.tour

Status:	Proposed
Type:	Generic
Category:	Commerce
Priority #:	517 - Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.)

.tour is a proposed TLD in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.). Portfolio applicant Donuts applied for a similar string, .tours.

Application Details

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

"The proposed gTLD will provide the marketplace with direct association with the term, ʺtour.ʺ The mission of this gTLD, .tour, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which tour operators and ticket sellers can enact second-level domains that offer content, products and services related to performance and exhibition tours. Charleston Road Registry expects uses of the gTLD may include but are not limited to branded tour web spaces (concert.tour, band.tour, circus.tour), discount offerings (sales.tour), and custom premium services (vip.tour). The proposed gTLD will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain.

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Charleston Road Registry will make access to Registry Services, including the shared registration system, available to all ICANN-accredited registrars. Domain names within the proposed gTLD will be available to the public for registration and use.

Charleston Road Registry is committed to implementing strong and integrated intellectual property rights protection mechanisms. Doing so is critical to Google’s goals of model Internet citizenship and fostering Internet development, especially in emerging regions. Accordingly, Charleston Road Registry intends to offer a suite of rights protection measures which builds upon ICANNʹs required policies while fulfilling our commitment to encouraging innovation, competition, and choice on the Internet.

Charleston Road Registry reserves the right to impose registrant verification enforcement policies on registrars.

Charleston Road Registry believes that the .tour gTLD will best add value to the gTLD space by limiting registration to only verified tour operators and ticket sellers. Charleston Road Registry plans to require registrars to confirm that a domain applicant is a tour operator or ticket seller via an established process. If the domain applicant passes the eligibility verification process, only then will the applicant be eligible to apply for a second-level domain in the .tour gTLD. To preserve the integrity of the gTLD, Charleston Road Registry reserves the right to adopt certain monitoring measures, including periodic audits. Charleston Road Registry also reserves the right to adopt enforcement measures, including a request that registrars facilitate a user reporting method to log complaints and⁄or potential instances of misuse within the gTLD. If a registrant is found to be in violation of the terms of the registry-registrar agreement or the registrar-registrant agreement, Charleston Road Registry may request that the appropriate registrar enforce such agreements through penalties, including but not limited to suspension of the domain name."

String Confusion Objection

Google submitted a String Confusion Objection to the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), saying that the .tour and .tours strings would confuse Internet users. Panelist Robert M Nau ruled on the side of Google. This decision will put Donuts, the sole applicant for .tours, into a contention set with Google for the .tour gTLD.