 

15C. List any variants to the applied-for gTLD string according to the relevant IDN tables.

 

 

  1. Describe the applicant's efforts to ensure that there are no known operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string. If such issues are known, describe steps that will be taken to mitigate these issues in software and other applications.

 

Applicant (Alibaba Group Holding Limited) anticipates the introduction of this TLD without operational or rendering problems. Based on a decade of experience launching and operating new TLDs, Afilias, the back-end provider of registry services for this TLD, is confident the launch and operation of this TLD presents no known challenges. The rationale for this opinion includes:

- The string is not complex and is represented in standard ASCII characters and follows relevant technical, operational and policy standards;

- The string length is within lengths currently supported in the root and by ubiquitous Internet programs such as web browsers and mail applications;

- There are no new standards required for the introduction of this TLD;

- No onerous requirements are being made on registrars, registrants or Internet users, and;

- The existing secure, stable and reliable Afilias SRS, DNS, WHOIS and supporting systems and staff are amply provisioned and prepared to meet the needs of this TLD.

 

  1. OPTIONAL.

Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).

 

 

18A. Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.

 

The intention of the Applicant, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Alibaba” or “Applicant”) in filing this application is to proactively protect the ownership of its “Alibaba” trademark at the Internet Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) name space, and to provide a trusted, hierarchical and intuitive namespace for businesses and consumers that use Alibaba’s broad range of online e-commerce, trade, and payment services.

 

Applicant and the “Alibaba” brand

 

The brand “Alibaba” is transliterated from the Chinese brand: “阿里巴巴” which was founded in Hangzhou, China, by the Applicant in about 1999. Applicant is a privately held holding company registered in Cayman Islands and established in 1999 by Mr. Jack MA (as known as MA Yun in Chinese), a pioneer who has aspired to help make the Internet accessible, trustworthy and beneficial for all Chinese as well as for everyone in the world. As of today, Alibaba, through the operation by its subsidiaries and affiliates (together referred to as “Alibaba Group”), reach Internet users in more than 240 countries and regions, and have more than 25,000 employees in some 70 cities in Greater China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Alibaba Group has promoted it various “Alibaba” trademark, namely: “Alibaba Group”, “Alibaba.com”, “Alibaba.com Global Trade Starts Here”, “Alibaba Cloud Computing” (collectively referred to as the “Alibaba” brand”) extensively in relation to its businesses.

 

The following businesses are wholly owned or affiliated with Alibaba Group:

  • Alibaba.com Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Alibaba.com”) (HKSE: 1688.HK; www.alibaba.com, www.1688.com and www.aliexpress.com) – a publicly listed company at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in relation to e-commerce businesses
  • Taobao Marketplace (www.Taobao.com) - consumer-to-consumer (C2C) online shopping platform. Applicant is also applying for a .Taobao gTLD for brand protection purpose.
  • Tmall (www.Tmall.com) - business-to-consumer (B2C) online retail marketplace for branded products. Applicant is also applying for a .Tmall gTLD for brand protection purpose.
  • eTao (www.etao.com) – a search engine designed for online shoppers
  • Juhuasuan (www.juhuasuan.com) - the most comprehensive group shopping platform in China
  • Alibaba Cloud Computing (www.aliyun.com) - advanced data-centric cloud computing services platform
  • China Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com.cn) - one of China’s leading internet portals
  • Alipay (www.alipay.com) - third-party online payment platform. Applicant is also applying for a .Alipay gTLD for brand protection purpose.

 

Among the companies listed above and specifically, Alibaba.com (HKSE: 1688.HK) is the flagship company of Alibaba Group and is the global leader in e-commerce businesses. Founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba.com, through the operation by its affiliates, makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online mainly through three marketplaces: a global trade platform (www.alibaba.com) for importers and exporters; a Chinese platform (www.1688.com) for domestic trade in China; and a transaction-based wholesale platform on the global site (www.aliexpress.com) geared for smaller buyers seeking fast shipment of small quantities of goods. Together, these marketplaces form a community of more than 76 million registered users in more than 240 countries and regions as at 31 December 2011.

 

As part of its strategy to transition into a holistic platform where small companies can build and manage their online businesses more easily, Alibaba.com also offers Chinese traders a wide array of business management software and Internet infrastructure services through its subsidiaries and affiliates, including but not limited to, HiChina ZhiCheng Technology Ltd., an ICANN accredited domain name registrar, and one stop export-related services for exporters in China, through Shenzhen One-Touch Enterprise Service Limited, as well as the provision of educational services to incubate enterprise management and e-commerce professionals. Alibaba.com also owns Vendio Services, Inc. and Auctiva Corporation, the leading service providers of third-party e-commerce solutions for online merchants in the United States. Alibaba.com has offices in more than 70 cities across Greater China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Europe and the United States.

 

Alibaba.com completed its USD1.7 billion initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2007, the biggest Internet Initial Public Offering (IPO) at the time since Googleʹs 2004 offering on the NASDAQ. In 2010, it was named one of the Forbes Global 2000 by Forbes Magazine, and Asia 200 by Wall Street Journal.

 

Alibaba has secured trademark rights for the mark “Alibaba” internationally in about 73 countries.

 

Potential Business Models

 

Applicant is still analyzing potential use case options on the type of domain names that will be permitted to be registered and by whom. The current approach is to initially allow only a limited number of Corporate Internal Users (CIU) to apply ⁄ register limited number of second level .Alibaba domain names. Besides the Applicant itself, a CIU may be a representative of an entity (registrant) and the entity is wholly owned or affiliated with Alibaba Group. This conservative approach shall meets the pre-defined trademark protection purpose and minimize potential technological, marketing and operational risks. Such approach, subject to change depending upon a range of external factors, will be reviewed at the regular basis. A consultative process with ICANN and relevant stakeholder shall take place prior to determination of any change of this approach. Most likely, Applicant will not make any such determination until after the first three years operation.

 

18B. How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

 

Alibaba believes that the proposed .Alibaba gTLD has the potential to offer the following benefits to Internet users and consumers:

 

  • A trusted online marketplace for the business and individual customers of Alibaba Group and Alibaba.com seeking to access their online e-commerce, trade, and payment services, with the elevated level of user confidence at the top-level;
  • Provide intuitive and memorable domain names that will facilitate the ease by which consumers can locate information online.

 

 

 What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

 

While Applicant’s intention of filing this application is to proactively protect this ownership of the “Alibaba” trademark at the Internet Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) name space, and to provide a trusted, hierarchical and intuitive namespace for businesses and consumers that use Alibaba’s broad range of online e-commerce, trade, and payment services, it is also important to recognize Alibaba’s core mission --  “让天下没有难做的生意” (which in English means “to make it easy to do business anywhere”).  To  accomplish  this  mission,  we  aim  to  make  our  online marketplaces  the  most  effective and user friendly for buyers and sellers in the world.

 

What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

 

As a brand gTLD, the primary driving factors of Alibaba are providing a safe and secure online marketplace for its customers. The success of this gTLD will not be measured by the number of domain name registered. Instead it will be measured by the level of consumer recognition and trust that is placed in .Alibaba gTLD. Using this benchmark, Applicant strives to build consumer recognition and trust that rise to the level of that found in the .EDU and .GOV.CN domain names.

 

As noted above, Alibaba Group, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading online e-commerce, trade, Internet, retail and payment service provider that reliesg upon emerging Internet technologies and the domain name system to deliver services to its consumers both domestically and abroad.  A .Alibaba gTLD wouldl elevate its existing market leadership to another level.

While many customers of e-commerce websites are subject to a never ending barrage of spam and phishing activities, Applicant aims to build up and maintain .Alibaba gTLD as a trusted source of goods and services for consumers looking for information regarding Alibaba Group’s services.  

 

What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

 

Applicant believes that the .Alibaba gTLD will provide an enhanced experience for the hundreds of millions of consumers both domestically and internationally that use its online e-commerce services. This will also provide increased confidence and predictability for new customers and partners as Alibaba continues to expand into other markets around the world as a leading global online marketplace.

 

In addition to providing consumers with shorter, memorable, and intuitive domain names to help customers navigate the website, Applicant has adopted meansures so as to safeguard and minimize any potential phishing, pharming, or spam that have plagued the customers of other e-commerce companies.   

 

Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

 

As documented in Section 18a, during the first three years of operation, Applicant is intending to restrict registration and use of domain names with the gTLD to limited number of CIU. Because of this condition precedent, any registration and use requirements are more appropriately vested in these corporate⁄subsidiary agreements and not in a domain name registration agreement. The “Alibaba” brand is a valuable brand whose protection is of paramount importance, any registration and use (e.g. trademark quality control provisions) must be vested in these other agreements.

 Aside from these concerns, Applicant will incorporate all required ICANN consensus policies and other legal⁄policy requirements imposed on new gTLD applicants into the terms and conditions of the domain name registration agreement. Based on ICANN Registry Agreement, Applicant sets and enforces .Alibaba registration policies.  General Registry Policies will be developed and made available prior to launch of TLD. Such policy decisions, based on ICANN Registry Agreement and relevant industry best practices, including but not limited to:

  • Registration eligibility requirements
  • Which registrars may become accredited and sell domains
  • Wholesale prices offered to registrars
  • Reserved names
  • Phased allocation (Sunrise, Landush, etc.) of the domain space at the second and third levels
  • Dispute policies
  • Technical policies, including SRS security and access.

This .Alibaba General Registry Policies pertain techno-operational policies in the following areas:

  1. Domain Registrations (Domain Objects) and the .Alibaba Zone File
  2. Domain Contacts (Contact Objects) and WHOIS Service
  3. Dispute Resolution Policies
  4. Obligations of Registered Name Holders

The General Registry Policies provides the framework for the general operations of the .Alibaba Registry.  Other policies, such as the .Alibaba Eligibility, Reserved Name Policies, Sunrise Policies and other relevant policies are described separately in other documents published at the Alibaba TLD registry Websites. Pricing and technical specifications are published for Accredited Registrars only and provided separately.

The Alibaba TLD registry is committed to maintaining the integrity of the data within the .Alibaba Registry and to implement policies that deter infringements.  The .Alibaba Registry adopts the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) for facilitating the resolution of disputes over the registration and use of a second-level domain name registered under the .Alibaba Registry. All domain name registrations must submit to the mandatory proceedings commenced under UDRP, which is available for review at http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄dndr⁄udrp⁄policy.htm.  Complaints under the UDRP will be required to be submitted to an approved dispute-resolution service provider listed at http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄dndr⁄udrp⁄approved-providers.htm.

Beyond the UDRP, all domain registrations will be required to be submitted to proceedings commenced under formally adopted dispute policies as set forth by Applicant from time to time and published on the .Alibaba TLD registry Website(s).  Such dispute policies will take effect at the time they are announced on the .Alibaba TLD registry Website(s), with or without prior notice to registrars or registrants.

Such dispute policies may include, for example, including but not limited to, expedited processes for suspension of a domain name by claims sought by intellectual property right holders (URS), Internet engineering and security experts or other competent claimants in the purpose of upholding the stability, security and integrity of the .Alibaba Registry. Dispute policies may also include, for example, challenge processes adopted by the .Alibaba Registry for special programs when occurred.

Moreover, based upon Applicant’s commitment and established track record in providing a safe eco-system for businesses and individuals, Applicant intends to provide best in class safeguards that will evolve over time.

 

Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures

 

Alibaba will conform with section 1.8.6 of ICANN Registry Agreement:

 

Registry Operator will: 1) implement appropriate measures to avoid abuse of this feature (e.g., permitting access only to legitimate authorized users); and 2) ensure the feature is in compliance with any applicable privacy laws or policies.

 

Meanwhile, Alibaba recognizes that this is an evolving area of law in which there is no international standard, the measures for protecting the privacy and confidential information of registrants or users will be developed based on industry best practice such as Registrar Accreditation: Model Privacy Policy provided by ICANN (see http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄registrars⁄model-privacy-policy.htm)

Alibaba as a registry operator shall take reasonable steps to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. Alibaba as a registry operator shall not use or authorize the use of personal data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrar(s) ⁄ registrant(s).  Personal data shall refer to all data about any identified or identifiable natural person. Alibaba as a registry operator will not make commercial use of, or collect, traffic data regarding domain names or non-existent domain names for purposes such as the determination of the availability and health of the Internet, pinpointing specific points of failure, characterizing attacks and misconfigurations, identifying compromised networks and hosts, and promoting the sale of domain names.

 

Publicly available registrant information such as WHOIS service is intended only for query-based access.  Specific WHOIS access policy is listed within the general registration policy in section

 

Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

 

As noted above Alibaba’s driving factor in securing a .Alibaba gTLD in ICANN’s first round is primarily defensive in nature, and while Alibaba sees the potential for the .Alibaba gTLD to serve as a cornerstone for its future online strategic initiative, there are a number of unanswered questions concerning consumer recognition, security and stability, and broader industry adoption of new gTLDs within the marketplace that must be satisfactorily answered first.  Once these concerns have been answered to Alibaba’s satisfaction, Alibaba is committed to make prominent use of the .Alibaba gTLD in printed and online material as well as across its wholly-owned and affiliated entities. As leading global online e-commerce, trade, and payment services company, Alibaba Group currently spends over RMB10 million annually in marketing and advertising.

 

18C. What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)? What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences/costs imposed upon consumers?

 

What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)?

 

Alibaba believes the proposed approach to initially limit registration to Alibaba Group and the CIU (see Section 18a) will provide a trusted online environment for consumers of Alibaba’s services. Therefore there is no need for other trademark and brand owners to defensively register in the gTLD.  This verified eco-system also provides consumers with a single trusted source for Alibaba and Alibaba with a substantially lower risk of fraud and⁄or scams for its customers.  Alibaba also believes that the safeguards set forth in the Applicant Guidebook and the proposed business models outlined in Section 18a will minimize and potential negative social costs.

 

What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences⁄costs imposed upon consumers?

 

Applicant believes that the proposed operation of the .Alibaba gTLD as set forth in this application has no known negative consequences or cost implications on consumers. On the contrary, the proposed operation of this .Alibaba gTLD registry will likely lead to direct and quantifiable benefits to consumers. Applicant believes that by following the core corporate values as identified in Section 18b, it will be able to provide real value to consumer, and minimize any potential negative consequences⁄costs.

 

How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first-serve basis?

 

Applicant does not envision multiple applicants for the same domain name, as domain names will initially only be allocated to Applicant and the CIU. If and when Applicant decides to permit third party registrations within the gTLD, Applicant will evaluate and decide upon a best in class allocation mechanism consistent with its strategic corporate interests.

 

 

Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

 

Applicant does not envision any pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts because these marketing⁄commercial initiatives are inconsistent with the mission and purpose of the .Alibaba gTLD as a trusted online identifier. Moreover, it is the current best thinking of Alibaba that .Alibaba domain name registrations will be provided at no-cost.

 

Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to 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.

 

Applicant is committed to provide the domain name registration periods set forth in the registry agreement. However, as noted above as .brand gTLD the registration and use of the domain name is conditioned upon the registrant being Alibaba Group themselves or its CIU. Therefore providing contractual commitments in a domain name registrant agreement regarding the magnitude of price escalations does not seem relevant or appropriate.  Additionally, as noted above, the current approach of Applicant that .Alibaba domain name registrations will be provided at no-cost.