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.stada New gTLD Application

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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: STADA Arzneimittel AG

 

Application Downloaded On: 02 Sep 2014

 

String: stada

 

Application ID: 1-1089-42298

 

Applicant Information

 

  1. Full legal name

STADA Arzneimittel AG

 

  1. Address of the principal place of business

Stadastrasse 2 Bad Vilbel, Hessen - 61118 DE

 

  1. Phone number

+49 6101 603 0

 

  1. Fax number

+49 6101 603 4561

 

  1. If applicable, website or URL

http://www.stada.de

 

Primary Contact

 

6(a). Name

Michael Barowski

 

6(b). Title

Consultant CEO Opportunity Interactive Services GmbH

 

6(c). Address

 

6(d). Phone Number

+49 6039 922616

 

6(e). Fax Number

+49 6039 922699

 

6(f). Email Address

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

 

Secondary Contact

 

7(a). Name

Katrin Ohlmer

 

7(b). Title

Consultant (CEO DOTZON GmbH)

 

7(c). Address

 

7(d). Phone Number

+49 30 49802722

 

7(e). Fax Number

+49 30 49802727

 

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

Aktiengesellschaft (= corporation), abbreviated AG

 

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

Aktiengesellschaft (abbreviated AG) is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares. The German national jurisdictional law (AktG) that defines this type of entity can be found on the German Ministry of Justice website URL at http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/aktg/

 

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.

Frankfurt_Stock_Exchange / SAZ

 

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

Carl Ferdinand Oetker Deputy Chairman of Management Board

Constantin Meyer Member of Management Board

Dieter Koch Member of Management Board

Dr. Eckhard Brueggemann Member of Management Board

Dr. K.F. Arnold Hertzsch Member of Management Board

Dr. Martin Abend Chairman of Management Board

Dr. Ute Pantke Member of Management Board

Halil Duru Member of Management Board

Jens Steegers Member of Management Board

 

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

Name

Position

Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels Chief Corporate Development & Central Services Officer

Hartmut Retzlaff CEO

Helmut Kraft CFO

 

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

 

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

stada

 

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.

 

STADA Arzneimittel AG 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, STADA Arzneimittel AG (AG is the German acronym for “Aktiengesellschaft”: stock corporation), is a large manufacturer of health care and pharmaceuticals goods of all kinds with a 2011 turnover of € 1.72 billion and is listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange since 1997.

 

STADA Arzneimittel AG has a history in producing health care and pharmaceuticals goods for more than 100 years and has been founded 1895 in Dresden, Germany, as a cooperative of pharmacists. Since 1956 the company has its registered office and principal place of business in Bad Vilbel, Germany, and has been transformed into a stock corporation in 1970. The duration of the Company is not restricted to a certain period, and will be carried on in the future. The object of the company is the development, production and sale of health care and pharmaceuticals goods of all kinds, predominantly with active ingredients, in the two core segments “Generics” and “Branded Products”.

 

Definition „Generics“:

 

Products for which the focus of sales and marketing is on a low pricing and⁄or on a cross-product and active-ingredient marketing concept are, in the scope of the Group’s segmentation, part of the core segment Generics

 

Definition „Branded Products“:

 

Products for which the specific product characteristics and in particular also the brand name of the respective product are at the forefront of marketing are part of the core segment Branded Products.

 

STADA Arzneimittel AG is applying for the .STADA top-level domain with the following mission and purpose:

 

The .STADA 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 .STADA top-level domain has the purpose to support the goals of STADA Arzneimittel AG in becoming a globally leading manufacturer and distributor of health care and pharmaceuticals goods of all kinds through continuous growth and by positioning the company as a highly attractive employer and delivering an excellent brand experience. The .STADA top-level domain will also aim to substantiate the brand claim “alles gute :)”, (which means “all the best :) ”).

 

STADA Arzneimittel AG hereby states that according to Specification 9 Para. 6 in the New gTLD Agreement

 

(i) all domain names in the .STADA top-level domain will be registered to, and maintained by, STADA Arzneimittel AG for its own exclusive use,

 

(ii) STADA Arzneimittel AG will not sell, distribute or transfer control or use of any registrations in the .STADA top-level domain to any third party that is not an Affiliate of STADA Arzneimittel AG, and

 

(iii) the application of the Code of Conduct to the .STADA 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 .STADA top-level domain and its .STADA domain names are dedicated and thereby specialized to exclusively create content in connection with the brand STADA. The .STADA domain names shall facilitate communication and distribute information about products, diseases and their treatment and the company between professionals, customers and all other parties interested and involved in the business of STADA Arzneimittel AG worldwide.

 

The most important service level of the .STADA top-level-domain is the certainty for Internet users that all .STADA domain names are exclusively registered and maintained by a trusted source, STADA Arzneimittel AG. They will understand that only STADA Arzneimittel AG can register a domain name and all domain names which end on .STADA are owned by STADA Arzneimittel AG and not by someone who just pretends to be a STADA entity. Aim is that Internet users worldwide will be aware that domain names branded by the famous brand extension .STADA are a hoard of security, stability and reliability. This will lead to awareness among Internet users that .STADA is a trusted namespace on the Internet and .STADA will become a symbol of quality for Internet users worldwide.

 

The .STADA top-level-domain will be a namespace with support from the whole company and affiliates as well as employees, ranging from the manufacturing, 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 STADA customers.

 

  1. The .STADA top-level domain will enhance competition in the global domain name business by introducing a dedicated namespace for the brand STADA. Thus, the global health care and pharmaceutical industry faces the challenge to offer professionals and customers a secure, reliable and trustworthy namespace like STADA does with .STADA. Professionals and customers will have the expectation that big global health care and pharmaceutical brands will have an own namespace on the Internet.

 

The .STADA top-level domain and its .STADA 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 Internet users cannot be sure that domain names incorporating STADA under one of the existing TLDs really belong to STADA or to someone else who is not affiliated with STADA and merely tries to use this brand for his own purposes. Furthermore, only content which is issued by STADA Arzneimittel AG will be displayed under .STADA domain names which differentiates STADA from all other producers of health care and pharmaceuticals goods who will not own their respective brand as a top-level domain.

 

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

 

Reaching out to professionals and 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 STADA Arzneimittel AG follow a consistent syntax but registering all available keywords and trademarks under all top-level domains, e.g. schmerzforum.com, stada-asia.com, or redinomedica.com. The introduction of worldwide consistent domain names including all major European scripts (like Spanish, Swedish and Danish), Arabic and Asian scripts among others will lead to an innovative way of communicating the STADA brand worldwide.

 

iii.

* Improved search rankings *

Today users do not know whether to search for stada-asia.com or stada.net, mobilat.de or mobilat-salbe.com, or stadagenerics.com. With a .STADA top-level domain the user will experience a much more intuitive way of finding STADA 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. Furthermore 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: According to Forrester Research (Oct 2011) „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.“ STADA Arzneimittel AG is expecting that such a shift in search engine rankings will also positively affect the search engine positioning of the STADA brand and the respective websites under .STADA.

 

* Umbrella brand strategy *

With a .STADA top-level domain STADA will be able to setup an umbrella brand strategy with .STADA acting as the umbrella and all STADA 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 ladival.stada, grippostad.stada, echinacea.stada and kamistad.stada.

 

* Enhanced trust and reliability *

With the .STADA top-level domain STADA Arzneimittel AG is expecting to deliver enhanced trust and reliability in the digital space for professionals and consumers based on content and services under domain names with the extension .STADA since there will be only one authoritative entity able to register domain names – STADA Arzneimittel AG. Especially members of medical circles like doctors, pharmacists and midwives, who are able to access further information about the STADA products via a secured login page, will get the certainty that they log into a real STADA website.

 

* Intuitive Access *

It is planned that intuitive domain name categories such as department.stada, product.stada, city.stada, services.stada will deliver due to their descriptive nature a much more intuitive access to the resources of STADA for professionals like doctors, pharmacists, midwives, 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.

 

  1. The following description is an excerpt of the STADA registration policies:

 

  • 1 Preamble

 

STADA Arzneimittel AG is the operator and thus registry for the top-level domain .STADA. It allows the registration of second-level domain names below the TLD .STADA. The TLD .STADA can be exclusive used by STADA Arzneimittel AG and its affiliated companies in the Internet, especially for the operation of websites, e-Mail communication and other DNS-based services. The domain names under the TLD .STADA are not available to the public for registration and active use. STADA Arzneimittel AG will act both as a registry, as well as the sole beneficiary registrant. As far as STADA Arzneimittel AG acts as the registry, it is hereinafter referred to as a registry. If STADA Arzneimittel AG 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 STADA Arzneimittel AG to third parties and themselves.

 

  • 2 Domain registration

 

A domain below the TLD .STADA 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, STADA Arzneimittel AG registrant has to pay the required fee at the respective registrar. The same applies for changing the registrar as a provider through the registrant.

 

  • 3 Eligibility

 

The right to register domain names under the TLD .STADA only belongs to STADA Arzneimittel AG. Therefore it acts both as a registry for the TLD .STADA, as well as registrant of domain names under the TLD .STADA. As far as STADA Arzneimittel AG 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.

 

  • 4 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.

 

  • 5 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.

 

  • 6 Assignment of domain names

 

Although only STADA Arzneimittel AG is entitled to register domain names under the TLD .STADA, 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 .STADA. Moreover, the order of registrations based on the principle ʺfirst come first servedʺ

 

  • 7 Registration period

 

Domain names can be registered for 1 - 10 years. The registration of a .STADA domain name follows the normal ʺgTLD life cycleʺ.

 

  • 8 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.

 

  • 9 Transfer of a domain name

 

The transfer of registered domains, paid or free, to another registrant as STADA Arzneimittel AG 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.

 

  • 10 Use of registered domain names

 

STADA Arzneimittel AG operates services, especially websites and email services, which are associated or connected with a registered domain name, by themselves. 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 STADA Arzneimittel AG and all affiliated entities of STADA Arzneimittel AG (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 STADA Arzneimittel AG. 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.

 

  • 12 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.

 

  • 13 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. The WHOIS data of all .STADA domains will be visible to the public, although a captcha module may prevent from automated inquiries. Bulk access to WHOIS data will not be allowed according to ICANN specifications. In addition STADA will establish an abuse point of contact. The .STADA TLD will not offer or allow privacy of confidential information of registrants.

 

 

  1. STADA Arzneimittel AG invests a multi-million EURO budget annually in the global promotion of its products, brands and services to professionals and end-customers which means that domain names are included on nearly all promotional materials.

 

In the future after the approval of .STADA this marketing power will be used for the promotion of domain names with the extension .STADA in order to create a quick uptake in awareness of the new .STADA 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 STADA Arzneimittel AG.

 

  1. Since all domain name are exclusively registered and maintained by STADA Arzneimittel AG there are no cost benefits.

 

  1. Since all domain name are exclusively registered and maintained by STADA Arzneimittel AG only a single ICANN-accredited registrar will be used to register .STADA domain names for a fixed price. Registration may be made for 1-10 years.