.today

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Status:	Active
Registry Provider:	Demand Media
Type:	Generic
Category:	Lifestyle
Priority #:	572 - Donuts (Pearl Woods, LLC)

.today is an active gTLD that was proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. Donuts (Pearl Woods, LLC) manages the TLD its Registry and was the sole applicant. The proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 19 November, 2013.

Application Details

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

"ABOUT DONUTS Donuts Inc. is the parent applicant for this and multiple other TLDs. The company intends to increase competition and consumer choice at the top level. It will operate these carefully selected TLDs safely and securely in a shared resources business model. To achieve its objectives, Donuts has recruited seasoned executive management with proven track records of excellence in the industry. In addition to this business and operational experience, the Donuts team also has contributed broadly to industry policymaking and regulation, successfully launched TLDs, built industry-leading companies from the ground up, and brought innovation, value and choice to the domain name marketplace.

THE .TODAY TLD This TLD is attractive and useful to end-users as it better facilitates search, self-expression, information sharing and the provision of legitimate goods and services. Along with the other TLDs in the Donuts family, this TLD will provide Internet users with opportunities for online identities and expression that do not currently exist. In doing so, the TLD will introduce significant consumer choice and competition to the Internet namespace – the very purpose of ICANN’s new TLD program.

TODAY is a generic term and its second level names will be attractive to a variety of Internet users. Making this TLD available to a broad audience of registrants is consistent with the competition goals of the New TLD expansion program, and consistent with ICANN’s objective of maximizing Internet participation. Donuts believes in an open Internet and, accordingly, we will encourage inclusiveness in the registration policies for this TLD. In order to avoid harm to legitimate registrants, Donuts will not artificially deny access, on the basis of identity alone (without legal cause), to a TLD that represents a generic form of activity and expression.

The .TODAY TLD will be widely appealing to a very deep and diverse set of registrants and end-users. The term TODAY can be used by businesses, organizations and individuals in thousands of ways—perhaps as a journal of daily activity, a blog site, a place to publicize the evolution of a business, or for a family to share photos with friends. Donuts believes in an open Internet and, accordingly, will encourage inclusiveness in the registration policies for this TLD. We recognize that TODAY is used in connection to a television program in the United States, and we would work to reserve certain names that arguably could interfere with the rights of that entity (e.g., tv.today, nbc.today, etc.). Finally, if determined to be necessary and⁄or appropriate, Donuts commits to publicizing on its website that Donuts’ use of this TLD is not sourced, sponsored, affiliated or endorsed by any other party, including any party that may hold trademark rights.

DONUTS’ APPROACH TO PROTECTIONS No entity, or group of entities, has exclusive rights to own or register second level names in this TLD. There are superior ways to minimize the potential abuse of second level names, and in this application Donuts will describe and commit to an extensive array of protections against abuse, including protections against the abuse of trademark rights.

We recognize some applicants seek to address harms by constraining access to the registration of second level names. However, we believe attempts to limit abuse by limiting registrant eligibility is unnecessarily restrictive and harms users by denying access to many legitimate registrants. Restrictions on second level domain eligibility would prevent law-abiding individuals and organizations from participating in a space to which they are legitimately connected, and would inhibit the sort of positive innovation we intend to see in this TLD. As detailed throughout this application, we have struck the correct balance between consumer and business safety, and open access to second level names.

By applying our array of protection mechanisms, Donuts will make this TLD a place for Internet users that is far safer than existing TLDs. Donuts will strive to operate this TLD with fewer incidences of fraud and abuse than occur in incumbent TLDs. In addition, Donuts commits to work toward a downward trend in such incidents.

OUR PROTECTIONS Donuts has consulted with and evaluated the ideas of international law enforcement, consumer privacy advocacy organizations, intellectual property interests and other Internet industry groups to create a set of protections that far exceed those in existing TLDs, and bring to the Internet namespace nearly two dozen new rights and protection mechanisms to raise user safety and protection to a new level."

Contract Signed

On Sept 23, 2013 Donuts received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .today after passing the Initial Evaluation.

Delegation and Availability

.today was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on November 19, 2013, completing the successful application for the string.

Sunrise

The Registry announced that their Sunrise Period for the string would begin 10 December 2013 and end on 07 February 2014.