.ITAU New gTLD Application
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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.
String: ITAU
Originally Posted: 13 June 2012
Application ID: 1-876-18413
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.
- Address of the principal place of business
Praca Alfredo Egydio de Souza Aranha, 100
Torre Olavo Setubal, Parque Jabaquara
Sao Paulo SP CEP 04344-902
BR
- Phone number
+55 11 5019 1122
- Fax number
+55 11 5019 1133
- If applicable, website or URL
http:⁄⁄www.itau.com
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Ms. Winston Troy Fuhriman
6(b). Title
Domain Services Manager
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
+1 208 685 1872
6(e). Fax Number
+1 208 389 5771
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Mr. Tarcisio Luiz Hespanhol
7(b). Title
Information Security Specialist
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
+55 11 5029 1585
7(e). Fax Number
+55 11 5029 1960
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
Joint Stock Company
8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
Brazilian
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.
New_York_Stock_Exchange;ITUB
9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.
Iupar – Itau Unibanco Participacoes S.A. (51,00%) Itausa – Investimentos Itau S.A. (38,66%)
9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.
Not Applicable
Applicant Background
11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors
ALFREDO EGYDIO SETUBAL Vice-Chairman
CAIO IBRAHIM DAVID Director
CANDIDO BOTELHO BRACHER Vice-Chairman
CARLOS EDUARDO DE SOUZA LARA Director
CLAUDIA POLITANSKI Director
EDUARDO HIROYUKI MIYAKI Director
EMERSON MACEDO BORTOLOTO Director
JACKSON RICARDO GOMES Director
MARCO ANTONIO ANTUNES Director
MARCOS DE BARROS LISBOA Director
RICARDO BALDIN Director
ROBERTO EGYDIO SETUBAL Chairman
ROGÉRIO PAULO CALDERÓN PERES Director
SÉRGIO RIBEIRO DA COSTA WERLANG Director
11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners
ALCIDES LOPES TÁPIAS Officer
ALFREDO EGYDIO ARRUDA VILLELA FILHO Executive Vice-President
ALFREDO EGYDIO SETUBAL Officer
CANDIDO BOTELHO BRACHER Officer
FERNANDO ROBERTO MOREIRA SALLES Officer
FRANCISCO EDUARDO DE ALMEIDA PINTO Officer
GUSTAVO JORGE LABOISSIÈRE LOYOLA Officer
HENRI PENCHAS Officer
ISRAEL VAINBOIM Officer
PEDRO LUIZ BODIN DE MORAES Officer
PEDRO MOREIRA SALLES Chief Executive Officer
RICARDO VILLELA MARINO Officer
ROBERTO EGYDIO SETUBAL Executive Vice-President
11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares
ITAUSA – INVESTIMENTOS ITAU S.A. Not Applicable
IUPAR – ITAU UNIBANCO PARTICIPACOES S.A. 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.
ITAU
14(a). If an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").
14(b). 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.
14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).
14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).
14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).
14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).
14(e). If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.
15(a). If an IDN, Attach IDN Tables for the proposed registry.
Attachments are not displayed on this form.
15(b). Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.
15(c). List any variant strings 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.
To the best of the Applicant’s knowledge, information and belief, the applied-for gTLD string will have no operational or rendering problems.
- (OPTIONAL) Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).
itæʹu
Mission/Purpose
18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.
Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (“Itau” or “the Applicant”) is currently a publicly-held company which, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, operates all types of banking activities in Brazil and abroad since 1924.
Itau is the largest Latin American bank and the eighth largest bank in the world based on market value criterion (R$ 152.8 billion) (Bloomberg ranking, 31 December 2011)Itau has over 105,000 employees, 40 million clients, and activities in 19 countries and 2 territories throughout the Americas, Asia and Europe. In Brazil alone, Itau has nearly 5,000 branches and 30,000 ATMs. One of every four “reais” (Brazil’s currency) circulates through Itau. Itau and its affiliates offers complete retail banking and operate as a full service bank in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. In 2011, Itau was named the world’s most sustainable bank by the Financial Times and IFC.
The Itau brand is extremely valuable in Brazil and worldwide and the value of the Itau brand has been consistently growing. For the eighth consecutive time, the Itau brand was recognized as the most valuable in Brazil by Interbrand consulting company, a pioneer in the development of the brand valuation method. The Itau brand is valued at R$ 24.3 billion, which is 18% higher than the brand’s value in 2010 and 130% higher than the brand’s value in 2008. Itau is also one of the most valuable brands in the world, with an estimated value of $ 9.6 billion (BrandZ ranking 2011,FT⁄ Millward Brown).
Itau continues to promote and construct its brand. Brand construction and promotion efforts include mass communication, internal marketing, corporate citizenship initiatives, and sponsorships (e.g. official sponsor of the Brazilian National Soccer Team and Official National Supporter of the World Cup 2014). Outside Brazil, especially in Latin America, Itau seeks to construct a globally consistent brand.
Against this background, the mission and purpose of the proposed .itau gTLD includes: securing and protecting the Itau brand as a gTLD; further promoting and shaping the Itau brand; and reflecting and operating the Itau brand at the top level of the DNS’ hierarchy.
Itau believes technology has a role in bringing accessibility to people and facilitating peopleʹs lives. Accordingly, Itau has always been on the forefront of technological developments in Latin America. The group to which Itau belongs has even a separate company, ItauTec, whose mission and purpose was to develop information technology solutions for banking business.
Itau and its affiliates developed the following customer accessibility technologies:
home banking applications as early as the beginning of the 1980’s;
IT infrastructure allowing customers to perform financial transactions from any branch in Brazil and abroad, and not only with the local branch with whom the customer relationship exists;
electronic banking applications over the Internet since the mid 1990’s.More recently, Itau and its affiliates began offering the following customer accessibility technologies:
- services in the Brazilian market via mobile phones through Itau Mobile, such as Itau trade TV, which displays video with the main daily news about investments, Itau’s consolidated portfolio of investment funds through charts, and access to reports of Itau Brokerage in PDF format;
- the classifieds portal lcarros, a practical tool whose purpose is to facilitate the buying and selling of cars via the Internet, boosting sales of dealerships and offering convenience to users;
- a banking application for tablets and smartphones;
- iConta, a service aimed at customers who want to use only the bank’s electronic channels-Internet banking, telephone (electronic service), mobile, iPhone and ATMS to manage and conduct their financial transactions; and
- an application for reading bar codes on the iPhone to make payments.
Itau has received many acknowledgements for its technological achievements including:
- Financial Executives Magazine, E-finance Award in five categories: Best and Most Innovative Service Center, Worldʹs Fastest Cash; Ipad app, WMS Upgrade Technological and IT Professional of the year, with Alexandre de Barros, vice president, Technology;
- 100 most connected companies of Brazil, the Info Magazine;
- 2010 Award in the categories Internet Social Security and Business Mobile, Financial Executives Magazine;
- Cisco Networkers Innovation Awards 2010, Cisco of Brazil, Best Project of the Year in the collaboration category.
Thus, Itau is a recognized leader in banking technology and it is considered a high-tech, modern and innovative bank.
Against this background, the mission and purpose of the proposed .itau gTLD also includes utilizing new technology to improve customer accessibility.
Throughout its history, Itau and its affiliates has put a particular focus on retail banking customers, by providing low-cost financial services and giving them access to sustainable credit facilities utilizing state-of-the-art information technology infrastructures and applications. Especially this target group is extremely prone to technical security breaches, when accessing financial services and performing financial transactions on line. Over the past few years, Itau’s customers have been the victims of a number of phishing attacks.
According to Itau’s market research, customers who use the Internet banking in Brazil consider the following to be the most important attributes: ease of access, security and simplicity. Itauʹs customers have a high level of satisfaction with Itau´s Internet banking. Indeed, for many years Itau has been elected Top of Mind on the Internet Bank (portal UOL).
Against this background, the mission and purpose of the proposed .itau gTLD further includes: providing customers with a recognizable and trusted identifier on the Internet; providing customers with a trusted, secure and safe Internet environment, for example, to mitigate the risks of phishing attacks, directly under one of the world’s most trusted brands in the financial industry; providing more vulnerable customers further assurance that their financial transactions are safe, secure, and genuine; maintaining and improving Itau customer satisfaction with Internet banking; and enabling penetration and use of the Internet for accessing financial services in Brazil and beyond.
Thus, the mission and purpose of the proposed .itau gTLD underpins Itau’s corporate vision to be “a leading bank in sustainable performance and client satisfaction.”
18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
- The goals of the applied-for gTLD as regards specialty, service level, and reputation are set forth in 18(a).
- From the Applicant’s perspective, .itau may bring a high degree of recognition and specialization to the currently existing name space. Where in most cases the specific connotation that has been initially given to gTLDs (or even ccTLDs) has disappeared, the .itau top-level domain is currently intended to be unambiguous as regards:
the identity of the Applicant as the Registry Operator;
the source of the content and services offered under the .itau gTLD;
the affiliation between the Registry Operator and the gTLD; and
in term, and at the discretion of the Applicant, the affiliation between the Registry Operator (i.e. the Applicant) and any third party that is authorized by the Applicant to register and⁄or use one or more domain name registrations in the .itau gTLD.
- As mentioned in 18(a),key reasons why the Applicant is applying for the ..itau gTLD, which are related to user experience include:
utilizing new technology to improve customer accessibility;
providing customers with a recognizable and trusted identifier on the Internet;
providing customers with a trusted, secure and safe Internet environment, for example, to mitigate the risks of phishing attacks, directly under one of the world’s most trusted brands in the financial industry;
providing more vulnerable customers further assurance that their financial transactions are safe, secure, and genuine;
maintaining and improving Itau customer satisfaction with Internet banking; and
enabling penetration and use of the Internet for accessing financial services in Brazil and beyond.
- The Applicant intends to implement the following policies and procedures with respect to the registration of domain names in the .itau top-level domain:
- Reservation and registration of domain names in the name of the Applicant. It is likely that this will be the scenario that the Applicant will put in place during the first months or even years of operation of the .itau gTLD. These names may include, but are not limited to:
descriptive names, referring to the actual day-to-day business activities of the Applicant or its affiliates;
descriptive names, referring to internal departments of the Applicant and its affiliates;
descriptive names, referring to the subsidiaries, affiliates and⁄or joint ventures of the Applicant; and
potentially also names relating to other stakeholders of the Applicant, to be determined by the Applicant following ICANN’s award and delegation of the .itau gTLD to the Applicant.
- The Applicant intends that eventually other companies belonging to the Itau group will be able to register and use domain names under the .itau gTLD.
- The Applicant also intends that eventually companies controlled, directly or indirectly, by Itau or its affiliates, as well as institutions, foundations and other organizations sponsored and⁄or created by Itau or its affiliates will be able to
register and use domain names in the .itau gTLD.
- At a later stage, the Applicant may further expand the scope of eligible registrants of domain names under the .itau gTLD.
- Launch of the TLD: If and when implemented by the Registry Operator (i.e. the Applicant), this is likely going to be a gradual process, whereby selected third parties that meet certain criteria, which the Applicant will be entitled to set at its
own discretion, may register domain names in the .itau gTLD. These processes may include the following:
- Sunrise: allow physical persons, organizations and entities that meet the eligibility requirements determined by the Applicant at that point in time to choose and, where allowed by the Applicant, to register the domain names that are identical to their trademarks.
- Land rush and general availability: other available domain names may be registered by physical persons, organizations and entities that meet the eligibility requirements in force at that point in time to choose the domain names in accordance with the applicable terms and conditions.
- Depending on the terms and conditions in force at the time of launch of the gTLD, these domain names may or may not be registered in the name of the applicant for the domain name or in the name of the Registry Operator of the gTLD (i.e., the Applicant). In any case, the Applicant reserves the right to impose additional and other restrictions from time to time at its sole discretion.
- Since the Applicant intends that initially all domain names registered under the .itau gTLD will be registered by the Applicant and, possibly at a later stage, other parties, the Applicant considers it important that Internet users will be able to identify the actual owner of every domain name registered in .itau and the direct contact information of all contacts associated with such domain name. Thus, the Applicant intends that, at least initially, no particular measures will be taken in order to prevent or hamper Internet users to obtain direct access to this information.
Given the fact that the Applicant is a company that is established in Brazil, it is subject to national privacy and data protection rules and practices and also rules and regulations that have been established with regard to bank secrecy. Thus, the Applicant will at all times be obliged to carefully consider these rules practices, and regulations and, where applicable, implement policies in conformance with these rules, practices and regulations, and this prior to and during the operation of the .itau gTLD.
- At this stage, the Applicant has not developed concrete and tangible plans in order to move its online activities from www.itau.com and many other active domain names used by the Applicant and its subsidiaries, affiliates and joint ventures. However, the Applicant has different ways to make existing and future customers, visitors and stakeholders aware of the (gradual) development of a new online environment under the .itau TLD, including but not limited to:
Direct and indirect marketing and branding initiatives;
Brochures and advertisements in newspapers, magazines, etc.;
Internet advertising campaigns, including paid search, pay-per-click advertising, etc.;
Having Internet traffic to www.itau.com or other domain names resolving into domain names registered in the .itau gTLD, which builds awareness with Internet users that the .itau gTLD exists; and
Marketing campaigns.
18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?
- In line with the Applicant’s mission and purpose for the .itau gTLD, it is important for the Applicant to safeguard and protect its ITAU brand at the top level of the DNS’ hierarchy. Such protection does not only extend to the actual registration, delegation and use of the gTLD, but also to the domain names that are registered therein, and how these domain names are used.
Considering the fact that the actual award and delegation of the .itau gTLD to the Applicant is subject to the successful evaluation of the application, the Applicant has not yet defined in detail:
the types of domain names that will be registered;
who will be entitled to select which domain names will be registered;
who will be entitled to register such domain names;
who will be entitled to use such domain names; and
which types of use will be allowed or recommended.
As the Applicant believes that the development and implementation of one or more business cases could likely take a couple of months or even years, the Applicant has only focused on a number of high-level plans in relation to the operation of the .itau gTLD.
By all means, it is in the Applicant’s vested interest to, on the one hand, make the most of this initiative, promote its own business interests, and mitigate risks for its brand and brand reputation, whilst also reducing the (social) costs for others.
In this context, the Applicant will devise policies that encompass and comprise the following features:
At least during the initial month or even years following the delegation of the .itau gTLD to the Applicant, this extension is likely going to be a so-called “single registrant TLD” as contemplated by ICANN in Article 4.5 of the template Registry Operator Agreement (“Transition of Registry upon Termination of Agreement”). For the avoidance of doubt, a “single registrant TLD” is a TLD where “(i) all domain name registrations in the TLD are registered to, and maintained by, Registry Operator for its own exclusive use, and (ii) Registry Operator does not sell, distribute or transfer control or use of any registrations in the TLD to any third party that is not an Affiliate of Registry Operator.”
Therefore, parties who are not the Applicant or—insofar and to the extent the Applicant deems appropriate—an Affiliate will not be entitled to register domain names in the .itau gTLD.
The Applicant believes this is to be in line with its vision and mission statement set forth in 18(a).
Consequently, it is unlikely that there will be multiple applications for a particular domain name. There will also likely be no (social) costs for non-eligible (third) parties, given the fact that they will be unable to register domain names in the .itau gTLD in the first place.
However, even if only the Applicant (and, as the case may be, the Applicant’s affiliates) will be entitled to register domain names, this does not exclude the hypothesis that disputes may arise with one or more third parties as regards domain names that are registered in the .itau gTLD.
In order to avoid these risks, the Applicant intends to implement the following policies and processes:
First, the domain names to be registered by the Applicant and, as the case may be, its affiliates, will likely relate to the following:
trademarks of the Applicant and its affiliates;
names of the affiliates of the Applicant;
names of business, initiatives, campaigns and departments within the Applicant and its affiliates.
Furthermore, the Applicant envisages registering a fair number of generic words that are directly or indirectly related to the day-to-day business activities and operations of the Applicant and its affiliates.
Prior to effectively registering such domain names in the .itau gTLD, the Applicant will require its legal and intellectual property department to review the list of these domain names on a regular basis in order to satisfy itself that they will not infringe the rights of third parties.
In any case, the Applicant will claim to have a legitimate interest in these domain names, as they are merely descriptive of the activities, products or services of the Applicant and⁄or its affiliates. So even if one or more of these domain names would be protected by a registered trademark, held by a third party, it is likely that a claim under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy or Uniform Rapid Suspension policy will fail.
As regards the names referred to in Specification 5 of the template Registry Operator Agreement, the Applicant will follow the processes and procedures established by ICANN and the Governmental Advisory Committee.
If the Applicant would determine, at its sole discretion, that it will gradually allow certain categories of stakeholders to register domain names in the .itau gTLD in their own name, the Applicant will devise policies to that effect.
However, the Applicant will at all times be entitled to restrict, limit or expand:
the category or categories of stakeholders who will be entitled to register one or more domain names in the .itau gTLD, including their criteria for qualification;
the choice of domain name(s) registered in the .itau gTLD by and per such eligible stakeholder (category);
the use made by a stakeholder of a domain name registered in the .itau gTLD; and
the transfer of domain names registered in .itau.
The Applicant shall reserve the right to subject the registration or use of a domain name to internal approval processes and procedures, at each and every step of the domain name life cycle.
Given the fact that the Applicant may release such available domain names post launch in a highly controlled manner, this also reduces the likelihood that two or more applicants qualify for the registration of the same domain name in the .itau top-level domain.
As a method of last resort, and subject to the actual domain name registration policy adopted by the Registry Operator and in force at the time of registration, domain names will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
In any event, the Applicant reserves the right to change or restrict any policies, procedures and practices at any point in time if it is of the opinion that there would be a risk that the reputation of the Itau brand would be damaged.
- The Applicant intends that at least initially the .itau gTLD will be controlled by the Applicant and domain names in the .itau gTLD will not be offered to third parties (for sale or otherwise). If domain names in the .itau gTLD are ever offered to third parties, at this point, the Applicant intends to make the .itau top-level domain available to qualifying domain name registrants at no cost to them. If the Applicant⁄Registry Operator would be required to charge a fee for the registration of domain names under the .itau gTLD, the fee will be set at a cost-recovery or arm’s length basis, to be determined at that time by the Registry.
- If the Applicant will be required to or would decide to increase the fees for registration of domain names, such increases will keep pace with the cost-recovery or arm’s length character referred to above.