.WME New gTLD Application
Click to view Chinese translation articles.
-----------------------------------
New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC
String: WME
Originally Posted: 13 June 2012
Application ID: 1-930-41059
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC
- Address of the principal place of business
9601 Wilshire Blvd 3rd Floor
Beverly Hills CA 90212
US
- Phone number
+1 310 285 9000
- Fax number
+1 310 285 9010
- If applicable, website or URL
http:⁄⁄www.wmeentertainment.com
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Mr. Nick Wilson
6(b). Title
CTO
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
+1 310 874 8748
6(e). Fax Number
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Mr. James Maxwell Clark
7(b). Title
Special Assistant to the CTO
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
+1 310 285 9000
7(e). Fax Number
+1 310 285 9010
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
Limited Liability Corporation
8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
State of Delaware, US
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
Adam Venit Director
Ariel Emanuel Director
Dave Wirtschafter Director
Jennifer Rudolph-Walsh Director
Mark Itkin Director
Patrick Whitesell Director
Peter Grosslight Director
Rick Rosen Director
11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners
Ariel Emanuel CEO
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.
WME
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.
William Morris Endeavor (WME) has carefully examined the applied-for string “WME” and found that deployment of it will not cause adverse operational, rendering issues, or general user-confusion issues due to visual similarity with existing TLDs⁄ISO3166 lists⁄ICANN reserved list of names & list of ineligible strings.
WME particularly observes the following:
- The string 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; and
- No onerous requirements are being made on registrars, registrants or Internet users.
As discussed in the ICANN program for Universal Acceptance of new gTLDs, some issues may arise, as has been the case historically, concerning application software not being consistent in their functionality across TLDs.
Additionally issues exist concerning resolution of IDNs as second-levels under .WME. While WME does not expect a large volume by any means of IDN registrations, WME will contact browser developers to get the .WME TLD included in whitelists and other means to ensure address-bar display of the U-label, as expected by the user. It is noted that regardless of the display of A-label or U-label that the resolution functions and the user is directed to the right site. For more on this subject see response to question #44; noting that WME will not have a variant or confusability issue in internationalized second-levels due to the very low volume and case-by-case manually reviewed domain name registration (as explained in response to question #18).
Jointly these issues results in non-consistent user-experience across applications. Some are historic and simple information will help solve them; the issue with TLDs longer than 2 or 3 characters that was a big issue in the 2000-01 new TLDs but now largely eliminated; other has to do with trust in the TLD Policies.
WME takes full responsibility for any such issues and will work jointly with the gTLD stakeholders to enable general global acceptance of all TLDs.
WME has conducted due diligence in comparing the string “WME” toward any existing TLDs, future ccTLDs, 3-character country codes per the ISO list, reserved and otherwise ineligible strings per the ICANN Applicant Guidebook, and against any country- or territory names.
As mentioned .WME is represented in standard ASCII, fulfills technical standards and due to the length, construction, and meaning of the string, we have found that it is not conflicting with any of the restrictions placed by ICANN. We have also found that the string does not relate confusingly to a country⁄regional⁄geographic name.
As a result the TLD is safe for delegation and will not create adverse effects for registrants and users of the domain name under it.
- (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.
William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME) is the largest talent agency in the world, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami.
WME’s mission⁄purpose is to represent and showcase artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, digital, publishing, lifestyle, and physical production and advise some of the world’s most recognized consumer brands to create ʺentertainment-based marketing solutions.”
The WME mission and purpose has been established through interactions with its high profile clientele.
With the .WME TLD, WME will effectively differentiate itself by addressing the key online usage issues of safety, trust, consistency, and brand recognition associated with WME. Instead of branding itself via numerous TLDs WME will enjoy the benefit of reducing consumer issues concerning which website is the official WME website; it will be under .WME.
The WME registry operations and its management of the DNS is consistent with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments (AoC) “ensuring accountability, transparency and the interests of global Internet users”, “enhancing the operational stability, reliability, resiliency, security, and global interoperability of the DNS” while “adequately addressing consumer protection, malicious abuse, and rights protection issues” (http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄about⁄agreements⁄aoc⁄affirmation-of-commitments-30sep09-en.htm).
WME guiding principles for .WME:
STANDARDS COMPLIANCE, SECURITY, RESILIENCY, AND STABILITY
CentralNIC is the DNS Registry provider for .WME providing a standard, secure and stable technical operation of the TLD. Details of technical and operational capabilities matching the .WME mission are provided in responses to questions #24-44.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION AND TRUST
Since .WME will be a single-registrant gTLD intellectual property protection will be at the highest level and not be a significant concern. All registrations associated with the .WME domain will be conducted, authorized, and verified by WME on a case by case scenario through the manual process described in response to question #18b. This way all Internet users are assured the highest level of trust and authenticity when they visit a .WME domain.
There will be two phases in the .WME launch. The first phase will be the Sunrise period that will incorporate all ICANN trademark protection requirements developed for new gTLDs, including the trademark clearinghouse. WME has no plans to register domains in the Sunrise phase which is launched to comply with ICANN requirements. In the second stage WME will register domains for own use.
18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
The .WME TLD will benefit the registrants and internet users directly in multiple ways by providing an immediately identifiable and exclusive domain for WME clients, or others with need to access the WME websites.
18b (i) The goal of .WME is to provide an exclusive, trusted, safe WME-branded domain to be used to represent WME, and introduce new innovative non-registry related services in the talent agency business. WME will provide a trusted platform for its high profile artists and brands to project authenticated identification, accountability and transparency to both talent buyers and Internet users under WME’s brand name.
Trust and authenticity in the operation of .WME is paramount to WME and its partners. This is built through (i) a safe, secure, and trusted technical operation of the TLD by the back-end operator; and (ii) the eligibility requirements and registration policy for WME to register domains under .WME as a single registrant gTLD managed exclusively by WME.
18b (ii) .WME will advance the current space of competition, differentiation and innovation by branding itself directly as a TLD. This is a new initiative on the Internet and WME looks forward to supplying all users interacting with WME a direct and easy way of remembering the WME website and online brand. The .WME TLD will provide competition to gTLDs and ccTLDs that otherwise might be used. .WME will be restricted to WME thereby instilling trust and authentication so that any user is assured that any business transaction or enquiry conducted is made with the official representative of WME.
18b (iii) When visiting .WME sites, talent buyers and Internet users are provided an immediate identification and a level of confidence and trust not available today in the talent agency business and also not online with other existing TLDs. The exclusivity of domains under .WME has provided the opportunity for WME to manually review every single registration through their established process prior to domain name registration. The process as described includes check points and authorization by WME executives to avoid any illegitimate registrations.
Most high profile artists and brands are difficult to access and use talent agencies such as WME to represent their interests and serve as gatekeepers to any enquiry relating to booking. Trust with WME is hence a paramount concern for WME’s existing business activities.
The .WME domains will reduce exposure to unlicensed websites claiming to be official agents to WME clientele, while serving official, authenticated and high quality relevant content to search engines that can in turn better rank .WME domains for terms associated with the business activities relating to the WME brands. It is expected that search engines will modify their algorithms to accommodate relevant, high quality and unique content, especially if it can be used as a filter to counter unofficial websites, which is the case with .WME domains. The official Google Blog highlights the new Google algorithm changes (http:⁄⁄insidesearch.blogspot.com⁄2012⁄02⁄search-quality-highlights-40-changes.html) that will be leveraged by WME to benefit entities searching for WME brands online.
18b (iv) To reach the above mentioned goals, WME has implemented a single-registrant methodology of registering domains as measures to protect intellectual property rights of the major brands they represent in registrations under .WME and to ensure that .WME domains are used in a manner benefitting the existing WME culture and way of conducting business.
The policies and protections are built to match existing WME procedures in business management with their clientele; the ICANN established criteria; based on experience from the previous ICANN new gTLD introductions; and they are established to ensure a much higher security level for .WME domains than what is considered standard requirements for gTLDs.
The .WME TLD will be launched with all the standard gTLD registration rules except that registrations will be made by a single registrant: WME. See response to question #27 for .WME lifecycle.
WME will adhere to all ICANN mandated rights protection mechanisms and consensus policies.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMNETS AND REGISTRATION PROCESS
WME domain names can solely be registered by WME. There will be a multi-stage internal process to identify, register and bring live all .WME domains. This process will include an executive authorization for .WME domain name registrations. It includes existing WME business processes and is considered confidential to WME. It can be provided under a confidentiality agreement.
RESERVATION PROTECTION: second-level names will be reserved per the requirements in the ICANN Registry Agreement Specification 5, including country-territory names (see response #22).
RIGHTS PROTECTION AND NOTIFICATIONS SYSTEM:
- Trademark Clearing House will be implemented in accordance with ICANN specifications.
- Names Selection Policy ensuring that only names authorized and verified by WME are registered as domains under .WME.
ONE TIME-RESTRICTED LAUNCH PHASE: The .WME launch will be initiated with a Sunrise restricted registration phase. In this phase only registrations that fulfill the eligibility requirement established above and that fulfill the ICANN established Sunrise criteria per the 11 January 2012 ICANN Applicant Guidebook Trademark Clearing House Specification, section 7.2 (or any subsequent versions that update that). Multiple applications for the same domain will not be possible since WME is the only single-registrant allowed to make registrations.
Following the completion of the Sunrise phase .WME domains will be available for WME to register outside the Sunrise requirements but still solely through the above established procedure and eligibility requirement.
ANTI-ABUSE POLICY FOR .WME; incorporated in the registration agreement for all .WME registrations. It is in place to assure any registration made under .WME will not be used for malicious conduct or in a manner that can lead to security and stability issues for the registry, registrars, and registrants, and general users of the Internet. It is detailed in response to question #28.
The anti-abuse policy is not a replacement for alleged violation of the Trademark PDDRP⁄UDRP⁄URS, which shall be enforced under the provisions contained therein.
18b (v) The .WME TLD will use best practices around privacy and data protection, especially since .WME is a single registrant TLD. CentralNIC, the back-end service provider will administer specific WHOIS protections per response to question #26, and promote WHOIS accuracy per response to question #28. Data validation of WHOIS information, as discussed broadly in the ICANN community, will not be necessary under .WME as there will be one registrant only and WME will supply valid WHOIS information to be associated with its registrations so that anyone can contact WME with inquiries concerning its domain name registrations.
Artists and brands seek to have as much visibility and exposure as possible to market themselves and their business activities. WME will provide this unique and branded visibility through its .WME domain that will cater exclusively to its high profile clientele.
In order to meet the benefits described in responses to 18b (i-v) WME will facilitate its existing outreach and communication efforts to include the .WME TLD in its continued efforts to build and expand its brand as the talent agency leader catering to the needs and business interests of their high profile artists and brands based on trust and authenticity.
18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?
One primary benefit is the elimination of WME paying extraordinary fee’s to monitor the registration, use of and⁄or directly register and secure their name under existing TLDs, such as .COM, that have been registered by fans or other entities with the purpose of selling them for high profits to WME or use them in a manner infringing on WME’s rights.
With .WME, WME will brand itself to direct consumers directly to the WME sites to avoid any confusion and misperception; this is turn will save entities with interest in interacting with WME time and resources otherwise used in connection with WME related domains not registered nor used in agreement with WME.
Since .WME is a single-registrant TLD, there will not be a fee for registration of a domain. The .WME TLD will be a value-added service and be part of WME’s existing business model. The .WME TLD will be operated without profiting through domain registrations in mind and be funded by WME’s existing agency revenue generation business model. The .WME TLD will be operating under a loss leader strategy to stimulate more revenues in WME’s primary business model.
Protection concerning defensive registrations will not be necessary since WME is the only entity capable of registering domains under WME. Thus no extra cost with .WME is placed on trademark holders or other entities seeking to monitor or protect their brand across TLDs.
As discussed the goal with .WME results in the search engines has one immediate benefit in eliminating unlicensed booking sites. A natural result of this is to prevent malicious conduct and fraud while also protecting talent buyers by enabling them to interact with the official representative of WME and its brands.
WME does not have plans for advantageous pricing, introductory pricing, nor plans for any bulk registration discounts since they are the single registrant.
WME will not offer long term or permanent contracts for domains. The registration length will be considered in a case by case basis and within standard requirements from ICANN (1-10 years and at any time a maximum expiration date of 10 years).
WME will use parked pages only as an interim mechanism in short timeframe prior to launching WME dedicated websites, but primarily use of parked pages is not expected.