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.aco New gTLD Application

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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG

 

Application Downloaded On: 08 Sep 2014

 

String: aco

 

Application ID: 1-1026-17004

 

Applicant Information

 

  1. Full legal name

ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG

 

  1. Address of the principal place of business

Am Ahlmannkai Buedelsdorf - 24782 DE

 

  1. Phone number

+49 4331 3540

 

  1. Fax number

+49 4331 354130

 

  1. If applicable, website or URL

http://www.aco.com

 

Primary Contact

 

6(a). Name

Florian Nahnsen

 

6(b). Title

Neue Medien/New Media

 

6(c). Address

 

6(d). Phone Number

+49 4331 354196

 

6(e). Fax Number

+49 4331 354252

 

6(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Secondary Contact

 

7(a). Name

Martin Kuechenthal

 

7(b). Title

Geschaeftsfuehrer/CEO (LEMARIT GmbH)

 

7(c). Address

 

7(d). Phone Number

+49 461 5050350

 

7(e). Fax Number

+49 461 50503535

 

7(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Proof of Legal Establishment

 

8(a). Legal form of the Applicant

GmbH & Co. KG (limited partnership with a private limited company as a general partner).

 

8(b). State the specific national or other jurisdiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).

The ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co KG is a limited partnership with a private limited company as a general partner in our case the Acoplast Kunststoff-Verarbeitung GmbH, and their managing directors acting as the managing directors’ of the Applicant. The German national jurisdictional law (HGB §§ 161 -177a) that defines this type of entity can be found on the German Ministry of Justice website under http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/hgb/BJNR002190897.html#BJNR002190897BJNG019600300

 

8(c). Attach evidence of the applicant's establishment.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

 

9(a). If applying company is publicly traded, provide the exchange and symbol.

 

9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.

 

9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.

 

Applicant Background

 

11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors

 

11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners

Name

Position

Hans-Julius Ahlmann CEO

Hans-Peter Meyer Managing Director

Iver Ahlmann CEO

 

11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares

Name

Position

Hans-Julius Ahlmann CEO

Iver Ahlmann CEO

 

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

Name

Position

Acoplast Kunststoff-Verarbeitung GmbH Not Applicable

 

Applied-for gTLD string

 

  1. Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.

aco

 

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.

 

 

  1. 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.

 

ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG anticipates the introduction of this TLD without operational or rendering problems. Based on a decade of experience launching and operating new TLDs, Afilias, the back-end provider of registry services for this TLD, is confident the launch and operation of this TLD presents no known challenges. The rationale for this opinion includes:

- The string is not complex and is represented in standard ASCII characters and follows relevant technical, operational and policy standards;

 - The string length is within lengths currently supported in the root and by ubiquitous Internet programs such as web browsers and mail applications;

 - There are no new standards required for the introduction of this TLD;

 - No onerous requirements are being made on registrars, registrants or Internet users, and;

 - The existing secure, stable and reliable Afilias SRS, DNS, WHOIS and supporting systems and staff are amply provisioned and prepared to meet the needs of this TLD.

 

  1. 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 applicant, ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG, is a world market leader in drainage technology with a 2010 turnover of over US$ 670 million. The family-owned company headquartered in Rendsburg⁄Büdelsdorf, Germany, was founded in 1946 on the site of the Carlshütte foundry – Schleswig-Holstein’s first industrial company as „SAB“ – Severin Ahlmann Betonindustrie. The company has been been renamed on 19.01.1972 to ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. It still has very strong roots in the region. The major innovation strength of ACO is built on intense research and development, and its technical expertise in processing polymer concrete, plastic, cast iron, stainless steel and reinforced concrete. The duration of the company is not restricted to a certain period.

The Kunstwerk Carlshütte arts forum is a joint initiative of ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG and the towns of Büdelsdorf and Rendsburg to support international artists and strengthen its ties with the general public in the area. Its 22,000 square metres of factory space and 80,000 square metres of parkland are used for concerts, lectures, plays, films and, most importantly, art exhibitions. These reach their height each summer with the NordArt, an annual exhibition of contemporary painting, photography, video, sculpture and installations by more than 200 artists from all over the world, all combined into a single gigantic artwork. The event attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.

The ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG is applying for the .ACO top-level domain with the following mission and purpose:

The .ACO top-level domain is intended to serve the needs of its community and to benefit its community in terms of (a) differentiating, protecting and expanding its brand, (b) promoting its brand to the public and stakeholders, and (c) creating added value for its brand by enhanced consumer trust and reliability in the digital space.

The .ACO top-level domain primarily has the purpose to support the goals of the ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG in expanding the market leadership for drainage systems through continuous worldwide growth as well as via superior technology, in-depth expertise and innovative products.

The ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG hereby states that according to Specification 9 Para. 6 in the New gTLD Agreement

(i) all domain names in the .ACO top-level domain will be registered to, and maintained by, ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG for its own exclusive use,

(ii) ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG will not sell, distribute or transfer control or use of any registrations in the .ACO top-level domain to any third party that is not an Affiliate of ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG, and

(iii) the application of the Code of Conduct to the .ACO top-level domain is not necessary to protect the public interest.

 

18B. How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

 

  1. The .ACO top-level domain and its .ACO domain names are dedicated and thereby specialized to create content, facilitate communication, information and distribution in connection with the brand ACO between all parties involved in the business of ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG worldwide.

The most important service level of the .ACO top-level domain is the certainty for Internet users that all .ACO domain names are exclusively registered and maintained by a trusted source, the ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. They will understand that only ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG can register and maintain a domain name and all domain names which end on .ACO are owned by ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG and not by someone who just pretends to be ACO. Aim is that Internet users worldwide will be aware that domain names branded by the well-known brand extension .ACO are a hoard of security, stability and reliability. This will lead to awareness among Internet users that .ACO is a trusted namespace on the Internet. Thus it will become a symbol of quality for Internet users worldwide.

The .ACO top-level-domain will be a namespace with support from the whole company and all affiliates as well as employees, ranging from the manufacturing, engineering, design, administrative, human resources and sales to the marketing department and including the whole management team. It is the aim that such a secure namespace will quickly gain a substantial reputation among the global Internet community and ACO customers.

 

  1. The .ACO top-level domain will enhance competition in the global domain name business by introducing a dedicated namespace for the brand ACO. Thus, the global drainage manufacturer industry faces the challenge to offer customers a secure, reliable and trustworthy namespace like ACO does with .ACO. After the launch of .ACO, customers will have the expectation that global manufacturers will have an own namespace on the internet.

The .ACO top-level domain and its .ACO domain names are clearly differentiated to existing top-level domains, especially due to their descriptive and branded nature which has a clear meaning and value to the targeted audience. Today customers and Internet users cannot be sure that domain names incorporating ACO under one of the existing TLDs really belong to ACO or to someone else who is not affiliated with ACO and merely tries to use this brand for his own purposes. Furthermore, only content which is issued by ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG will be displayed under .ACO domain names which differentiates ACO from all other manufacturers who will not own their respective brand as a top-level domain.

The .ACO top-level domain and its .ACO domain names are innovative due to the new category of TLDs which brands like ACO are creating: “Domain names with the ending .ACO exclusively belong to ACO”. The novelty is the creation of real trust and reliability for Internet users due to the fact that all .ACO domain names are exclusively registered and maintained by a trustworthy source, the ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. Together with other brand top-level domain registries ACO will work on creating awareness on this new namespace “category”.

 

  1. Improved search rankings

Today users do not know whether to search for acousa.com or acoltd.com, aco.de or aco-drain.com. With a .ACO top-level domain the user will experience a much more intuitive way of finding ACO content on the Internet. They can either type in the exact domain name, since many big companies are expected to operate their .brand and thus type-in traffic might increase for brands. Further this will be supported by the algorithms of big search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. As of today ranking results in search engines incorporate, among many other elements, the top-level as well as the second-level in relation to the search. Therefore it is to be expected that search engines will incorporate the .brand top-level domain as being a relevant part of the search. This effect has been forecasted by major IT researchers, among them Forrester, who published in October 2011 some findings on this issue: „Search engines will give authority to dot-brand TLDs”. Search engines make their money from advertising, and search traffic comes from providing the most relevant, authoritative results to a user’s query. Since companies that get TLDs will have gone through a rigorous 8-12 month validation process, Google, Bing, and Yahoo will adjust their algorithms to give authority to these TLDs.“

ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG is expecting that such a shift in search engine rankings will also positively affect the search engine positioning of the ACO brand and the respective websites under .ACO.

Umbrella brand strategy

With a .ACO top-level domain ACO will be able to setup an umbrella brand strategy with .ACO acting as the umbrella and all ACO trademarks underneath on the second level. Users will then be able to connect the company name with the products even via domain names, for instance through profiline.aco, multiline.aco and servokat.aco.

Enhanced trust and reliability

With the .ACO top-level domain the ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG is expecting to deliver enhanced consumer trust and reliability in the digital space based on content and services under domain names with the extension .ACO since only one authoritative entity will register and maintain domain names – the ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG.

Intuitive Access

It is planned that intuitive domain name categories such as branch.aco, city.aco, services.aco or academy.aco will deliver due to their descriptive nature a much more intuitive access to the resources of ACO for customers, business partners, employees and other stakeholders. Instead of clicking through the hierarchies of a website or searching on websites users will have a whole new level of direct access to the relevant content they have been searching for.

Support of native scripts

Reaching out to customers in their original scripts with Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in a consistent manner will be innovative. As of today not all domain names of ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG follow a consistent syntax. The introduction of worldwide consistent domain names including many scripts like spanish, turkish, arabic and russian will lead to an innovative way of communicating the ACO brand worldwide.

 

  1. ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG is the operator and thus registry for the top-level domain .ACO. It allows the registration of second level domain names below the TLD .ACO.

* Purpose *

The TLD .ACO can be exclusive used by ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG and its affiliated companies in the Internet, especially for the operation of websites, email communications and other DNS-based services. The domain names under the TLD .ACO are not available to the public for registration and active use. ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG will act both as a registry, as well as the sole beneficiary registrant. As far as ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG acts as the registry, it is hereinafter referred to as a registry. If ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG acts as eligible registrant, it is referred to as registrant.

The rights and obligations of the Registry for the operation of the registry are regulated in the contract between the registry and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN below) – the Registry Agreement (at present by the Applicant Guidebook dated January 11, 2012) - and is part of the registration conditions. The following statutes constitute the rights and obligations of ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG to third parties and themselve.

* Domain registration *

A domain below the TLD .ACO can only be registered through the Registry-accredited registrars, which are concurrently accredited by ICANN.

The legal relationship between the registry and the registrars are governed in the ʺRegistry Registrar Agreementʺ, which is also subject to these policies.

For registrations, ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG registrant has to pay the required fee at the respective registrar. The same applies for changing the registrar as a provider through the registrant.

* Eligibility *

The right to register domain names under the TLD .ACO only belongs to the ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. Therefore it acts both as a registry for the TLD .ACO, as well as registrant of domain names under the TLD .ACO. As far as ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG acts as registrant of domain names, it is party to the relevant registration by the registrar. The registration and ⁄ or management of domain names through a trustee, so-called proxy service is not permitted.

* Registrable characters *

All characters and strings of ASCII code with 1-63 characters can be registered as a domain name. Domain names with two characters are temporarily not allowed. If at the request of the Registry at ICANN domain names with two characters will be released, these are also available for registration. Also all ʺInternationalized Domain Namesʺ (all available IDN Table) can be registered. This means that all character sets that contain a hyphen both at the third and fourth place, are excluded from registration.

* Reserved Domain Names *

Reserved and excluded from registration by an accredited registrar are all domain names defined in ʺSpecification 5ʺ to the ʺRegistry Agreement of the Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012). In ʺSpecification 5ʺ, paragraph 4, reserved domain names, according to the ʺSpecification 5ʺ to ʺRegistry Agreement of the Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 11.01.2012) are registered by the Registry directly. In accordance with ʺSpecification 5ʺ, paragraph 2 and 5, reserved domain names can be registered by an accredited registrar, according to the ʺSpecification 5ʺ to ʺRegistry Agreement of the Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012) after release.

* Assignment of domain names *

Although only ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG is entitled to register domain names under the TLD .ACO, according to the requirements of the Registry Agreements of the Applicant Guidebook (as of 11⁄01⁄2012) a so-called ʺsunrise periodʺ for the protection of specific rights is preceded. The ʺsunrise periodʺ is subject to the provisions of the Trademark Clearinghouse Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012). Prerequisite for applying for a domain name during the Sunrise Period is the eligibility under the TLD .ACO. Moreover, the order of registrations based on the principle ʺfirst come first servedʺ

* Registration period *

Domain names can be registered for 1 - 10 years. The registration of an .ACO domain name follows the normal “gTLD life cycle”.

* Registration termination of a domain name *

A termination of the registration of a domain name shall be carried out by the Registrar, at the discretion of the registrant and requires no justification. If in the notice no actual calendar day on which the termination shall take place is determined, the registration of the domain name is terminated with immediate effect. With the effective date of termination of the terminated domain name is deleted.

* Transfer of a domain name *

The transfer of registered domains, paid or free, to another registrant as ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG is prohibited. Both the corporate transfer (sale of shares), as well as the transfer of the registry as an asset sale must be approved by ICANN according to the New gTLD Registry Agreement Figure 7.5.

* Content and use of registered domain names *

ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG operates services, especially websites and email services, which are associated or connected with a registered domain name, by themselve. She is entitled to authorize the use and operation of such DNS-based services to third parties. In this respect the only authorized entities are ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG and all affiliated entities of ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG (in particular parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, or otherwise connected companies that the ICANN definition of ʺaffiliateʺ in the ʺRegistry Agreement of the Applicant Guidebook, Version: 11.01.2012, § 2, 9c corresponds to). The use of registered domain names and related services is permitted only for business-related purposes of ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. A domain name cannot be made available for use by a third party who is not entitled to use.

  • 11 Abusive registration and ⁄ or use of a domain name

It is illegal to use a domain name, either as registrant or user to whom the domain was left to use, abusive. Abusive is any use that is prohibited under German law. This is especially true for domain name registrations which violate trademark or name or personal rights. Examples for abusive use are, but not limited, spamming (sending unsolicited bulk mail), phishing (fraudulent data collection) and the infringing content from websites. For obvious abusive registration or use the Registry is entitled to delete the domain name, without prior consultation of the user.

* Dispute procedures *

The registry has established three arbitration proceedings outside the jurisdiction generally. This is the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄help⁄dndr⁄udrp), Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS according to Applicant Guidebook, Version 11.01.2012) and the Trademark Dispute Resolution Procedures Post-delegation (PDDRP according to Applicant Guidebook, include module 5, §5.4.1, Version 11⁄01⁄2012). All registry accredited registrars are required to include UDRP, URS and PDDRP, as applicable part in the registration agreement. If a UDRP proceedings brought by a non-authorized third party in which the third party prevails, the third party cannot achieve the transfer of the domain name, but only the deletion of the domain.

* Whois *

The Registry maintains a publicly accessible database in which all data of the registrant of a domain name in accordance with the Specification 4 and 10 of the Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012) and the RFC 3912 will be published. This includes the specification of the registrant of the domain name with name, postal address, email, phone and fax, the appointment of an Admin C, Tech C and optionally a zone manager who is published, with details in the Whois database. Admin C, Tech C and Zone Manager can be specified using the contact details of the company for which they are employed. To prevent misuse of the Whois database, the registry will secure access to Whois data via a CAPTCHA code and limit the access through the number of query requests per IP address, or otherwise.

 

  1. No. There will be no such measures since all domain names will be exclusively registered by ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG.

 

  1. The ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. invests a multi-million EURO budget in the global promotion of its products, brands and services which means that domain names are included on nearly all promotional materials.

In the future after the approval of .ACO this marketing power will be used for the promotion of domain names with the extension .ACO in a wide variety of off- and online communication channels in order to create a quick uptake in awareness of the new .ACO domain names worldwide.

 

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?

 

  1. Multiple applications for a particular domain name will be resolved through a first-come, first-serve process within ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. However the only eligible registrant is ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. Since all domain names are registered for ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG as domain name owner, transfers are not allowed.

 

  1. Since all domain name are exclusively registered and maintained by ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG there are no cost benefits.

 

  1. All domain names are exclusively registered and maintained by ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG.  ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG does not plan to make contractual commitments to registrants with regards to price increases or decreases, domain names will be sold to the only registrant ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG for a price which will be defined on the discretion of the Registry. ACO Severin Ahlmann GmbH & Co. KG. will comply with the rules ICANN set up in the New gTLD Registry Agreement for price increases. Registration may be made for 1-10 years at the discretion of the registrar.