.cern New gTLD Application
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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: European Organization for Nuclear Research (ʺCERNʺ)
String: cern
Originally Posted: 13 June 2012
Application ID: 1-1082-60500
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
European Organization for Nuclear Research (ʺCERNʺ)
- Address of the principal place of business
Route de Meyrin
Geneve CH-1211
CH
- Phone number
+41 22 767 6111
- Fax number
+41 22 767 9599
- If applicable, website or URL
http:⁄⁄cern.ch
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Mr. Darren Noyes
6(b). Title
Web manager, CERN Communications group
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
+41 22 767 3559
6(e). Fax Number
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Mr. David Foster
7(b). Title
Deputy head, CERN IT Department
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
+41 22 767 1067
7(e). Fax Number
+41 22 767 9599
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
CERN is an intergovernmental organization
8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
The international legal personality of CERN is provided for in Articles 1, 3.1 and 9 of the Convention for the Establishment of a European Organization for Nuclear Research (1953).
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
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
Rolf-Dieter Heuer Director General of CERN
Applied-for gTLD string
- Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.
cern
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.
To the Applicant’s knowledge, there are no operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string.
Based on a decade of experience launching and operating new TLDs, Afilias, the back-end provider of registry services for the applied-for TLD, is confident the launch and operation of the applied-for 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 the applied-for 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 the applied-for TLD.
- (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.
According to the Applicant, the purpose of the TLD is manifold, as will be further explained below.
The Applicant, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), is an intergovernmental organization situated across the French-Swiss border near Geneva. It is one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for scientific research in the field of fundamental physics. CERN has 20 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United- Kingdom), one Candidate State for accession (Romania) and two Associate Members in the pre-stage to Membership (Israel and Serbia). Other countries are also involved, as some 10,000 scientists from around the world come to CERN for their research. They represent 608 universities and 113 nationalities.
The mission of CERN is to enable international collaboration in the field of high-energy physics. To this end, CERN designs, builds and operates particle accelerators and the associated experimental areas, as well as connected information technology, administrative and industrial services. CERN’s flagship project, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is producing unprecedented physics results.
According to the Applicant, the most important purposes of the .CERN TLD in this unique environment can be summarized as follows:
- Reflect and operate the Applicant’s key and most distinctive identifier (“CERN”) at the top level of the DNS’ hierarchy;
- Provide stakeholders of the Applicant, including Member States, collaborating research institutes, as well as an extensive research community and the general public, with a recognizable and trusted identifier on the Internet;
- Facilitate the dissemination of knowledge, reflect the diversity of CERN’s research community and expand geographic outreach through the use of new communication under the .CERN TLD;
- Provide such stakeholders with a secure and safe Internet environment that is mainly or even fully under the control of the Applicant (and⁄or its subcontractors);
- Provide selected stakeholders in the CERN identifier with the opportunity to create a similarly secure and safe Internet environment;
18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
- As mentioned in question 18(a) above, the Applicant is one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for scientific research. The reputation of the Applicant builds upon a history of over half a century of incredible innovation and discovery, such as the creation of the World Wide Web (WWW) by Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN, in 1989. There is a strong and growing global demand for information about the research conducted at CERN - both in the LHC programme, and in other experiments on antimatter, neutrino physics and beyond. As enshrined in its Convention, CERN favors the general dissemination of its knowledge and knowhow: Article II.1 provides that “the results of its experimental and theoretical work shall be published or otherwise made generally available”.
The proposed gTLD therefore aims at consolidating the reputation of the Applicant and providing a powerful tool for reaching out to a global audience;
- From the Applicant’s perspective, .CERN will bring a high degree of recognition and specialization to the currently existing name space. Where in most cases the specific connotation that has been initially given to the gTLDs (or even ccTLDs) has disappeared, the .CERN top-level domain will be unambiguous as regards the identity of the Registry Operator, the source of the content and⁄or services offered under the .CERN and⁄or the affiliation between the Registry Operator, CERN, and the TLD. Moreover, CERN is host to a large number of autonomous collaborations, some of which involve thousands of people and have independent management structures and strong identities. Complex constituent relationships could be more readily represented in a .cern namespace;
- As mentioned in the vision ⁄ mission statement above, the key reasons why Applicant is applying for .CERN are:
- Branding: reflect the Applicant’s key identifier CERN at the top-level of the DNS’ hierarchy,
- Safety and security, given the fact that the TLD and most, if not all, of the domain names registered therein will be completely or at least partially under the control of the Registry Operator, CERN;
- Affiliation between the core CERN identifier and the hundreds of names registered and⁄or used by CERN and⁄or its stakeholders;
- Initially, the .CERN TLD will be a single-registrant TLD: only CERN will be eligible to register domain names. In due course, the Applicant may decide to open registration to certain third parties. The Applicant intends to implement the following policies and procedures with respect to the registration of domain names in the .CERN top-level domain, to include but not limited to:
- Reservation of domain names in the name of the Applicant. These names include:
- a) descriptive names, referring to the activities of the Applicant (e.g. lhc.cern);
- b) descriptive names, referring to the internal departments of the Applicant (e.g. finance.cern);
- c) descriptive names, referring to the stakeholders of the Applicant (e.g. experiment.cern);
- d)
- Launch of the TLD:
- a) Sunrise: allow physical persons, organizations and entities that meet the eligibility requirements in force at that point in time to choose the domain names that are identical to their trademarks;
- b) General availability: other available domain names may be registered by physical persons, organizations and entities that meet the eligibility requirements in force at that point in time to choose the domain names in accordance with the applicable terms and conditions.
- c) Depending on the terms and conditions in force at the time of launch of the TLD, these domain names may or may not be registered in the name of the applicant for the domain name or in the name of the Applicant for the TLD (CERN). In any case, the Applicant reserves the right to impose additional and other restrictions from time to time at its sole discretion;
- The .CERN TLD will implement strict measures for protecting privacy and confidential information. While policies regarding the protection of financial information (in the context of transactions) and personnel administrative data are already in place at CERN, general policies regarding data protection and privacy are currently being developed on a best practice basis, with due regard to relevant national laws and the position adopted by the European Data Protection Supervisor.
As explained above, the Applicant is an intergovernmental organization with 20 Member States. Ever since its establishment over fifty years ago, the Applicant has been using the name CERN. The Applicant uses the cern.ch domain name. As the Applicant has a worldwide reputation, it has numerous ways to make the general public aware of the existence and, potentially, the (gradual) move from the cern.ch domain name to the .CERN TLD, including but not limited to having Internet traffic to its key domain names resolving into domain names registered in the .CERN TLD.
18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?
- Initially, the .CERN TLD will be a single-registrant TLD: only CERN will be eligible to register domain names. In due course, should the Applicant decide to open registration to certain third parties, the Applicant will organize the registry operation for.CERN in such a manner that it will avoid multiple applications for a particular domain name. This can be achieved in one of the following ways:
- At least prior to the launch of the .CERN top-level domain, the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator will reserve, delegate and use a large number of domain names that are directly or indirectly relevant to Applicant’s business in its own name. Since quite a number of these domain names will be of a descriptive nature, the chances for qualifying ⁄ eligible applicants ⁄ registrants to register such domain names after the launch will be limited;
- The Registry Operator will release available domain names post launch in a highly controlled manner, which also reduces the likelihood that two or more applicants qualify for the registration of the same domain name in the .CERN top-level domain;
- As a method of last resort, and subject to the actual domain name registration policy adopted by the Registry Operator and in force at the time of registration, domain names will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Should the Applicant decide to open domain registration to qualifying third parties, it will not be a commercial endeavor and no profits will be sought. Nevertheless, the Applicant reserves the right to charge a fee for the registration of domain names.
- Although not the primary purpose of the Applicant, the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator may at its discretion make contractual commitments to increase or decrease the fees for the registration of domain names under the .CERN TLD, it being understood that it will not be a commercial endeavor for the Applicant.