.nissay New gTLD Application
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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Nippon Life Insurance Company
Application Downloaded On: 15 Sep 2015
String: nissay
Application ID: 1-2093-82497
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
Nippon Life Insurance Company
- Address of the principal place of business
3-5-12, Imabashi, Chuo-ku Osaka - 541-8501 JP
- Phone number
+81 6 6209 5525
- Fax number
+81 3 5533 5318
- If applicable, website or URL
http://www.nissay.co.jp/english/
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Yusuke Saito
6(b). Title
Manager
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
+81 3 5533 9829
6(e). Fax Number
+81 3 5533 5206
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Kei Sato
7(b). Title
Manager
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
+81 3 5533 9842
7(e). Fax Number
+81 3 5533 5206
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
Mutual Company
8(b). State the specific national or other jurisdiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
Japan
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
Name
Position
Akito Arima Outside Director
Hiroshi Ozeki Director and Executive Officer
Hiroyuki Nishi Director and Managing Executive Officer
Kazuhiro Kojima Director and Managing Executive Officer
Kazuo Imai Director
Kazuo Kobayashi Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer
Kunie Okamoto Chairman
Masaru Nakamura Director and Managing Executive Officer
Sadao Kato Vice Chairman
Seizi Kitou Director and Executive Officer
Shin Ushijima Outside Director
Shohei Miki Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer
Takeshi Furuichi Director and Executive Vice President
Takeshi Yabe Director and Managing Executive Officer
Tomizi Akabayashi Director and Managing Executive Officer
Tsuneaki Teshima Director and Managing Executive Officer
Yoshihisa Akiyama Outside Director
Yoshinobu Tsutsui President
Yoshinori Terajima Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer
11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners
11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares
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.
nissay
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.
The .nissay string and A-Label were developed in line with and checked against the eligibility, stability and policy criteria as stated in the ICANN Applicant Guidebook - version 2012-01-11. The results of those checks are as follows:
- The string has less than 63 characters;
- The string in ASCII is composed of three or more visually distinct characters;
- The ASCII label consists entirely of letters;
- The string is not a reserved name as shown in section 2.2.1.2.1 - Reserved Names of the ICANN Applicant Guidebook - version 2012-01-11; and
- .nissay is not identical or similar to any of the top 10 invalid TLD’s responsible for the majority of DNS pollution, as referenced in the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC)’s report on this topic at http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄committees⁄security⁄sac045.pdf. It is likely that the .nissay has not already been queried with meaningful frequency at the root. Therefore, it is unlikely that .nissay will inherit significant invalid query traffic.
Due to the positive results of these checks, Nippon Life Insurance Company does not believe that the .nissay gTLD will be subject to any operational or rendering problems.
- 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 MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .NISSAY gTLD IS TO BENEFIT INTERNET USERS BY ENSURING INCREASED TRUST, SECURITY AND CONFIDENCE THROUGH THE ELIMINATION OF USER CONFUSION, MINIMIZATION OF SECURITY RISKS AND ASSURANCE OF BRAND AUTHENTICITY.
The .nissay gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of end users by providing an authoritative Internet space for Nippon Life Insurance Company (Nippon Life) where information, services and resources relating to Nippon Life’s insurance products and services will be closely controlled by Nippon Life.
The majority of the anticipated domain name registrations in the .nissay gTLD will be used in the promotion, improved presence and communication of the ‘Nissay’ brand and life insurance and related services.
A subset of domain names has the potential to be created and used for communication and marketing purposes, with internet users assured of brand authenticity.
Nippon Life was founded as Nippon Life Insurance Co. Inc. in July 1889 and changed its name to Nippon Life Insurance Co. in 1891. In 1947, the Company was reborn as Nippon Life Insurance Company, and continues to work to realize mutual aid and cooperative prosperity as a mutual company. Nippon Life has its headquarters in Osaka, Japan, has representative offices in New York, London, Frankfurt and Beijing, subsidiaries in the US and affiliates in China, Thailand, India and the US.
Nippon Life focuses on life insurance business, such as underwriting insurances based on life insurance business licenses, asset management, such as investing monies received as premiums into loans, securities investment and real estate investment.
Nippon Life (also commonly known as “Nissay”) had over 70,000 employees (as of March 31, 2011) and had total assets of USD 600,723 million (as of March 31, 2011). The number of customers is 9,954,059 (as of March, 2011).
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.
The .nissay gTLD will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with Nippon Life online, through a risk protected environment, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction.
Nippon Life’s mission and purpose of the proposed new gTLD share ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest. Nippon Life is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:
- consumer trust: the .nissay gTLD registry will be operated in a centralised manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to Nippon Life and its affiliate entities, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .nissay domain names are trustworthy.
Nippon Life aims to make insurance processing simple and fast for customers by minimizing procedures and enhancing customers’ convenience and authenticity of the ‘Nissay’ brand. As .nissay domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under Nippon Life’s control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .nissay domain space;
- competition: the proposed new gTLD is not intended to instigate competition and consumer choice at the level of registration of domain names among prospective registrants. Instead it is anticipated to contribute to ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest through its operation focused on promoting consumer trust. Increased trust in the .nissay gTLD will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs; and
- consumer choice: the proposed new gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations, such as simplifying customers’ insurance procedures, assisting Nippon Life’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 Nippon Life. As Nippon Life has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under .nissay domain space, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.
Given the restricted nature of the .nissay gTLD, the projected number of registration is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that a limited number of domain names will be registered in the first few years. However, the number of registrations is likely to increase as Nippon Life develops and implements new services and marketing campaigns.
As the new .nissay gTLD expands and evolves, Nippon Life may consider offering the use of second level domain names to its resellers and partners at a later date. In this endeavour, Nippon Life will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, as well as maintaining consumer trust and the stability of the internet. Nippon Life will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to .nissay gTLD including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.
Nippon Life intends to create relevant domain names for use including product, services or geographic names in the second or third level domain names. In accordance with registration policy and the proposed measures for protection of geographic names as outlined in response to Question 22, Nippon Life will use geographic names to localise its websites in countries relevant to its current and future operations. The use of geographic names is intended to:
- connect internet users with relevant information as applicable to the territory; and
- comply with required rules and regulations in the national territory.
Nippon Life will also utilise Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at the second level in Japanese and Chinese. The use of IDNs will allow internet users to engage with .nissay in their native language, creating a more positive user experience and encouraging diversity. As the use of the .nissay gTLD evolves, it is anticipated that the use of IDNs, including additional languages, will increase within the .nissay domain space.
Nippon Life is a well-recognised global brand with its “Nissay” trademarks registered in 12 countries and territories worldwide for category 36 (insurance, financial affairs, monetary affairs, real estate affairs).
Further, Nippon Life (including its affiliate entities) has existing domain names with an exact match to the “Nissay” trademark and the applied-for .nissay string including nissay.co.jp and nissay.co.uk.
Nippon Life believes that the .nissay gTLD is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs. Nippon Life trademarks are a leading global brand with significant reputation in Japan, South East Asia, Europe, Australia and the US. Nippon Life has used the term ‘Nissay’ in conjunction with its life insurance businesses as such, the ‘Nissay’ brand is well known within the insurance business worldwide.
18B. How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
18(B)I. WHAT IS THE GOAL OF YOUR PROPOSED gTLD IN TERMS OF AREAS OF SPECIALTY, SERVICE LEVELS OR REPUTATION?
The key goals of the proposed new .nissay gTLD are in line with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments: to promote consumer trust, competition and consumer choice. Nippon Life also seeks to foster its online reputation and provide an authoritative internet space through which Nippon Life is able to communicate with its customers directly and effectively. Nippon Life also intends to launch a new strategy to enhance the customer’s convenience, allowing them to perform certain insurance procedures using only their customer ID and passwords from PCs, mobile phones and wireless devices, thus making insurance procedures simple and fast. The ability to create domain names on demand related to specific marketing, specialty service and product development supports these goals. Strengthened security measures, service levels and more effective functionality will provide a trusted and positive user experience.
18(B)II. WHAT DO YOU ANTICIPATE YOUR PROPOSED gTLD WILL ADD TO THE CURRENT SPACE, IN TERMS OF COMPETITION, DIFFERENTIATION, OR INNOVATION?
It is anticipated that the proposed .nissay gTLD will make positive contributions to the wider internet community by providing:
DIFFERENTIATION (INCREASED TRUST):
The .nissay gTLD will simplify how internet users interact with Nippon Life by providing a distinctive and easy accessible domain space. Internet users will be able to directly navigate to the .nissay gTLD site, saving time and resources searching for an official site. The current domain name system has shown that it is vulnerable to malicious abuses due to registration of domain names which seek to exploit consumer confusion. Nippon Life can address some of these vulnerabilities by maintaining complete control over the domain names registered under the .nissay domain space. Together with consumer trust, internet users will be able to rely on the authoritativeness of the domain names under .nissay domain space, which will differentiate interaction between internet users and Nippon Life.
COMPETITION:
The differentiation of .nissay gTLD as a trusted site for Nippon Life will drive existing and new TLD registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs. Internet users will be encouraged to interact with domain names under .nissay domain space as these will be recognized as reliable and authentic. As a result, .nissay will have a flow on effect to enable increased competition. Therefore, the benefits of the proposed .nissay will be distributed not only to its direct customers, but to the internet community at large forcing improved services and competitive pricing in the market place.
INNOVATION:
With the expansion of the internet community to all corners of the world, the existing TLD structure presents limitations, not only in the availability of domain names for registrants, but also to businesses and organisations establishing a coherent global online brand presence to meet their evolving business needs. It is often difficult to register a domain name in existing domain space due to unavailability of the desired name. This problem is amplified for organisations such as Nippon Life who work across many different jurisdictions and geographical markets. Even when the desired domain name is available, it may come with a high price tag associated with a purchase of such desired name from a third party. The existing system also makes it difficult to register distinctive domain names as a source identifier, due to confusingly similar domain names used by cyber squatters. Nippon Life aims to make insurance processing simple and fast for customers by minimizing procedures and enhancing customers’ convenience and authenticity of the ‘Nissay’ brand. With the proposed .nissay gTLD, Nippon Life has the ability to create second or third level domain names including the use of geographic names and IDNs on demand which are relevant to its customer base, services and products. Nippon Life will be able to combine its use of the domain space with innovative user focused marketing and services to address the currently unmet needs in the existing domain name system providing greater consumer choice.
18(B)III. WHAT GOALS DOES YOUR PROPOSED gTLD HAVE IN TERMS OF USER EXPERIENCE?
The proposed .nissay will provide a positive user experience, which meets the changing and growing needs of the global internet community. The .nissay gTLD will offer a single, distinctive source identifier as a genuine web space operated and maintained by Nippon Life. Nippon Life will maintain control in the registration and use of domain names and will ensure that the new gTLD will only be used for purposes authorised by Nippon Life. Therefore, .nissay gTLD will:
- provide an easy, reliable and intuitive reference and access point for internet users;
- represent authenticity as the most reliable tool to achieve successful results and thus promoting user confidence;
- direct internet users to relevant information in a timely manner by creating domain names on demand;
- use IDNs to enable customers to interact directly in their native language;
- use geographic names to localise its websites to connect with internet users in the relevant regions and to comply with local laws;
- enhance security and minimise security risks by implementing necessary technical and policy measures in a risk protected environment;
- strengthen brand reputation and user confidence by eliminating user confusion; and
- prevent potential abuses in the registration process reducing overall costs to businesses and users.
The .nissay gTLD should address the concerns that the current domain name system is open to potential malicious abuse and user confusion in the registration processes. Although the current system allows an eligible party to lodge a claim through existing Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) or other dispute resolution processes, the .nissay gTLD will reduce potential abuses in the registration processes and overall costs to internet users. User confidence in the domain name system will be strengthened, which will ultimately contribute towards promoting ICANN’s core values in benefiting the public interest.
18(B)IV. PROVIDE A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICANTʹS INTENDED REGISTRATION POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF THE GOALS LISTED ABOVE.
The proposed registration policy is attached in response to Question 28.
Only affiliate entities of Nippon Life will be eligible to register domain names in .nissay at this stage. The domain name registration processes will address the requirements mandated by ICANN, including rights abuse prevention measures. As the use of the .nissay gTLD expands and evolves, Nippon Life may consider expanding the use of .nissay gTLDs at a later date. Such expansion processes will comply with all policy, operational and technical requirements and will adhere to applicable measures to protect customer trust and the stability of the internet.
18(B)V. 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.
Nippon Life is committed to protection of privacy and confidential information in accordance with its objective of increasing consumer trust and providing a safe and legitimate internet space for internet users. Privacy and confidential information will be protected in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations relating to internet security, privacy and user’s confidential information including Act no 57 concerning Protection of Personal Information, 2003 (Japan) and the Personal Information Protection Law, 2005 (Japan).
Privacy is of fundamental concern to Nippon Life’s customers as the interaction between Nippon Life and its customers may involve transaction of money and sensitive information related to customers’ health conditions. As such Nippon Life has a strong interest in ensuring a high level of privacy protection for its customers. Nippon Life also has implemented its own privacy policy to demonstrate its commitment to the protection of user privacy and confidential information.
Nippon Life informs customers regarding the policies and procedures around the use and security of personal information. Customer account information is kept secure and confidential through multiple security features and procedures, including the use of a Personal Security Number (PIN) set by the customer.
As the .nissay gTLD will only be available to affiliate entities of Nippon Life, initially, the amount of personal data that will be collected for the purposes of operating the gTLD and made publicly available in the WHOIS database will be very limited. Nippon Life will provide a publicly available and searchable WHOIS look up facility, where information about the domain name status, registrant information including administrative and technical contact details can be found in accordance with Specification 4 of the Registry Agreement. In order to prevent misuse of the WHOIS look up facility, Nippon Life will utilise measures including a requirement where any person submitting a WHOIS database query is required to read and agree to the terms and conditions in accordance with the registration policy. This will include the terms of use that the WHOIS database is provided for information purposes only and that the user agrees not to use the information for any other purposes such as allowing or enabling the transmission of unsolicited commercial advertising or other communication.
Nippon Life will deploy Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) which is intended to benefit both Nippon Life and its users interacting with Nippon Life online. DNSSEC provides additional security by validating information in the transmission, therefore it is intended to benefit those who publish information in the domain name system (DNS) and the users who retrieve information from the new .nissay gTLD. Nippon Life already implements measures to protect privacy or confidential information of its users against misuse, loss, alteration and unauthorised access including but not limited to the use of a Personal Security Number (PIN) set by the customer. Nippon Life has been conducting employee training on the protection of personal information along with the improvement of the Security System Infrastructure.
Nippon Life will continue to apply all security measures currently implemented and will comply with all other policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and any relevant Consensus Policy for protecting the privacy and confidential information of registrants and users in the new .nissay domain space.
18(B)VI. DESCRIBE WHETHER AND IN WHAT WAYS OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS WILL HELP TO ACHIEVE YOUR PROJECTED BENEFITS.
The proposed new gTLD will be publicised by a media plan to promote recognition of the new gTLD within the internet community to be a trusted site and as a sign of authenticity.
Nippon Life intends to launch a new integration strategy shortly, designed to enhance customer service, and will later on also notify its customers and potential customers about the new .nissay gTLD.
During the initial stage of the operation of the proposed new gTLD, it is anticipated that internet users will be re-directed to current websites. However, over time, it is foreseen that communication to the internet community of the existence of the proposed new gTLD and encouragement to utilise the trusted site will contribute towards minimising malicious abuses and protecting internet users.
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?
As a restricted gTLD, registration will only be open to internal users (affiliate entities) at this stage and no third parties will be able to register domain names under .nissay domain space. Therefore, it is not anticipated that third party trademark owners will incur costs in relation to the .nissay gTLD. The affiliate entities wishing to register domain names must ensure that all the policy requirements for registration are satisfied. Nippon Life will utilise the services of the proposed Trademark Clearinghouse to ensure that domain names registered and the use of those domain names, do not infringe any registered third party intellectual property rights.
No unaffiliated third party will be permitted to register domain names at this stage. It is estimated that time and money spent by consumers who have been targeted by malicious abuse in utilising services on the internet will reduce over time as a result of the new, trusted .nissay gTLD.
18(C)I. HOW WILL MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS FOR A PARTICULAR DOMAIN NAME BE RESOLVED, FOR EXAMPLE, BY AUCTION OR ON A FIRST-COME⁄FIRST-SERVE BASIS?
The initial use of the proposed new gTLD will be restricted to internal business use and Nippon Life and affiliate entities are intended to be the registrants under the .nissay gTLD. Therefore conflicts between multiple applications are not anticipated to occur.
18(C)II. EXPLAIN ANY COST BENEFITS FOR REGISTRANTS YOU INTEND TO IMPLEMENT (E.G., ADVANTAGEOUS PRICING, INTRODUCTORY DISCOUNTS, BULK REGISTRATION DISCOUNTS).
This gTLD will be used for internal purposes only, at this stage, so pricing incentives are not applicable or relevant.
18(C)III. 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 PLAN.
This gTLD will be used for internal purposes only, at this stage, so pricing incentives or pricing increases are not applicable or relevant as no additional fees are to be charged.