.TIFFANY New gTLD Application
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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Tiffany and Company
String: TIFFANY
Originally Posted: 13 June 2012
Application ID: 1-1266-93721
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
Tiffany and Company
- Address of the principal place of business
727 Fifth Avenue
New York NY 10022
US
- Phone number
+1 212 755 8000
- Fax number
+1 212 230 5323
- If applicable, website or URL
http:⁄⁄international.tiffany.com⁄
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Joshua Slocum Bourne
6(b). Title
FairWinds Partners LLC, Managing Partner
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
+1 202 223 9252
6(e). Fax Number
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Eugenia OʹConnell
7(b). Title
Manager, Tiffany.com E-Commerce
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
+1 646 428 5857
7(e). Fax Number
+1 646 428 5850
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
Corporation
8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
New York, USA
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;TIF
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
James N. Fernandez Director
Michael J. Kowalski Director
Patrick B. Dorsey Director
11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners
Adina C. Kagan Vice President
Beth O. Canavan Executive Vice President
Caroline D. Naggiar Senior Vice President
Frederic Cumenal Executive Vice President
James N. Fernandez Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Jon M. King Executive Vice President
Kevin J. OʹHalloran Vice President
Michael E. Kane Vice President
Michael J. Kowalski Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer
Patrick B. Dorsey Senior Vice President
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.
TIFFANY
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.
Tiffany and Company foresees no known rendering issues in connection with the proposed .TIFFANY gTLD for which it is applying. This answer is based upon consultation with Tiffany and Company’s selected back-end provider, VeriSign, Inc., which has successfully launched a number of new gTLDs over the last decade. In reaching this determination, the following data points were analyzed:
-ICANN’s Security Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) entitled Alternative TLD Name Systems and Roots: Conflict, Control and Consequences (SAC009);
-IAB - RFC3696 “Application Techniques for Checking and Transformation of Names”
-Known software issues which Verisign has encountered during the last decade launching new gTLDs;
-Character type and length;
-ICANN supplemental notes to Question 16; and
-ICANN’s presentation during its Costa Rica regional meeting on TLD Universal Acceptance.
- (OPTIONAL) Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).
Mission/Purpose
18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.
Tiffany and Company (ʺTiffanyʺ) has filed this application for a .TIFFANY gTLD to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for the goods and services that Tiffany provides to its customers on a global basis. As a Registry Operator, Tiffany will be entrusted to provide domain name registration services to Tiffany, its qualified subsidiaries or affiliates, and⁄or any other designated third party.
Although Tiffany is committed to moving forward with a .TIFFANY gTLD application, at the time of filing this application there has not been enough time or market information available to fully analyze and evaluate all potential use case options.
18.1.1 [TIFFANY AND COMPANY]
Tiffany is an international luxury goods retailer that specializes in diamond jewelry, silver jewelry, and other silver goods. The companyʹs principal product category is jewelry; Tiffany offers an extensive selection of TIFFANY & CO. brand jewelry at a wide range of price points. However, the company also sells timepieces, sterling silver goods (other than jewelry), china, crystal, stationary, frangrances, personal accessories, and leather goods. Tiffany is based in New York City, New York, but has store locations in 18 countries worldwide. As of January 31, 2007, the Company operated 64 Tiffany & Co. stores in the US and 103 Tiffany & Co. international stores. Tiffany also sells its products online to customers around the world. Tiffany employs over 9,000 people, and its fiscal 2011 gross sales totaled 3.64 billion U.S. dollars.
18.1.2 [POTENTIAL BUSINESS PLAN]
Tiffany currently plans a four-stage rollout for its family of gTLDs:
- Stage One
The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve Tiffany registering a limited number of .TIFFANY second-level domain names.
This initial use will provide Tiffany’s IT and security personnel the time to run a number of tests to ensure seamless and secure access using the .TIFFANY gTLD domain names, interoperability with various software and Web-based applications, and unbroken and secure use of all names. This initial allocation will also allow the appropriate Tiffany staff to coordinate with the internal and external staff responsible for the application, delegation, and setup phases of the .TIFFANY gTLD to ensure a proper transition from delegation to full operation.
- Stage Two
Once all testing has been successfully completed, Tiffany will begin allocating domain names in .TIFFANY for more widespread corporate use. During this same period of time, Tiffany will begin evaluating strategies to potentially migrate traffic away from its current patchwork network of second-level domain names, which are registered in a variety of TLDs, to Tiffany’s new family of gTLDs.
It is in Stage Two that Tiffany will evaluate expanding the operations of the gTLD to permit registration by other registrants, such as licensees or strategic partners. Should an assessment of its expansion strategy lead to a decision to extend registration rights to other parties, this expansion is currently planned to take place during Stage Three. However, any expansion would be conditioned upon a review of the Specification 9 (Registry Code of Conduct) set forth in the template Registry Agreement to ensure compliance with Tiffany’s business model.
- Stage Three
Depending upon the analysis of the evaluations undertaken in Stage Two, Tiffany may begin to implement the permanent migration of Internet traffic away from the TLDs in which Tiffany’s domain names are currently registered, and toward the new Tiffany family of branded gTLDs. It is in this stage that Tiffany also may implement its decision to extend registration rights to licensees or strategic partners, depending upon compliance with Specification 9 as noted above. The dates of such expansion are subject to change depending upon business, strategic, and industry factors at the time.
After consideration of the following factors: analysis of Tiffany’s existing domain name portfolio, internal analysis of marketing initiatives, and the fact that Tiffany will have full control over the number of registrations in the .TIFFANY gTLD namespace, Tiffany is confident that the number of domain name registrations will be less than 10,000 in the first five years of operation.
- Stage Four
Based on its experience with any expansion implemented in Stage Three, Tiffany will assess whether its business plan and expansion strategy should be augmented by extending registration rights to a broader class of licensees, and, potentially, customers of Tiffany. It is anticipated by Tiffany that changes to the domain name industry, and particularly the impact of .BRAND gTLDs, will take at least five years to be realized and assessed. Any decision to expand the gTLDs beyond corporate, qualified subsidiary⁄affiliate, and licensee use will take into account this experience as well as the technical analysis of potential expansion.
The potential use of the .TIFFANY gTLD will also be driven by Tiffany’s future business strategies as identified in its annual report and investor filings, see http:⁄⁄investor.tiffany.com⁄.
Utilizing current projections based upon Tiffany’s existing businesses, future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, Tiffany estimates second-level domain name registrations to be in line with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in its response to Question 46 of this application.
18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
Tiffany believes that a proposed .TIFFANY gTLD has the potential to offer the following benefits to Internet users and consumers:
- Establish a trusted source of information and an online marketplace for the millions of customers that purchase goods and services through Tiffany’s online retail stores, for investors and third parties seeking information, and for the general Internet user population;
- Provide Tiffany with short and memorable Internet addresses that enable increased navigation to products, services, advertising campaigns, public interest content, public awareness initiatives, etc;
- Eliminate the cost of, and need for, defensive registrations by other brands because domain names will only be allocated to Tiffany and qualified subsidiaries and affiliates;
- Develop a potential platform for the secure access to, purchase of, and distribution of Tiffany products and information to customers in order to minimize the potential for counterfeit or infringing goods and services; and
- Increase consumer awareness to potentially minimize incidents of phishing and malware often associated with domain names that incorporate the TIFFANY mark, or variations of said mark (typos), that are registered by cybersquatters and⁄or criminal elements.
Additionally, Tiffany maintains country-specific websites for its customers around the world and maintains multi-lingual websites for many of its markets. Most Tiffany websites are hosted within the relevant country’s ccTLD; for example, Tiffany owns Tiffany.fr, Tiffany.de, Tiffany.cn, Tiffany.co.jp, Tiffany.com.au, Tiffany.ca, and many others. As identified in the response to Question 22 of this application, Tiffany believes that the potential use of geographic identifiers at the second level would be an innovative convention and would be highly beneficial for a global company such as Tiffany.
18.2.1 [WHAT IS THE GOAL OF YOUR PROPOSED GTLD IN TERMS OF AREAS OF SPECIALTY, SERVICE LEVELS, OR REPUTATION?]
The primary mission and purpose of the .TIFFANY gTLD is to provide a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace to deliver Tiffany retail content, information on Tiffany’s product lines, business and focus, and other goods and services. As Tiffany continues to expand, it is the company’s desire to pursue and develop opportunities to market and distribute its online content and products to consumers throughout the United States and internationally on various platforms, including the Internet and mobile devices, among others. Given that customers increasingly demand access to Tiffany products and services through a variety of channels, which include domain names and the address bar, Tiffany believes that a .TIFFANY gTLD has the potential to provide an innovative, virtual avenue to Tiffany products that will deepen and broaden its relationship with customers.
Most importantly, Tiffany will be able to provide access to its products and online content in a namespace void of piracy, cybersquatting, and other malicious activities. Providing consumers with a trusted experience is paramount to Tiffany, and a .TIFFANY gTLD will be used to further that goal.
While luxury goods companies such as Tiffany fight a never-ending battle to protect valuable intellectual property from piracy on the Internet, a .TIFFANY gTLD potentially offers customers a safe and intuitive means of accessing authorized content from Tiffany and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates.
Tiffany is supportive of existing anti-cybersquatting legislation and consumer protection measures, including the U.S. Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and others. As Tiffany invests in expanding the domain name space through the establishment of a .TIFFANY gTLD, it will also actively prevent cybersquatting, fraud, phishing, and other malicious activities within the .TIFFANY gTLD. Maintaining the highest standards within the .TIFFANY gTLD will give Tiffany the opportunity to take a proactive approach to protecting intellectual property rights and fostering a cleaner, safer online experience for all Internet users.
18.2.2 [WHAT DO YOU ANTICIPATE YOUR PROPOSED GTLD WILL ADD TO THE CURRENT SPACE, IN TERMS OF COMPETITION, DIFFERENTIATION, OR INNOVATION?]
As a branded gTLD, the primary driving factors of the .TIFFANY gTLD are differentiation and innovation. The number of domain names registered will not measure the success of the gTLD, but rather success will be judged by the level of consumer recognition and trust that is placed in the .TIFFANY gTLD. Using these levels as benchmarks, Tiffany strives to build consumer recognition and trust in the usage of the .TIFFANY gTLD that rises to the levels found in the .EDU and .GOV gTLDs.
As noted above, Tiffany is a leading global luxury goods company that leverages numerous distribution channels and emerging technologies to deliver its online content, products, and services to its customers internationally. A .TIFFANY gTLD has the potential to serve as a cornerstone of this online strategy, if potential benefits that ICANN has projected become a reality.
18.2.3 [WHAT GOALS DOES YOUR PROPOSED GTLD HAVE IN TERMS OF USER EXPERIENCE?]
Tiffany believes that the .TIFFANY gTLD will provide a trusted ecosystem experience for the millions of customers worldwide that purchase the company’s luxury goods and services, as well as those who seek information that Tiffany provides, such as investors and members of the press. In addition to providing customers with short, memorable, and intuitive domain names, customers will know all domains and content are owned and controlled by Tiffany, thus protecting users from potentially infringing, counterfeit, or harmful content within the .TIFFANY gTLD.
The initial use of the .TIFFANY gTLD will be primarily defensive in nature, with Tiffany registering a limited number of second-level domain names. This initial use will provide Tiffany’s IT and security personnel the ability to run a number of tests to ensure seamless and secure access to Tiffany’s websites and interoperability with various software and Web⁄mobile-based applications. Once appropriate security and stability issues have been satisfactorily addressed, Tiffany will likely begin allocating domain names for internal corporate use and may redirect new .TIFFANY domain names to pre-existing content. This phased rollout will likely take place over a multi-year period, but is subject to change depending upon a range of external factors.
During this same period of time, Tiffany will evaluate strategies to potentially migrate traffic away from the current network of second-level domains registered in various gTLDs to the .TIFFANY gTLD. This will provide customers with a centralized, trusted online source for its products and services.
18.2.4 [PROVIDE A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICANT’S INTENDED REGISTRATION POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF THE GOALS LISTED ABOVE.]
Tiffany currently intends for the .TIFFANY gTLD to be exclusively used by Tiffany and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. Because of this controlled use, any registration and use requirements are more appropriately vested in corporate⁄affiliate agreements and not in a domain name registration agreement. Tiffany is fully supportive of, and committed to, ICANN’s bottom-up, consensus-driven model, but Tiffany is mindful that some registries have experienced delays when making amendments to their registrar⁄registrant agreements. Because the TIFFANY trademark is a valuable brand, the protection of which is of paramount importance, any registration and use requirements (e.g., trademark quality control provisions) must vest in these other agreements.
Notwithstanding these concerns, Tiffany 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 that each party will execute.
18.2.5 [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.]
As a global luxury goods company, Tiffany recognizes firsthand that privacy protection is an evolving area of law in which there is no international standard. However, due to the fact that every domain name will be registered to Tiffany or a qualified subsidiary or affiliate, Tiffany has a vested interest to ensure that accurate and current domain name information is readily available in connection with each .TIFFANY domain name. Tiffany’s current privacy policy is available online at http:⁄⁄international.tiffany.com⁄Service⁄policy_vis.aspx?isMenu=1&. It is anticipated that Tiffany will seek to operate its family of gTLDs in a manner that is consistent with this policy, provided that it is not in conflict with any ICANN consensus policy.
In addition, Tiffany intends to incorporate contractual language in its Registry-Registrar Agreement (RRA) modeled after language which has been included in the template Registry Agreement and which has been successfully utilized by existing ICANN gTLD Registry Operators. The template Registry Agreement states, “Registry Operator shall (i) notify each ICANN-accredited registrar that is a party to the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD of the purposes for which data about any identified or identifiable natural person (“Personal Data”) submitted to Registry Operator by such registrar is collected and used under this Agreement or otherwise and the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data, and (ii) require such registrar to obtain the consent of each registrant in the TLD for such collection and use of Personal Data. Registry Operator shall take reasonable steps to protect Personal Data collected from such registrar from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. Registry Operator shall not use or authorize the use of Personal Data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars.ʺ
18.2.6 [DESCRIBE WHETHER AND IN WHAT WAYS OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS WILL HELP TO ACHIEVE YOUR PROJECTED BENEFITS.]
As noted above, Tiffany’s driving factor in securing a .TIFFANY gTLD in ICANN’s first round is primarily defensive in nature and, while Tiffany sees the potential for this gTLD to play a large role in Tiffany’s future online strategic initiatives, there are a number of unanswered questions concerning consumer recognition, the adoption of new gTLDs, and the response from search engines in the marketplace that will influence the usage of the gTLD and communication about that usage.
Notwithstanding these concerns, Tiffany’s current best thinking involves an implementation of .TIFFANY domain names in a multi-stage approach set forth in Section 18.1.2 above. The actual usage of .TIFFANY domain names will dictate what public communications and consumer outreach initiatives are undertaken to encourage navigation to the .TIFFANY gTLD. This is not limited to, but may include advertising, media outreach, email campaigns, etc.
18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?
Tiffany’s proposed operating rules to initially limit registration to Tiffany and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates will provide a trusted online environment for customers to access Tiffany’s online content and, by default, will minimize social costs. This verified ecosystem provides customers with a centralized, trusted source for Tiffany goods and services with a substantially lower risk of fraud and⁄or scams.
Tiffany does not anticipate consumer vulnerabilities. In addition, there is no need for other trademark and brand owners to defensively register second-level domains in the gTLD. In fact, Tiffany’s expectation is that the usage of a .TIFFANY gTLD will eliminate many of the vulnerabilities that Tiffany customers and consumers face on the wider Internet today.
18.3.1 [WHAT OTHER STEPS WILL YOU TAKE TO MINIMIZE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES⁄COSTS IMPOSED UPON CONSUMERS?]
Tiffany believes that the proposed operation of the .TIFFANY gTLD as set forth in this application has no known negative consequences or cost implications to consumers. To the contrary, the proposed operation of this registry will likely lead to direct and quantifiable benefits to consumers by providing a unified framework for the access to, and distribution of, Tiffany’s goods and services, instead of the current patchwork of domain names registered across various gTLDs and ccTLDs.
18.3.2 [HOW WILL MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS FOR A PARTICULAR DOMAIN NAME BE RESOLVED, FOR EXAMPLE, BY AUCTION OR ON A FIRST-COME⁄FIRST-SERVE BASIS?]
Tiffany does not envision multiple applicants for the same domain name, as domain names will initially only be allocated to Tiffany and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates.
18.3.3 [EXPLAIN ANY COST BENEFITS FOR REGISTRANTS YOU INTEND TO IMPLEMENT (E.G., ADVANTAGEOUS PRICING, INTRODUCTORY DISCOUNTS, BULK REGISTRATION DISCOUNTS).]
Tiffany does not envision any pricing, introductory, or bulk registration discounts because these marketing⁄commercial initiatives appear to be inconsistent with the mission and purpose of the .TIFFANY gTLD as a trusted online source identifier. However, should Tiffany, at some future date, consider permitting third parties (customers) to register domain names in the .TIFFANY gTLD, Tiffany would reevaluate this practice at that time.
18.3.4 [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.]
Tiffany is committed to providing the domain name registration periods set forth in the Registry Agreement. However, as noted above, because this will be a branded gTLD, the registration and use of the domain name is conditioned upon a separate contractual relationship with Tiffany. Therefore, providing contractual commitments in a domain name registrant agreement regarding the magnitude of price escalations does not seem relevant or appropriate.