.alipay New gTLD Application
Click to view Chinese translation articles.
-----------------------------------
New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Alibaba Group Holding Limited
Application Downloaded On: 21 Feb 2015
String: alipay
Application ID: 1-1093-81854
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
Alibaba Group Holding Limited
- Address of the principal place of business
Fourth Floor, One Capital Place
P.O.Box 847 George Town, Grand Cayman - KY1-1103 KY
- Phone number
+ 852 22155100
- Fax number
+ 852 22155100
- 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
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
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
- Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.
alipay
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.
- 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.
- 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 .Alipay application is to proactively protect the ownership of its “Alipay” 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 Applicant’s broad range of online e-commerce, trade, and payment services.
In addition to this ASCII application for the .Alipay string, the applicant will also be filling three other gTLD strings, namely “.Alibaba”, “.Taobao”, and “.Tmall”. These four applied-for strings consist of core business competency of Applicant and represent the ultimate and reputable brand value in the Internet marketplace. All four applications submitted by Applicant are considered to be critically important to Applicant’s existing and future businesses.
Applicant and the “Alipay” 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” 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, Alibaba.com (HKSE: 1688.HK) is the flagship company of Alibaba Group and is the global leader in e-commerce businesses. Through the operation by its affiliates, Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online 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 (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 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. 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.
The “Alipay” brand was founded in about October 2003 as an online payment service provider for shoppers at the www.taobao.com marketplace.
Launched in 2004, Alipay platform (www.alipay.com) is Chinaʹs leading third-party online payment solution with nearly half of the share of the country’s third-party online payment market according to Q4 2011 and FY2011 Core Data on China’s Third-Party Online Payment Market: iResearch Consulting Group. It had more than 650 million registered accounts as of December 2011. On November 11, 2011, Alipay set a record for the highest daily number of transactions, facilitating 33.69 million transactions during the 24-hour period. Alipay platform is currently operated by Alipay.com Co., Ltd. (“Alipay”) which is an affiliate and independently-run company of Alibaba Group.
As the preferred online payment tool of Internet merchants in China, Alipay provides an escrow payment service that reduces transaction risk for online consumers. Alipay was a key catalyst in the growth of the online retail market in China from RMB1 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2003 to RMB248 billion in GMV in 2009 according to iResearch China Internet Market Annual Review Report 2009: iResearch Consulting Group.
With the rapid development in term of the popularity of online shopping and e-commerce in China, and strong demand of trustworthy, user-friendly, and reliable online payment method for the Chinese Internet users, Alipay has become the most preferred and popular online payment method in China with more than 500,000 external merchants ranging from and not limited by, online retail, virtual gaming, digital communications, commercial services, utilities payment, etc. Alipay partners with more than 100 Chinese banks and financial institutions, including 19 leading national banks, as well as other leading International payment service provider such as Visa and MasterCard. Alipay currently supports transaction in 12 major foreign currencies.
In May 2011, Alipay obtained a license to operate in China from the People’s Bank of China following the restructuring of Alipay. Alipay was the first third-party payments platform to have granted with such a license, and such license has enabled Alipay to continue serving Taobao and its other customers in China.
Alibaba has secured trademark rights for the mark “Alipay” internationally in about 72 countries.
Potential Business Models
Applicant is still analyzing potential use options on the type of .Alipay 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 .Alipay domain names. Besides Alibaba Group, a CIU may be a representative of an entity (registrant) and the entity is wholly-owned or affiliated with Alipay. This conservative approach shall meet the trademark protection purpose, and minimize potential technological, marketing and operational risks. Such restricted approach will be reviewed at the regular basis and subject to change depending upon a range of external factors. 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 of operation.
18B. How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
Applicant believes that the proposed .Alipay gTLD has the potential to offer the following benefits to Internet users and consumers:
- As a gTLD string that represents a well-established online payments platform, .Alipay will help strengthen the confidence of e-business merchants, continue to reduce cost of transaction and possibility of fraud, and therefore a more orderly and reliable e-commerce marketplace can be ensured.
- .Alipay provides a direct, intuitive and memorable domain names that will facilitate the ease by which existing and new users of “Alipay” brand services can locate information online, and enjoy the convenience of Internet payment.
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 “Alipay” trademark at the Internet Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) name space, and to provide a trusted, hierarchical and intuitive namespace for worldwide users, it is also important to recognize Alibaba Group’s core mission -- “让天下没有难做的生意”, which in English it means “to make it easy to do business anywhere”. Derived from this philosophy, “Alipay” brand payments platform has been dedicated to play a vital role that enables simple, trustworthy, safe, user friendly and speedy transaction for buyers and sellers, and to strive for adding removing all possible obstacles in the service chain that Internet payments may have. The .Alipay gTLD shall be established in consistent with these goals.
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 Applicant are providing a simple, trustworthy, safe, user friendly and speedy online payment service 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 .Alipay gTLD. Using this benchmark, Alipay 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, Applicant’s “Alipay” brand is a leading online payment service provider and it, through the current payments platform, www.alipay.com, and relies upon emerging Internet technologies and the domain name system to deliver services to its consumers both domestically and abroad. A .Alipay gTLD would elevate its existing market leadership to another level.
While many customers of e-commerce or payment service websites are subject to a never ending barrage of spam and phishing activities, .Alipay from day one will be a trusted source for consumer looking for information regarding Alipay’s services.
What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
Applicant believes that the .Alipay gTLD will provide an enhanced experience for the hundreds of millions of consumers both domestically and internationally that use its online payment services. This will also provide increased confidence and predictability for new customers and partners as Alibaba Group, through its “Alipay” brand, continues to expand into other markets around the world as a leading global online marketplace platform.
In addition to providing consumers with shorter, memorable, and intuitive domain names to help customer navigate the website, Applicant has adopted measures to safeguard and minimize any potential phishing, pharming, or spam that have plagued the customers of other e-commerce companies or financial institutions.
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 “Alipay” 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 .Alipay 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 .Alipay General Registry Policies pertain techno-operational policies in the following areas:
- Domain Registrations (Domain Objects) and the .Alipay Zone File
- Domain Contacts (Contact Objects) and WHOIS Service
- Dispute Resolution Policies
- Obligations of Registered Name Holders
The General Registry Policies provides the framework for the general operations of the .Alipay Registry. Other policies, such as the .Alipay Eligibility, Reserved Name Policies, Sunrise Policies and other relevant policies are described separately in other documents published at the .Alipay TLD registry Websites. Pricing and technical specifications are published for Accredited Registrars only and provided separately.
The .Alipay TLD registry is committed to maintaining the integrity of the data within the .Alipay Registry and to implement policies that deter infringements. The .Alipay 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 .Alipay 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 .Alipay TLD registry Website(s). Such dispute policies will take effect at the time they are announced on the .Alipay TLD registry Website(s), with or without prior notice to registrars or registrants.
Such dispute policies may include for example, 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 .Alipay Registry. Dispute policies may also include for example challenge processes adopted by the .Alipay 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
Applicant 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, Applicant 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)
Applicant as a registry operator shall take reasonable steps to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. Applicant 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. Applicant 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.
Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.
As noted above Applicant’s driving factor in securing a .Alipay gTLD in ICANN’s first round is primarily defensive in nature, and while Applicant sees the potential for the .Alipay 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, Applicant is committed to make prominent use of the .Alipay 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)?
Applicant believes the proposed approach to initially limit registration to Alipay, 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 defensive register in the gTLD. This verified eco-system also provides consumers with a single trusted source for Alipay and Alibaba Group with a substantially lower risk of fraud and⁄or scams for its customers. Applicant 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 .Alipay 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 .Alipay 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 Alipay, Alibaba Group 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 .Alipay gTLD as a trusted online identifier. Moreover, it is the current approach of Applicant that .Alipay 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 Alipay, Alibaba Group 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 .Alipay domain name registrations will be provided at no-cost.