.off

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Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Verisign
Type:	Brand TLD
Priority #:	1183 - Johnson Shareholdings, Inc.

.off is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Johnson Shareholdings, Inc.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"Johnson Shareholdings, Inc.’s (“Johnson Shareholdings”) parent company, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (“SC Johnson”), is a leading global manufacturer of household brands with operations in more than 70 countries and products sold virtually in every country around the world. As a family company with 125 years of history, SC Johnson employs nearly 13,000 people globally and generates more than $9 billion in sales annually.

SC Johnson markets a variety of home cleaning, pest control, air care, home storage, and shoe care products. SC Johnson’s product portfolio includes global brands such as Pledge®, Duck®, Mr. Muscle®, Windex®, Scrubbing Bubbles®, Glade®, Raid®, OFF!®, Baygon®, Kiwi® and Ziploc®. In all of its global operations, SC Johnson maintains its focus on environmental sustainability and its role as a community leader, as well as striving to create a positive work environment for its employees.

Recognizing the potential dynamic evolution of a .OFF gTLD as a trusted brand namespace, SC Johnson has decided to use a wholly owned subsidiary, Johnson Shareholdings, as the entity to file this application and bring the .OFF gTLD to market.

Through a unified approach, Johnson Shareholdings intends to submit eight gTLD applications. In addition to .OFF, Johnson Shareholdings is submitting applications for .scjohnson, .rightathome, .raid, .glade, .duck, .mrmuscle, and .afamilycompany.

OFF!® insect repellents have protected consumers from mosquitoes and the diseases they may carry for over fifty years. OFF!® brand products are available in personal sprays, as well as area repellents. OFF!® brand products are available for sale in the United States, as well as internationally.

The intended future mission and purpose of the .OFF gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace provided by SC Johnson for SC Johnson’s customers, and Internet users in general.

Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD specification in the current version of the Applicant Guidebook, it is widely anticipated within the brand-owner community that this will become a specialty subset of gTLDs. The .OFF gTLD is intended to be one of those .BRAND gTLDs, with the goal of protecting SC Johnson’s online presence and identity; expanding its marketing and promotion efforts; providing a secure channel for OFF!® and other SC Johnson products and services; and offering a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of SC Johnson.

Johnson Shareholdings intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .OFF gTLD to SC Johnson and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow Johnson Shareholdings to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution, coupled with the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the template Registry Agreement, is intended to exempt Johnson Shareholdings from its annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements.

After Stage 3 (see below), Johnson Shareholdings will evaluate whether opportunities exist to carry out the business strategy for the .OFF gTLD through expansion that continues the sustainable operations of the registry through fee-based registrations to parties other than SC Johnson and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates."