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FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Community Priority Evaluation:

Community Establishment (4 points) – Clearly Delineated, organized and pre-existing community

 

With respect to “Delineation” and “Extension”, can the community consist of a logical alliance of communities of similar nature?

Yes. According to the CPE Guidelines:

With respect to “Delineation” and “Extension,” it should be noted that a community can consist of… a logical alliance of communities for example, an international federation of national communities of a similar nature… provided the requisite awareness and recognition of the community is at hand among the members.

(AGB CPE Final Guidelines, P.4 and P.6)

Is the Community clearly delineated?

Yes, the Music Community definition in the Application is:

“a strictly delineated and organized community of individuals, organizations and business, a logical alliance of communities of similar nature that relate to music.”

(See Application 20a)

Does the clearly delineated community defined by Application require a clear and straight-forward membership and a requisite awareness and recognition from its members?

Yes, the clearly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities of similar nature relating to music (defined in the Application as the Community) requires a clear and straight-forward membership and a requisite awareness and recognition from its members.

How is the Community as defined in the Application organized?

The Community is organized as a logical alliance of communities of similar nature relating to music, each with documented evidence of community-related activities that may include other roles/functions as well as clear and straightforward memberships with requisite awareness and recognition from members.

What is an example of a clearly delineated and organized community (A Music Community Member Organization [MCMO] that belongs to the logical alliance of communities of a similar nature as defined in Application as the Community with a clear and straight-forward membership and requisite awareness and recognition from its members?

According to the AGB:

“With Respect to “Delineation” and “Extension”, it should be noted that a community can consist of…a logical alliance of communities (for example, an international federation of national communities of similar nature… All are viable as such, provided the requisite awareness and recognition of the community is at hand among the members.”

(AGB CPE Final Guidelines, Criterion 4A Guidelines, Pg.4)

“A majority of the overall community may be determined by, but not restricted to, considerations such as headcount, the geographic reach of the organizations, or other features such as the degree of power.”

(AGB CPE Final Guidelines, Criterion 4A Support, Pg.18)

An example of a MCMO that fulfills the AGB Criteria of “Delineation” and “Extension” – a clearly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities (an international federation of national communities of similar nature) that relate to music – is the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA). The IFACCA federation has national members from nearly 70 countries (http://www.ifacca.org/membership/current_members) comprised of governments’ Ministries of Culture and Arts Councils covering all continents.

In context, music is a regulated sector with policies and laws set by governments with respect to copyright. IFACCA member Governments – comprising a widely global geographical distribution – have the strongest and most influential degree of power in relation to the string since they set the national regulations, royalty rates and legislation with respect to music and its copyright. Music is a regulated sector bound by national Government legislation and international law which covers copyright. ICANN, following Government Advisory Committee (GAC Advice), has placed the string (“music”) in its list of regulated sectors mandating enhanced safeguards (http://singapore49.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-new-gtld/presentation-new-gtld-24mar14-en.pdf, Pg. 18, Pg. 20, http://icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-new-gtld-annex-2-05feb14-en.pdf Pg. 2 and) and non-exclusive access http://icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-new-gtld-annex-1-05feb14-en.pdf Pg. 6). Such action by ICANN, which has been mandated for all new gTLD applicants, highlights the highest degree of influential power corresponding to Government.

IFACCA member Governments (and other Governments) have multilaterally signed into law the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (also referred to as the Berne Convention) signed in 1886 and amended in 1979, which requires the protection for all creative works in a fixed medium be automatic, and last for at least 50 years after the author’s death for any work (www.wipo.int/treaties/en/documents/pdf/berne.pdf). The Berne Convention covers 162 of the approximately 190 countries in the world, including most major nations. Countries which are signed up to the convention are compelled to offer the same protection to works created in other signatory nations as they would to works created in their own. Nations not signed up to the Berne Convention may have their own regulatory and legal arrangements regarding copyright protection.

Strategic partners of IFACCA (http://www.ifacca.org/strategic_partners/) include UNESCO, African Arts Institute, Asia-Pacific Regional Centre of the Culturelink Network, European League of Institutes of the Arts, EuropeanResearch Institute for Comparative Cultural Policy and the Arts, European Commission DirectorateGeneral Education & Culture, Fundació Interarts, International Conference on Cultural Policy Research,International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts, International Federation of Coalitions for CulturalDiversity, International Network for Cultural Diversity, ISPA – International Society for the Performing ArtsFoundation, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Organization of American States, Observatory ofCultural Policies in Africa, Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, Caribbean and Pacific Group ofStates, United Cities and Local Governments.

IFACCA will assist in alerting community members on the protection and proper allocation of .MUSIC country names (in accordance to ICANN rules and Specification 5. See Question 22) and furthering the promotion of government-related cultural and music initiatives under .MUSIC. An example of a documented activity was IFACCA alerting community members on Opposition/Objection issues relating to implementing appropriate enhanced safeguards to protect intellectual property for .MUSIC and promoting competition without any discrimination against the legitimate interests of the community in relation to .MUSIC domain names (http://www.ifacca.org/announcements/2013/02/27/express-your-view-applications-new-music-domain/) and formal Community Objection to the International Chamber of Commerce.

What are the accreditation requirements for becoming a Music Community Member Organization [MCMO]?

According to the AGB:

“With Respect to “Delineation” and “Extension”, it should be noted that a community can consist of…a logical alliance of communities (for example, an international federation of national communities of similar nature… All are viable as such, provided the requisite awareness and recognition of the community is at hand among the members.”

(AGB CPE Final Guidelines, Criterion 4A Guidelines, Pg.4)

The rationale and process at arriving at the definition of Community was to align the Community to the requirements of the AGB pertaining to what constitutes recognized, organized and clearly delineated community that would match the Nexus of the string and the Community defined. Taking the AGB criteria on how a “community” is clearly defined without any tangential relationships, .MUSIC engaged in a public outreach communication campaign (which commenced in 2008) with the Community to define the Community under a logical alliance of strictly delineated and organized communities of similar nature related to music (referred to as the “MCMOs” or “the Community”) in alignment with AGB rules:

“The .MUSIC mission and purpose has been established by interactions with Community members through numerous outreach activities and upon experiences gained in previous ICANN new gTLD launches. The mission⁄purpose is consistent with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments (AoC) and Basic Principles of the International Music Registry (IMR – with participants including RIAA, IFPI, SCAPR, ACTRA, SAMRO, IRSC, ECAD, CIAM).”

“INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION AND TRUST: In consultation with major music constituents, including multiple Coalitions (such as a Coalition that includes the RIAA, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, IFPI, A2IM, FIM, CISAC, IMPALA, NMPA, SABAM, FIM and others), DotMusic [.MUSIC] has developed policies to protect intellectual property, fight piracy and ensure .MUSIC domains are allocated in fair methods so that music consumers and Internet users are assured the highest level of trust and authenticity when they visit a .MUSIC domain.”

(Application, Question 20c)

According to the Application, Community eligibility requires a clear, straightforward membership with a:

 

“Music Community Member Organization (MCMO) for registrants with demonstrated MCMO memberships”

(Application, Question 20e)

“Registrants will be verified using Community-organized, unified “criteria taken from holistic perspective with due regard of Community particularities” that “invoke a formal membership” without discrimination, conflict of interest or “likelihood of material detriment to the rights and legitimate interests” of the Community”

(Application, Question 20e)

According to the Application, the eligibility registration phases are as follows:

“Sunrise launch with trademark validation… phase designed to protect trademarks in the roll-out of .MUSIC. The Sunrise is the time when regional, national and international trademark and service mark holders can apply for .MUSIC domains. The eligibility requirements will be verified, and multiple registration applications for the same string will be auctioned, except for GPML entries that supersede any other sunrise registration applications.”

(Application, Question 20e)

“Music Community Member Organization (MCMO)… phase… is a limited-time period reserved for members of DotMusic-accredited music Community Member Organizations (mCMO). Unique registrations will be granted to the sole registrant and delegated at the close of the time period; multiple registration requests for the same string will go through an auction.”

“Landrush… phase of .MUSIC domain registration; a limited- time period. Unique registrations will be granted to the registrant; multiple registration requests for the same domain will go through an auction. Landrush is designed for members of the Music Community that want to secure premium .MUSIC domains giving members the chance to register their preferred .MUSIC domains; multiple registration requests for the same domain will go through an auction.”

(Application, Question 20e)

“General Availability… phase of registration of .MUSIC domains. .MUSIC registrations will now be available to Music Community members on a first come, first served basis.”

(Application, Question 20e)

Current MCMOs – whose cumulative straight-forward community memberships are defined in the Application as the Community – correspond to over 99% of all legitimate members that explicitly relate to the legal production, distribution and promotion of music globally i.e. without any tangential relationships with the string and the Community defined. Accreditation as an MCMO was determined through the interactions with the Community since 2008.

Globally-recognized, clearly delineated and organized Community organizations automatically qualified as a .MUSIC-accredited MCMO (i.e invitation-only). Community organizations also qualified as accredited MCMOs if they were recommended by existing accredited MCMOs and fulfilled the criteria for MCMO qualification (i.e recommended by an established, globally-recognized MCMO). The last way to qualify as an MCMO is to apply to become an accredited MCMO though .MUSIC. The MCMO applicant would have to prove that it fulfills the MCMO qualification requirements. To qualify as a MCMO, the clearly delineated and organized Community organization applying must fulfill all these requirements (These requirements were predominantly based on the AGB Community Priority Evaluation Guidelines criteria):

  1. Clear delineation: The Community organization must have clear and straightforward membership and the requisite awareness and recognition from those members. The following non-exhaustive list denotes elements of straightforward membership definitions: fees, skill and/or accreditation-requirements, privileges or benefits entitled to members, certifications aligned with community goals etc;
  2. Organized: The Community organization must administer its members with documented evidence of community activities;
  3. Community organization must relate to music in a non-tangential or non-peripheral manner;
  4. Membership aligns with the Nexus of the Community and the String, which is explicitly relevant to music. Any tangential or implicit associations with the Nexus of the Community and the String will not be regarded as a delineated membership since it would be considered unclear, dispersed or unbound. Such an unclear, dispersed or unbound tangential relationship would not constitute a qualifying membership of an accredited MCMO and would be ineligible for registration;
  5. Community organization activities are aligned with the .MUSIC Mission and Purpose;
  6. Total membership is of non-negligible size;
  7. Total membership geographic dispersion is either international or national (i.e. organizations with merely local memberships do not qualify);
  8. Forward-looking longevity: Membership pursuits are of a lasting, non-transient nature (i.e. will continue to exist in the future);
  9. Membership activities must be involved in the legal production and/or the distribution and/or the promotion of music (i.e. related to music); and
  10. The Community organization’s functions must legally comply with the string’s regulated sector in relation to copyright and clearly abide to the sector’s clearly, delineated systems to ensure fair compensation and proper allocation of royalties to Community rights holders.

Has the Community been pre-existing and active since before the new gTLD policy recommendations were completed in September 2007?

Yes, the earliest entity which meets the Community definition described in the Application as a clearly delineated and organized community (referred to in Application as “Music Community Member Organizations” or ”MCMO”) is the Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs de Musique (SACM) which was founded in 1860 (link). Other qualifying MCMO entities of the clearly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities of similar nature relating to music (as defined in the Application) with an early formation date include:

  • Music Publishers Association (MPA) formed in 1895 (link)
  • American Federation of Musicians (AFM) formed in 1896 (link).

Other qualifying MCMO entities of the clearly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities (as defined in the Application) with a more recent formation date include:

  • International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies formed in (link)·         (link).

Is the Community of considerable size and longevity pertaining to its extension?

Yes, the strictly delineated, organized and logical alliance of communities (referred to as “MCMOs” in Application) of similar nature that relate to music (defined as the Community in the Application) is of considerable size, extension and longevity. In context, the Community defined covers millions of formal members corresponding to over 99.9% all music produced, distributed, promoted and consumed. This designated Community is considerably large in regards to formal memberships with MCMOs and considerably large in regards to global geographic dispersion.

The Community is forward-looking and will continue to exist in the future since the pursuits of the Community are of a lasting, non-transient nature. Additionally, the Community (as defined in the Application) has awareness and recognition among its members due to the membership structure of the strictly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities of similar nature related to music defined in the Application. Community members do not have a tangential relationship with the Community since they have the requisite awareness and recognition of the Community through their formal memberships and will continue to exist into the future.

Nexus (4 points) – Nexus (3 points) and Uniqueness (1 point)

Is the string the name of an organization related to the Community as defined by Application?

Yes. The string is also the name of our organization which will be administrating the string with support of a strictly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities of relevance related to music and the string. Our organization also has international trademarks in .MUSIC used to promote our Mission Statement and Purpose to offer the string to formal members of the global, strictly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities related to music as defined in Application.

Does the string match the name of the community or does it over-reach substantially indicating a wider geographical or thematic remit than the defined Community has?

According to the CPE Guidelines:

“Match” is of a higher standard than “Identify” and means “corresponds to” or “is equal to.”

(AGB CPE Final Guidelines, P.7)

The name of the Community is the established name by which the Community is commonly known by others. It does not over-reach beyond the Community as defined since it is the identification/name of the Community commonly-known by others. The Community defined in the Application (i.e. a strictly delineated, organized and logical alliance of communities of similar nature relating to music) comprises of formal global members corresponding to over 99.9% all music produced, distributed, promoted and consumed. Such activity and geographic breadth is implied by the string and corresponds to the Community as described in Application.

The name of Community defined matches the name of string since it parallels global music constituents (with clear and straightforward memberships) corresponding to over 99.9% all music produced, distributed, promoted and consumed. As such, the applied-for string (.MUSIC) does not overreach substantially since it does not identify a wider geographical or related thematic remit than the Community defined and substantially represented in the Application consistent with the Application’s Mission Statement, community responses and website:

“The Music Community’s geographic breadth is inclusive of all recognized territories covering regions associated with ISO-3166 codes and 193 United Nations countries”  

(Application, Question 20a)

 “ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS

DotMusic will be accountable to the Community by serving them without conflicts of interest and:

  • Creating and managing a trusted safe online haven for music consumption
  • Establishing a safe home on the Internet for Community members to differentiate themselves regardless of locale, segment or size
  • Enforcing registration policies that enhance and preserve the integrity of the Community
  • Following a neutral multi-stakeholder governance of fair representation of all global music constituents
  • Soliciting Community advice through the Advisory Committee

The rotating, global Advisory Committee will represent all Community stakeholder groups per the NAICS codes list, such as musicians, songwriters, composers, industry professionals, collection agencies, associations, unions, businesses, education, arts councils⁄export offices⁄government agencies, managers, promoters and agents. The Committee will operate under Bylaws central to the .MUSIC Mission, Core Values, and commitment to serve the Community and public interest”

(Application, Question 20b)

“The .MUSIC mission⁄purpose is:

  • Creating a trusted, safe online haven for music consumption
  • Establishing a safe home on the Internet for Music Community members regardless of locale or size
  • Protecting intellectual property and fighting piracy
  • Supporting musiciansʹ welfare, rights & fair compensation
  • Promoting music and the arts, cultural diversity and music education
  • Following a multi-stakeholder approach of fair representation of all types of global music constituents, including a rotating regional advisory board working in the best interests of the Music Community 

The Music Community encompasses global reaching commercial and non-commercial stakeholders, and amateur stakeholders.”

(Application, Question 20c)

According to the Application:

“The .MUSIC string relates to the Community by:

  • Completely representing the entire Community. It relates to all music-related constituents using an all-inclusive, multi-stakeholder model
  • Directly communicating that the content is music- related and representing the Community in a positive and beneficial manner consistent with the .MUSIC Purpose and Use policy
  • Incorporating enhanced policies and safeguards matching Community needs
  • Branding music-related constituents⁄entities on the Internet through a unique music-identifying suffix
  • Serving the Community by implementing supporting services that are built and recommended by Community stakeholders and brought to .MUSIC through its multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee
  • Creating a source of creativity, cultural identity, recreation and employment through a music-themed TLD

The .MUSIC affiliation with the Music Community, including interconnected functional activities, relate to the same groups identified by the Cultural Ministers’ Council’s “Statistical Framework for the Music Sector” scoping study (H. Hoegh-Guldberg and R. Letts, Statistical Framework for the Music Sector, 2005 http://www.culturaldata.gov.au/sites/www.culturaldata.gov.au/files/A_Statistical_Framework_for_the_Music_Sector.pdf ):

  • Musicians including composers & songwriters
  • The recording industry including record companies, producers, manufacturers, distributors of physical⁄digital products, studios and self-produced recordings
  • Audiences at all public performances and venue operators

The Community is not subject to merely commercial / financial variables. The music Community is driven primarily by technology and the socio-cultural environment that influence music-related media cultures and consumer behavior, including the Community itself. The socio-cultural environment drives the TLD, including the cultural diversity that provides space within the Community for many genres / participants, general socioeconomic and demographic factors and their impact on diverse local environments, and the support that the Community gives to new creators / performers. The string and Community share a particular cultural ambience: a sensitivity and preference for certain cultural expressions. The ambience is diverse and influential: music preferences of different sections of the society vary, ranging from metal to classical; Socio-economic distributions and demographic patterns, such as age.

.MUSIC will take these factors that relate to cultural-identity into consideration and add value to the Community through the Premium Channels sorted to address NAICS classifications, genre (e.g www.Reggae.music), style, mood, language and other culturally-significant music attributes to catalyze innovation, music identification and to bolster:

The cultural relationship between .MUSIC and the Community is based on the creation of a mutually beneficial ecosystem that is driven by value generation and supports value chains that make a difference that truly matters to:

  • Creators, performers, bands, ensembles & orchestras
  • Live performances
  • Recording
  • Airplay
  • Distribution
  • Others (e.g film, video, advertising)

.MUSIC relates to the Community by representing all constituents involved in music creation, production and distribution, including government culture agencies and arts councils and other complementor organizations involved in support activities that are aligned with the .MUSIC mission.

.MUSIC strategic activities that relate to the Community focus on:

  • Creativity, skill and talent
  • Wealth and job creation through the generation, protection and exploitation of intellectual property
  • Creating music-related intangible inputs that add economic and social value
  • Connecting music-related content in a meaningful and organized manner that will benefit both the Community and Internet users.

These strategic activities are consistent with the creative industries strategy that was defined, refined and introduced by the Blair U.K government through the Creative Industries Task Force started in 1997 (U.K Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS 2001), Creative Industries Mapping Study – www.culture.gov.uk/global/publications/archive_2001/ci_mapping_doc_2001.htm).

Michael Chanan (Short History of Recording and its Effects on Music, 1995) and Peter Martland (Business History of the Gramophone Company Ltd (1887-1918), 1992) identify factors shared by the Community:

  • Music offers the opportunity of enhancing Community earnings
  • Music can spread the fame of members of the Community widely, as far afield as the Community’s distribution systems permit
  • Fame can be further exploited using global transport systems for touring
  • .Music, by virtue of its permanence, can create a form of immortality for Community members, which prior to the invention of sound technology had been denied to them

The Community and the .MUSIC string share a core value system of artistic expression with diverse, niche subcultures and socio-economic interactions between music creators, their value chain, distribution channel, and ultimately engaging fans as well as other music constituents subscribing to common ideals.

The Community genre dynamics are akin to those found in other culturally-driven Communities identifying cultural identity such as those relating to nationality, language, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion. Just like languages such as English, music theory follows an organized set of rules relating to composition and performance.”

(Application, Question 20d)

Does the string have any other significant meaning (to the public in general) beyond identifying the community described in the application?

According to the CPE Guidelines:

“Significant meaning” relates to the public in general, with consideration of the Community language context added

(AGB, Final CPE Guidelines, P.9)

“Uniqueness” is only about the meaning of the string

(AGB, Final CPE Guidelines, P.10)

The string does not have any other significant meaning beyond identifying the Community described in the application. The general public will immediately think of the Community described in the Application when thinking of the string and will not associate it with any other communities, entities, or acronyms with the same name as the Community described in the Application. As such, the string has no other significant meaning in the common English language beyond identifying the Community as described in the Application.

The size and delineation of the Community described in the Application is consistent with the string, including the geographic reach and activity implied by the string.

Registration Policies (4 points) – Eligibility, Name Selection, Content and Use, Enforcement

 

Eligibility (1 point)

 

Is eligibility for being allowed as a registrant restricted?

According to the CPE Guidelines:

“Eligibility” means the qualifications that organizations or individuals must have in order to be allowed as registrants

(AGB, Final CPE Guidelines, P.11)

With respect to “eligibility” the limitation to community “members” can invoke a formal membership but can also be satisfied in other ways, depending on the structure and orientation of the community at hand

(AGB, Final CPE Guidelines, P.11)

To fulfill the requirements for Eligibility, the registration policies restrict the eligibility of prospective registrants to Community members of the defined strictly delineated, organized and logical alliance of communities of similar nature relating to music. The Application demonstrates adherence to this requirement by requiring registrants to have a clear and straightforward membership with the “strictly delineated, organized” Music Community Member Organizations forming the “logical alliance of communities of similar nature relating to music.”

According to the Application, eligibility requires a formal membership with delineated and organized:

“Music Community Member Organization (MCMO) for registrants with demonstrated MCMO memberships”

(Application, Question 20e)

“Registrants will be verified using Community-organized, unified “criteria taken from holistic perspective with due regard of Community particularities” that “invoke a formal membership” without discrimination, conflict of interest or “likelihood of material detriment to the rights and legitimate interests” of the Community”

(Application, Question 20e)

According to the Application, the eligibility registration phases are as follows:

“Sunrise launch with trademark validation… phase designed to protect trademarks in the roll-out of .MUSIC. The Sunrise is the time when regional, national and international trademark and service mark holders can apply for .MUSIC domains. The eligibility requirements will be verified, and multiple registration applications for the same string will be auctioned, except for GPML entries that supersede any other sunrise registration applications.”

(Application, Question 20e)

“Music Community Member Organization (MCMO)… phase… is a limited-time period reserved for members of DotMusic-accredited music Community Member Organizations (mCMO). Unique registrations will be granted to the sole registrant and delegated at the close of the time period; multiple registration requests for the same string will go through an auction.”

“Landrush… phase of .MUSIC domain registration; a limited- time period. Unique registrations will be granted to the registrant; multiple registration requests for the same domain will go through an auction. Landrush is designed for members of the Music Community that want to secure premium .MUSIC domains giving members the chance to register their preferred .MUSIC domains; multiple registration requests for the same domain will go through an auction.”

(Application, Question 20e)

“General Availability… phase of registration of .MUSIC domains. .MUSIC registrations will now be available to Music Community members on a first come, first served basis.”

(Application, Question 20e)

In short, firstly, eligibility for registration will be restricted to Community member rights holders identified in the music Globally Protected Marks List as well as Trademark holders. Secondly, eligibility will be restricted to Community members who are verified through their demonstrated membership with the strictly delineated and organized Music Community Member Organizations defined as the Community in the Application. In this phase multiple requests of the same domain name will result in an auction to settle the winner. Thirdly, is the “premium” domain phase which is restricted to Community members who are verified through their demonstrated membership with the strictly delineated and organized Music Community Member Organizations defined as the Community in the Application. If there are multiple requests for registration of a “premium” domain offered by the Registry then it will result in an auction to settle the winner. In the fourth and final stage, registrations will be on a first-come, first serve basis (i.e no auctions). Eligibility will be restricted to Community members who are verified through their demonstrated membership with the strictly delineated and organized Music Community Member Organizations defined as the Community in the Application.

According to the Application, Eligibility requirements are aligned with the Name Selection, Content and Use and Enforcement policies and must adhere to the:

“.MUSIC Policy & Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (ʺMPCIDRPʺ) to ensure eligibility requirements, use and naming policies as established”

(Application, Question 28)

“.MUSIC domains will be validated to belong to Community members, who can only use the domains under Community-focused Policies. This way, Internet users will experience trusted interactions with registrants and be confident that any interaction is with legitimate Community members.”

(Application, Question 18b iii)

“Provisions are available to enable the registry operator to only allow registrations by pre-authorized and verified contacts. These verified contacts are given a unique code that can be used for registration of new domains. Such provision will be used in the case where holders of a mark in the Globally Protected Marks list (a protection mechanism explained in response to question #20e) wish to register their mark under .MUSIC; and it can also be used for release of the reserved country and territory names per response to question #22.”

(Application, Question 28)

“Registrant pre-verification and authentication: DotMusic will validate certain data elements in relation to domain name registrations… One of the systems that could be used for validity and identity authentication is VAULT (Validation and Authentication Universal Lookup). It utilizes information obtained from a series of trusted data sources with access to billions of records containing data about individuals for the purpose of providing independent age and id verification as well as the ability to incorporate additional public or private data sources as required.”

(Application, Question 28)

“DotMusic will introduce data validation of some WHOIS elements as part of the .MUSIC policies as described in response to question #20. DotMusic will explore mechanisms for data re-validation if all validated elements for one registrant are modified, such as could be the case in a registrant transfers.”

(Application, Question 28)

“While DotMusic will hold the thick WHOIS data provided through registrars, we will also validate elements of the received WHOIS data:

1. The registrant’s email address through validation links

2. The registrant’s phone number through validated PIN-codes”

(Application, Question 20e)

How does a Music Community Member Organization (MCMO) qualify to join the strictly delineated, organized and logical alliance of individuals, organizations and business of similar nature related to music defined as the Community in the Application?

The “strictly delineated, organized and logical alliance of individuals, organizations and business of similar nature related to music” (i.e the Community defined in the Application) comprise of “multiple”, “relevant and/or recognized” institutions/organizations that “invoke a formal membership” with members who “correspond to” over 99.9% of all music produced, distributed, promoted and consumed globally, the “majority of the overall community addressed.”

The Community must adhere to the Mission and Purpose as defined in the Application and be aligned with the unified common interest of protecting intellectual property and supporting fair compensation for rights holders.

A MCMO can apply to join (Link) the Community if it fulfills these criteria irrespective of locale or type:

  1. Clear delineation: The Community organization must have clear and straightforward membership and the requisite awareness and recognition from those members. The following non-exhaustive list denotes elements of straightforward membership definitions: fees, skill and/or accreditation-requirements, privileges or benefits entitled to members, certifications aligned with community goals etc

  2. Organized: The Community organization must administer its members with documented evidence of community activities

  3. Community organization must relate to music in a non-tangential or non-peripheral manner.

  4. Membership aligns with the Nexus of the Community and the String, which is explicitly relevant to music. Any tangential or implicit associations with the Nexus of the Community and the String will not be regarded as a delineated membership since it would be considered unclear, dispersed or unbound. Such an unclear, dispersed or unbound tangential relationship would not constitute a qualifying membership of an accredited MCMO and would be ineligible for registration.

  5. Community organization activities are aligned with the .MUSIC Mission and Purpose.

  6. Total membership is of non-negligible size.

  7. Total membership geographic dispersion is either international or national (i.e. organizations with merely local memberships do not qualify).

  8. Forward-looking longevity: Membership pursuits are of a lasting, non-transient nature (i.e. will continue to exist in the future).

  9. Membership activities must be involved in the legal production and/or the distribution and/or the promotion of music (i.e. related to music).

  10. The Community organization’s functions must legally comply with the string’s regulated sector in relation to copyright and clearly abide to the sector’s clearly, delineated systems to ensure fair compensation and proper allocation of royalties to Community rights holders.

As an option to offer .MUSIC domains directly to its membership, a MCMO may also become an authorized and legitimate reseller of .MUSIC domains through an ICANN-accredited registrar.

Why is Music a Community?

Music is a Community not a commodity. Without the people producing, distributing and promoting music there would be no music as we know it. The ecosystem in which the Community operates in is regulated by government because music is an intangible asset that is entitled to protections and a safe environment through which music is produced, distributed, promoted and consumed.

For the people who write or perform music, as well as the professionals and organizations that support and serve their artistic and business interests, the Internet has been both a blessing and a curse. While the Internet has enabled an increased opportunity for legitimate services to distribute music, rogue sites operators have utilized the Internet DNS to “share” music illegally. The ability to transmit music as files through the Internet has enabled widespread abuse of the intellectual property rights of individuals and companies, to the extent that revenues from music have declined approximately overwhelmingly. While the promotional opportunity of the Internet is undeniable it has been offset dramatically by devastating financial losses. Whether those financials losses will rebound is yet to be seen. This is why the .music domain is critically important to the Community as well as those who will be relying on a safe haven for legal music consumption on the Internet. It is clear that the global Public Interest that the .music is operated and managed under multi-stakeholder community-based effort with accountability towards the Community and a Policy Advisory Board to advise to benefit the string and ensure its launch and maintenance benefits the Community and is a socially-responsible endeavor.

“Music” is defined by popular dictionaries as the “the art of combining sounds rhythmically, melodically and harmonically”. The people who write, record, perform, promote, distribute and sell music have a requisite awareness between them as a recognized community. “Music” clearly delineates what they do, as opposed to any other activity.  The Music Community Member Organizations that have united in common purpose to support the launch of a trusted .music string represent nearly 100% of all music activity in the world relating to the legal production, distribution and promotion of music globally. This is a Community whose royalty rates are regulated by governments and seeks to ensure that the .music top level domain will not be used in a manner that harms the legitimate interests of the Community. This Community is defined and united by its interest in protecting copyright and promoting a safe environment in which music can be produced, distributed, promoted and enjoyed. Individuals, companies or organizations that do not respect copyright or intellectual property rights are not considered by this strictly delineated Community to be a part of it. The .music TLD serves is restricted to only members of this Community. As a result, Registrants will be required to have a clear and straight-forward membership with the Community which is defined as a strictly delineated and organized, logical alliance of communities of similar nature related to music (“Music Community Member Organizations”) who take an active role in representing the Community serving in their best interest.

The objectives and interests of the music community are well-defined, unique and set-apart from others who interact with music, particularly from those who seek to illegally exploit and profit from music or those who merely consume it and have no particular business or artistic interest in it. Its interest in the legal and legitimate distribution of music makes this a unique, definable Community. Given the semantic and cultural significance of the .music string it is indisputable that it deserves a “community” priority designation because it serves only this substantial, well-established sector and limits registrations to bona-fide members of it with an invoked membership with recognized and relevant Music Community Member Organization(s), which form the clearly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities of similar nature relating to music.

 

What was the rationale and process at arriving at the definition of the Community: The Community “is a strictly delineated and organized community of individuals, organizations and business, a logical alliance of communities of similar nature that relate to music”? (See Question 20a and 20f)

The rationale and process at arriving at the definition of Community was based on the seismic shift the Community has experienced with the advent of the Internet and the Domain Name System, which dramatically shifted the way the Community interacted and affected how the Community operates in profound ways.

As a result of Internet the Community has become more organic, creating a logical alliance of strictly delineated and organized communities related to music. For example, a formal membership with Myspace in the form of an account revolutionized the way how the Community interacted with their fans. With a press of a button the Community and their fans could became members of a strictly delineated Myspace community and interact with each other in an engaging manner. This Direct-to-Fan and music democratization phenomenon was further strengthened with:

  • The advent of digital files (such as MP3s) which could be easily distributed and sold on a global scale at negligible cost,
  • Technological advances and exponential in the home and semi-professional recording studios that have made music creation and production affordable.
  • Faster Internet speeds and lower costs for accessing the Internet
  • Lower bandwidth costs also paved way in new opportunities and rich media formats for music promotion and engagement with fans, such as online video which spurring new revenue models such as revenue sharing in advertising such as through the clearly delineated and organized community of Youtube membership accounts approaching 1 billion. The Community can invoke a formal membership with Youtube and monetize their videos through advertising revenue-sharing. Each Community member’s intellectual property is identified with the appropriate rights holders attributed to each song and rights holders are paid appropriately based on number of plays.
  • Invoking formal memberships with such strictly delineated Internet communities related to music has strengthened the clear delineation and organization of the Community making it more democratic, transparent and more importantly trackable. Every Community member can now track each individual song with great accuracy and use big data in insightful new ways. In this new interconnected and strictly delineated ecosystem the Community can now unlock new value and compete on a global level given the lower barriers to entry.
  • Fans now also play a leading role in both the consumption and the marketing of music. In fact,
  • Streaming radio (Pandora, Spotify, Rdio). iTunes size world’s largest retailed eclipsing the traditional bricks and mortar stores which are slowly become extinct.
  • iTunes and its association as the largest retailer with majority. Amazon second. Digital distributors responsible for getting music on digital retailers and music radio stations. Also responsible to identify and compensate rights owners every time a sale is generated or song is streamed. Soundexchange and Pandora.
  • Search engines, discovery and sharing – Delineated and structured. New key performance indicators such as number of fans or shares or plays (new currency – not just sales).

This was a salient shift away from the highly controlled way in which music once operated. In effect, this marked the re-birth of the Community in the truest sense of the word, shifting away from monopolized power structures by creating a truly networked Community of music makers connected to their fans.

The Community has been transformed substantially because of the Internet and new technological innovations related to the digital revolution and social networking:

  • The music market experienced much more product diversity (see Chris Anderson’s Long Tail at: http://wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html) since music maker and music lovers could now interact with each other without the ‘forced’ mediation of parties who benefitted from the filtering process that they kept in place.
  • Drawbacks: 1998 DMCA copyright infringement, rampant piracy, proliferation of rogue sites and absence of legal online stores. Loopholes in DMCA.
  • Copyright law was instantly outdated, prompting a major legislative overhaul in the US (for more info go to http://www.loc.gov/crb/proceedings/2006-3/and http://www.loc.gov/crb/proceedings/2006-3/riaa-exo-103-dp.pdf).
  • The evaluation/selection process of music itself is now much more democratized; the days are over when the DJs and VJs at the major broadcasting stations were the single voice that mattered in how music was valued. Today the Internet is a massive space for evaluation by the masses. The Community’s engagement, interactions and operations have changed significantly as a direct result of the advent of the Internet in an environment where the collective Community voice rather than the voice of the few are now able to make a difference that matters in music, its distribution and consumption (Joeri Merijn Mol, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Management and Marketing, http://www.managementmarketing.unimelb.edu.au/who/staff.cfm?StaffId=145. 2012).
  • Overlapping representation and proliferation of formal memberships with strictly delineated communities to fulfill differentiated roles with regards to production, distribution, marketing and consumption of music. e.g Youtube. In addition, the fan has now become the funder of both Community members (Kickstarter and PledgeMusic and IndieGoGo)
  • Transience into the future and forward thinking. Traditional retailers and forms of distribution and promotion have changed. Even new uses of copyright e.g where fan promotes (plays). Fans generate more revenues for rightsholders for video than the official videos.
  • Youtube’s Partner Program enables over 1 million creators to earn money from their YouTube videos. Thousands of these channels are making six figures a year. In terms of strict delineation and organization Youtube uses 25 million reference files in its Content ID database which identifies the appropriate rights holder to be compensated for each corresponding music video that is played 9even if fan uploads it gets identified). This structured system can be leveraged as a benefit for members for establishing a formal membership account with Youtube and agreeing to a strict terms of service that confirms that the member uploading, identifying their copyright with Content ID using standard meta data is the lawful rights holder. Content ID has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for partners. YouTube is localized in 61 countries and across 61 languages.
  • The “music” category and music-related keywords (such as those containing the words “music” and “lyrics” or music artist names) are the most searched-for generic terms on the Internet. Lyricfind powers Shazam.
  • Music on Youtube – a site with 1 billion monthly active users[1] – experiences 38.4% of all Youtube views.[2]
  • In regards to paid and non-paid users on the Internet, “music” takes the top spot with companies such as iTunes (over 26m songs[3] and 575m active users[4]), Pandora (72.4m active users), Spotify (6m paid subscribers, 24 million active users, in 35 countries), [5] Deezer (5m paid subscribers[6] )and Shazam with 86m active users[7]).

PROCESS AND RATIONALE USED IN ARRIVING AT THE EXPRESSION OF SUPPORT

The DotMusic Mission, as expressed in response to question 18, is to (i) create a trusted, safe online haven for music consumption & licensing, (ii) establish a safe home on the Internet for Music Community members regardless of locale or size, (iii) protecting intellectual property and fight piracy, (iv) support musicians’ welfare, rights and fair compensation, (v) promote music and the arts, cultural diversity & music education, and (vi) follow a multi-stakeholder approach of fair representation of all types of global music constituents, including a rotating regional Advisory Committee Board working in the Community’s best interest, including both reaching commercial and non-commercial stakeholders.

To be aligned with its Mission, DotMusic has focused on expressions of support that cover an all-inclusive global, balanced and multi-stakeholder representation of the Community, as delineated in response to question 20(a), that collectively represents the majority of the recognized Community by size.

The size of the Community relates to the total number of constituents represented or covered by the recognized institutions, federations, associations, organizations, Coalitions or any other music entities that have expressed their support.

It is crucial to mention that the rational and process used was based on the common particularities and activities shared of the Community as defined in the Application and their symbiotic relationship. In nearly all cases, a single Community member can have formal membership with at least one relevant and recognized institution of considerable size. For example, a Community member seeking to monetize music videos would likely have a formal membership with Youtube to associate their unique copyrights with a unique Content ID identifying the Community member as the rights holder. Every time the corresponding video is viewed, it is tracked and then it associated with the formal member rights holder who is compensated appropriately through advertising revenue sharing. The same Community member may also have a formal membership with a performance rights organization, or be a formal member of a music union, or be a formal member of a digital distributor (that converts, identifies and distributes member content on legal retailers and streaming music providers. Every time the member’s unique content is streamed or sold, the digital distributor tracks, accounts and then compensates the rights holder identified. Other members may belong to numerous trade associations that could be national or international in scope.

In other words formal memberships in nearly all cases overlap so requiring expressed letters of support or non-opposition from every eligible MCMO listed would be redundant, especially since the expressed letters of support currently comprise of a substantial majority of the members that the overall community defines. Furthermore, the Application of the defined Community did not receive any Community Objection or any opposition of reasoned nature consistent by a relevant organization of non-negligible size relating to the Application’s enhanced safeguards, music-focused policies, multi-stakeholder Policy Advisory Board inclusion, and eligibility criteria. This is because the Application offers more enhanced safeguards than any other Applicant tailored to match the common needs of the defined Community without any anti-competitive discrimination and regardless of size, local and type. All of the qualified strictly delineated and organized MCMOs that are listed (link) correspond to over 99.9% of Community members as defined in the Application relating to music production, distribution, promotion and consumption.

DotMusic’s Mission, rationale and bottom-up, all inclusive multi-stakeholder process in obtaining expressed support has been conducted and executed to eliminate the likelihood of material detriment to the rights or legitimate interests of a significant portion of the Community to which .MUSIC may be explicitly or implicitly targeted. DotMusic’s Mission, support rationale and process has also taken into consideration objectives relating to competition, innovation and enhanced safeguards in intellectual property protection, security and safety, which are consistent with not only ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments but also the Basic Principles of the “vital importance of transparency, openness and nondiscrimination” expressed by the WIPO-led International Music Registry (with participants including music stakeholder groups RIAA, IFPI, SCAPR, ACTRA, SAMRO, IRSC, ECAD and CIAM).

The total expressions of support vary and are far-reaching, multi-stakeholder representative and balanced, including: (i) the only recognized federation representing national members from over 70 countries comprised of governments’ Ministries of Culture and Arts Councils covering all continents, (ii) an association representing a global network of 40 member music information centers in 37 countries which document and promote the music from our time, (iii) all the major digital distributors and aggregators representing the vast majority of all global digital music sold on iTunes (the world’s largest digital music retailer with 70% market share) and other popular legal music download stores, (iv) country-focused Music Coalitions, comprised of recognized associations and organizations representing the interests of Community members from those countries and regions, (v) multiple music export offices responsible for the export of music from their country/territory internationally (vi) global online music communities totaling millions of artists and music professionals, (vii) organization focused on licensing lyrics (one of the most searched terms on the Internet) online that represent over 2,000 music publishers, including all four major publishers (EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music Publishing, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing), (viii) music professionals’ associations, guilds and other professional member-based organizations, (ix) music technology companies, (x) other music-related recognized institutions, (xi) social media participation totaling over 5 million participants across the DotMusic social profiles//accounts, (xii) over 1.5 million supporters from over 50 countries signing the .MUSIC Initiative petition to launch the .MUSIC TLD, and many more.

An example that illustrates that DotMusic represents the majority of the Community is the TuneCore support letter for DotMusic by founder Jeff Price, one of leaders in the music space and Community. Note the letter represents the support and opinion of Jeff Price/TuneCore and showcases the new Internet landscape and its relation to the Community moving forward:

“To Whom It May Concern

I am writing regarding the .MUSICinitiative’s music-themed top level domain submission to ICANN. There has been a significant shift in the music industry in the last decade. The majority of music being released, distributed, bought, shared, streamed is being created outside of the “traditional” industry.

As one example, TuneCore distributes between 15,000 – 20,000 newly recorded releases a month, this is more music being distributed monthly than all the major labels combined in 100 years. TuneCore’s customers are the artists as record label, songwriter, publisher and performer – none of the artist customers are members of the RIAA.

Over the past 3 years, the TuneCore customer base has sold over 600 million units of music generating over $300 million dollars in gross music sales representing over 60% of all new music sales. This market share continues to grow significantly quarterly. In addition, many of TuneCore’s artist customers dominate the iTunes, Amazon and other music retail charts outselling and out earning well over 98% of major label releases.

An important point to reiterate, not a single one of TuneCore’s hundreds of thousands artist customers are a member of or are affiliated with the RIAA. The voice of the RIAA is not the voice of the artist or of the new music industry.

The RIAA no longer represents the music industry. Fortunately, or unfortunately, its members have been disintermediated. As a trade group, it represents a minority section of the new industry that diminishes daily. It has no right or legitimacy to control a .MUSIC domain. Further, if it did, it would harm the existing new industry while decreasing competition while working against the interests of the very artists it claims to serve”

(See 20f, Letter of Support by Tunecore).

The process by which DotMusic has received its support is through its global communication outreach campaign. Pursuant to its Mission, DotMusic has been conducting extensive outreach to the Community since 2008 to brand itself and its mission to convey the benefits of .MUSIC and requesting Community support letters. Since 2008 DotMusic has led Music Community efforts to the ICANN community through dedicated participation at ICANN meetings and other DNS/new TLD related events. The Music Community Member Organization (MCMO) domain allocation method during the Landrush phase was created by DotMusic to allow Community members to register through established Community organizations. During the General Registration phase the TLD is open to all Community members for registration but also restricted by Eligibility, Use and other Policies, including enhanced safeguards. DotMusic has been a strong Community supporter and participant as demonstrated in its ongoing efforts to build a sustainable TLD with policies dedicated to match the needs of the Community using a multi-stakeholder model, while ensuring it is implemented in a manner fulfilling DNS and ICANN technical, political and legal requirements.

DotMusic has publicly branded itself in an open, transparent and accessible manner through differentiated .MUSIC-related sites, social media, online marketing and through tens of thousands of web discussions/media mentions. Over 1,500,000 have signed the .MUSIC Initiative petition; over 5 million have liked/followed DotMusic in popular social media sites; and a significant number of leading mCMOs have signed support/interest letters as shown in response to this question.

Other activities include sponsorships of Community events such as SxSW, Midem, Billboard, CMJ, Digital Music Forum, SF Music Tech, SoundCtrl, Social Media Week, ASCAP Expo, Popkomm, Miami Music Festival, Future of Music Policy Summit, Bandwidth, New Music Park Thing and others.

Social Media presence includes:

While social media numbers do not explicitly translate into expressed support, the intent of the participants is interest in the .MUSIC TLD and engagement with the .MUSIC brand trademarked by DotMusic in over 30 countries and regions.

DotMusic also branded itself through earned media including:

  • Forbes, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, World Trademark Review (www.music.us/news.htm), other mainstream publications, online press and thousands of blogs and social media mentions
  • Google and Bing search engines have ranked the official DotMusic site (www.music.us) on the top of search engine results for the term “music” ((#23 Google, #25 Bing – March 6th, 2012), one of the most competitive keyword terms on the web according to Google Adwords (277 million global searches on Google, costing advertisers over $9k a day in clicks – www.music.us/adwords/google-adwords-keyword-music.jpg). The official DotMusic site ranks on the top of both Google’s and Bing’s search engines for terms such as “dotmusic”, “dot music”, “music domain”, “music TLD”, “music gTLD”, “music top-level domain”, “music generic top level domain” (www.music.us/seo)

A complete list of events relating to the ongoing outreach campaign can be found on www.music.us/events.htm

DotMusic will continue its active outreach and participation efforts in the Community and anticipates receipt of additional support letters from Community members throughout and beyond the ICANN TLD evaluation process.

With respect to “Support,” DotMusic has received documented support from the only international Federation of government ministries of culture agencies and arts councils representing the Music Community, namely arts and culture in general. The Federation’s mission is strongly aligned with the DotMusic Mission as described in Question 18 and will assist in the outreach effort to protect geographiccountry names, as described in the response to Question 22 relating to Government Advisory Committee(GAC) advice, and the promotion of international music, diversity and arts culture from these countries.

DotMusic will be working closely with the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, with national members from over 70 countries comprised of governments’ Ministries of Culture and Arts Councils covering all continents, to ensure country names protection and the promotion of government related cultural and music initiatives. Strategic partners include UNESCO, African Arts Institute, Asia-Pacific Regional Centre of the Culturelink Network, European League of Institutes of the Arts, European Research Institute for Comparative Cultural Policy and the Arts, European Commission Directorate General Education & Culture, Fundació Interarts, International Conference on Cultural Policy Research, International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts, International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, International Network for Cultural Diversity, ISPA – International Society for the Performing Arts Foundation, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Organization of American States, Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa, Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, United Cities and Local Governments.

Is there a list of all the MCMOs – “the strictly delineated, organized and logical alliance of individuals, organizations and business of similar nature related to music” (i.e the Community defined in the Application) that comprise “a majority of the overall Community addressed?”

Yes. The MCMO list can be found at https://music.us//community

Can MCMOs – the strictly delineated, organized and logical alliance of individuals, organizations and business of similar nature related to music” (i.e the Community defined in the Application) that comprise “a majority of the overall Community addressed overlap and have invoked memberships with multiple MCMOs?”

MCMO formal memberships in nearly all cases overlap because of the common particularities and activities shared of the Community defined and their symbiotic relationship. For example, a Community member seeking to monetize music videos would likely have a formal membership with Youtube to associate their unique copyrights with a unique Content ID identifying the Community member as the rights holder. Every time the corresponding video is viewed, it is tracked and then it associated with the formal member rights holder who is compensated appropriately through advertising revenue sharing. The same Community member may also have a formal membership with a performance rights organization, or be a formal member of a music union, or be a formal member of a digital distributor (that converts, identifies and distributes member content on legal retailers and streaming music providers. Every time the member’s unique content is streamed or sold, the digital distributor tracks, accounts and then compensates the rights holder identified. Other members may belong to numerous trade associations that could be national or international in scope.

A formal membership must be demonstrated under at least one MCMO for eligibility.

Name Selection (1 point)

Do the Application policies include name selection rules?

According to Application:

The Names Selection Policy ensures only music-related names are registered as domains under .MUSIC, with the following restrictions:

1)     A name of (entire or portion of) the musician, band, company, organization, e.g. the registrants “doing business as” name

2)     An acronym representing the registrant

3)     A name that recognizes or generally describes the registrant, or

4)     A name related to the mission or activities of the registrant”

(Application, Question 18b iv and 20e)

The Name Selection Policy also covers the music Globally Protected Marks List (GPML):

“Globally Protected Marks List (GPML) will ensure major music brands and established artists, such as RIAA-certified platinum-selling bands, are protected not cybersquatted. These are reserved at all times.”

(Application, Question 18b iv and 20e)

“Applicants “can not register a domain containing an established music brand’s name in bad faith that might be deemed confusing to Internet users and the Music Community”  

(Application, Question 20e)

There are also general ICANN-mandated Name Selection rules with respect to the Trademark Clearing House:

“Trademark Clearing House and its notification mechanisms will be implemented in accordance to ICANN specifications.”

(Application, Question 20e)

There are also general ICANN-mandated Name Selection rules with respect to the Geographic Names:

“In correspondence with GAC principle 2.7, DotMusic will block all country and territory names as registrations under .MUSIC. To accomplish this DotMusic will prior to launch (i) place the names on a reserved list that can solely be released as second-level registrations under .MUSIC by an agreement with the respective country or territory and with ICANN; and (ii) include in its registration policies that country and territory names are prohibited at lower levels.

The names reserved as country and territory names will correspond to the requirements in the ICANN Registry Agreement Specification 5, paragraph 5; and paragraph 2 where all two-character labels will be reserved for registration to ensure that any release of such names is done to the appropriate corresponding country or territory and thereby avoid user confusion.” “The release of a two-character, country, or territory name as second level registration under .MUSIC will be done in agreement with the corresponding country or territory, ICANN. DotMusic will define a procedure so that governments can request the above reserved domain(s) if they would like to take possession of them. This procedure will be based on existing methodology developed for the release of country names in the .INFO TLD. For example, we will require a written request from the country’s GAC representative, or a written request from the country’s relevant Ministry or Department. We will allow the designated beneficiary (the Registrant) to register the name, with an accredited Afilias Registrar, possibly using an authorization number transmitted directly to the designated beneficiary in the country concerned.”

(Application, Question 22)

Are name selection rules consistent with the articulated community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD and consistent with the Application’s Mission statement?

To fulfill the requirements for Name Selection, the registration policies for name selection for registrants must be consistent with the articulated community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD. The application demonstrates adherence to this requirement by specifying that naming restrictions be specifically tailored to meet the needs of the defined Community. The naming selection rules also harness a naming process that promotes higher accurateness and relevancy when describing the Community member and/or direct relationship with music activities, while maintaining the integrity of the registry and ensuring that domain names meet numerous technical requirements and enhanced safeguards to protect intellectual property and prevent cybersquatting that exists within the Community with other “open” strings such as .COM, .NET or ORG.

The name selection rules prevent registrants from registering popular artist names in bad faith without having any affiliation or relationship with the artist. This rule is also aligned with Eligibility to promote trusted authentication of Community members and prevent Community members from registering names that they have no affiliation with. This also mitigates the likelihood of confusion that could arise if registrants were able to register others’ name even if they are used in good faith. The Mission Statement is consistent with these Name Selection policies since it enables music rights holders (with a related trademarked name, and/or brand name, and/or “Doing Business As” name, and/or acronym name and/or or “Also Known As” name) to have better control of their names with less fear that unrelated 3rd-parties would register them.

The purpose of the Name Selection policy is align with the Mission Statement and ensure that a .music domain name registered with the most relevant and transparent name to describe the registrant to:

  1. Improve identification;
  2. Prevent malicious behavior (by registering a domain name in bad-faith or to purposely confuse users); and
  3. Eliminate the possibility of cybersquatting famous brand names (if a domain name registered is identical or creates a high likelihood of confusion with name(s) in the music Globally Protected Marks List [GPML]). (“Name Selection”)

Content and Use (1 point)

 

Do the Application policies include Content and Use rules?

According to the Application:

Use Policy:

This policy is in place for .MUSIC registrants regardless of the applicable launch phase. It is developed with extensive participation of Music Community members; tailored to meet the specific needs of the Music Community; and solve issues currently existing in the Music Community related to intellectual property infringement and malicious conduct.

The policy is incorporated in the registration agreement for all .MUSIC registrants. DotMusic may modify or revise these use policies at any time. Registrants agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions. Registrants that do not accept and abide by the registration agreement are disqualified from domain registrations.

The following use requirements apply:

  • Use only for music-related activities
  • Comply with applicable laws and regulations and not participate in, facilitate, or further illegal activities
  • Do not post or submit content that is illegal, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of anotherʹs privacy, or tortious
  • Respect the intellectual property rights of others by posting or submitting only content that is owned, licensed, or otherwise have the right to post or submit
  • Immediately notify us if there is a security breach, other member incompliance or illegal activity on .MUSIC sites
  • Do not register a domain containing an established music brand’s name in bad faith that might be deemed confusing to Internet users and the Music Community
  • Do not use any automated process to access or use the .MUSIC sites or any process, whether automated or manual, to capture data or content from any service for any reason
  • Do not use any service or any process to damage, disable, impair, or otherwise attack .MUSIC sites or the networks connected to .MUSIC sites

(Application, Question 20e)

Parking Pages:

DotMusic will prohibit the use of parked pages. .MUSIC sites will be subject to the content and use restrictions described in response to question 18b and question 20e. Parked sites can only be used as temporary pages assigned to a domain at the time of registration and stay in place until the registrant has a website developed and ready to go live in a reasonable time period.

(Application, Question 18c)

Are Use and Content rules consistent with the articulated community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD and consistent with the Application’s Mission statement?

According to the Application:

“The .MUSIC Mission⁄Purpose is:

  • Creating a trusted, safe online haven for music consumption & licensing
  • Establishing a safe home on the Internet for Music Community (ʺCommunityʺ) members regardless of locale or size
  • Protecting intellectual property & fighting piracy
  • Supporting Musiciansʹ welfare, rights & fair compensation
  • Promoting music and the arts, cultural diversity & music education
  • Following a multi-stakeholder approach of fair representation of all types of global music constituents, including a rotating regional Advisory Committee Board working in the Community’s best interest

.MUSIC will effectively differentiate itself by addressing the key online usage issues of safety, trust, consistency, brand recognition as well as communicate site subject-matter: music-related content. The TLD will be exclusive to the Community and will incorporate enhanced safeguards and Use policies to protect creators, intellectual property and rights holders..MUSIC will effectively differentiate itself by addressing the key online usage issues of safety, trust, consistency, brand recognition as well as communicate site subject-matter: music-related content.”

(Application, Question 18a)

To fulfill the requirements for Content and Use, the registration policies must include rules for content and use for registrants that are consistent with the articulated community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD. The application demonstrates adherence to this requirement by specifying that the second-level domain names are restricted to music-related content. The second-level domains do not provide content that is inconsistent with the Mission/Purpose of the gTLD since they can only provide content that is consistent with the mandate of the gTLD, with prohibitions on the inclusion of illegal content and abusive or malicious activities. All music-related content contained in the second-level domain must be owned by the registrant. Second-level domains containing copyright and trademark infringing content related to music or other regulated, creator industries is strictly prohibited since the Mission/Purpose is to create a “trusted, safe online haven for music consumption and licensing, ” “establishing a safe home… for the Community,” “protecting intellectual property and fighting piracy” and support rights holder “fair compensation.”

The purpose of the Content and Use policy is to ensure alignment with the Mission Statement and that .music domains are only used for legal “music-related” activities and licensed “music-related” content (i.e the Registrant owns the rights of the content published, or has the legal authority to publish the content, or has licensed the content published.) The Content and Use policy focuses on facilitating a trusted, safe haven for legal consumption relating to music which ensures rights holders have control of their works and are fairly compensated. This means unlicensed content, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, malicious behavior, and abusive activity are strictly prohibited.

 

Enforcement (1 point)

Do the policies including specific enforcement measures constituting a coherent set with appropriate appeals mechanisms?

According to the Application:

Compliance & Enforcement: DotMusic will take proactive and reactive measures to enforce its Policies. Proactive measures are taken at the time of registration. Reactive measures are addressed via compliance and enforcement mechanisms and through dispute processes.

Allegation that a domain is not used for legitimate music purposes or otherwise infringes on Policies shall be enforced under the provisions of the .MUSIC Policy & Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (ʺMPCIDRPʺ).

The MPCIDRP is not a replacement for alleged violation of the UDRP⁄URS⁄PDDRP⁄RRDRP, which shall be enforced under the provisions contained therein.

The DRPʹs are required in the registrarsʹ registration agreements with registrants. Proceedings must be brought by interested 3rd-parties in accordance with associated policies and procedures to dispute resolution providers. DotMusic will conduct random compliance checks across all the .MUSIC Policies. Periodically a sample of .MUSIC registrations will be verified for compliance with all established Policies.

If a registrant is found out of compliance with any of the .MUSIC Policies the registrant will be notified that the domain will be placed on registry lock. The registrant will have a reasonable time period to fix the compliance matter or the domain will be terminated. Repeat offenders of Policies will be placed on a special monitoring list that DotMusic will conduct additional compliance checks against. DotMusic holds the right to prohibit repeat offenders from registering .MUSIC domains for a period of time or indefinitely. DotMusic will review all policies and processes on a regular basis with involvement from the .MUSIC Advisory Committee and discussed publicly at Community events.

(Application, Question 18b)

DotMusic will take proactive and reactive measures to enforce its TLD policies. Proactive measures are taken at the time of registration. Reactive measures are addressed via compliance and enforcement mechanisms and through dispute processes.

Any violation of the .MUSIC Policies will be enforced on a case-by-case, fact-specific basis:

  1. Any allegation that a domain is not used for legitimate music purposes or otherwise infringes on the .MUSIC Policies shall be enforced under the provisions of the .MUSIC Policy & Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (ʺMPCIDRPʺ)
  2. Any alleged violation of the UDRP shall be enforced under the provisions contained therein, as modified by the URS.

The MPCIDRP, UDRP, and URS are required in the registrarsʹ registration agreements with registrants. Proceedings under the MPCIDRP, UDRP, and URS must be brought by interested third parties in accordance with the associated policies and procedures. DotMusic will conduct random compliance efforts across all the .MUSIC Policies. Periodically a sample of .MUSIC registrations will be verified for compliance with all established .MUSIC Policies.

If a Registrant is found out of compliance with any of the .MUSIC Policies the registrant will be notified that the domain will be placed on registry lock. The registrant will have a reasonable time period to fix the compliance matter or the domain will be terminated. Repeat offenders will be placed on a special monitoring list that DotMusic staff will conduct additional compliance checks against. DotMusic holds the right to prohibit repeat offenders from registering .MUSIC domains for a period of time or indefinitely.

DotMusic will review all policies and processes on a regular basis with involvement from the .MUSIC Advisory Committee and will present them publicly to enable Music Community constituents to provide feedback. DotMusic will also conduct registrar and registrant surveys based on the level of registrant satisfaction concerning .MUSIC usability and how to improve value proposition.

DotMusic reserves the right to deny, cancel or transfer any registration that it deems necessary, in its discretion, to protect the integrity and stability of the registry, to comply with any applicable laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement, in compliance with any dispute resolution process, or to avoid any liability, civil or criminal, on the part of DotMusic, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors and employees. DotMusic reserves the right to freeze a domain during resolution of a dispute. DotMusic reserves the right to terminate a domain for failure by the registrant to demonstrate it meets .MUSIC policies.

(Application, Question 20e)

DotMusic will implement multiple dispute resolution policies to address dispute over any names not reserved by the above provisions; see response to question #20e and #28 and #29. In particular all domains awarded to registrants are subject to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), and to any properly-situated court proceeding. DotMusic will ensure appropriate procedures to allow governments, public authorities or IGO’s to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level. DotMusic will institute a provision in the registry-registrar agreements and the registrar-registrant agreements, to suspend domains names in the event of a dispute. DotMusic may exercise that right in the case of a dispute over a geographic name.

(Application, Question 22)

DotMusic, working with Afilias, will take the requisite operational and technical steps to promote WHOIS data accuracy, limit domain abuse, remove outdated and inaccurate data, and other security measures to ensure the integrity of the TLD. The specific measures include, but are not limited to:

  • Posting a TLD Anti-Abuse Policy that clearly defines abuse, and provide point-of-contact information for reporting suspected abuse;
  • Committing to rapid identification and resolution of abuse, including suspensions;
  • Ensuring completeness of WHOIS information at the time of registration;
  • Performing data validations of WHOIS elements at time of registration and exploring mechanisms for re-evaluation when registrants update such information;
  • Publishing and maintaining procedures for removing orphan glue records for names removed from the zone,
  • Introducing the .MUSIC Policy & Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (ʺMPCIDRPʺ) to ensure eligibility requirements, use and naming policies as established in response to question #20e, and;
  • Establishing measures to deter WHOIS abuse, including rate-limiting, determining data syntax validity, and implementing and enforcing requirements from the Registry-Registrar Agreement.

The Abuse Policy stated below will be enacted under the contractual authority of the registry operator through the Registry-Registrar Agreement, and the obligations will be passed on to and made binding upon registrants. This policy will be posted on the TLD web site along with contact information for registrants or users to report suspected abuse. The policy is designed to address the malicious use of domain names. The registry operator and its registrars will make reasonable attempts to limit significant harm to Internet users. This policy is not intended to take the place of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) or the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS), and it is not to be used as an alternate form of dispute resolution or as a brand protection mechanism. Its intent is not to burden law-abiding or innocent registrants and domain users; rather, the intent is to deter those who use domain names maliciously by engaging in illegal or fraudulent activity.

Repeat violations of the Abuse policy will result in a case-by-case review of the abuser(s), and the registry operator reserves the right to escalate the issue, with the intent of levying sanctions that are allowed under the TLD anti-abuse policy.

.MUSIC Anti-Abuse Policy:

The following Anti-Abuse Policy is effective upon launch of the TLD. Malicious use of domain names will not be tolerated. The nature of such abuses creates security and stability issues for the registry, registrars, and registrants, as well as for users of the Internet in general. The registry operator definition of abusive use of a domain includes, without limitation, the following:

  • Illegal or fraudulent actions;
  • Spam: The use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages. The term applies to email spam and similar abuses such as instant messaging spam, mobile messaging spam, and the spamming of web sites and Internet forums;
  • Phishing: The use of counterfeit web pages that are designed to trick recipients into divulging sensitive data such as personally identifying information, usernames, passwords, or financial data;
  • Pharming: The redirecting of unknowing users to fraudulent sites or services, typically through, but not limited to, DNS hijacking or poisoning;
  • Willful distribution of malware: The dissemination of software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the ownerʹs informed consent. Examples include, without limitation, computer viruses, worms, keyloggers, and Trojan horses.
  • Malicious fast-flux hosting: Use of fast-flux techniques with a botnet to disguise the location of web sites or other Internet services, or to avoid detection and mitigation efforts, or to host illegal activities.
  • Botnet command and control: Services run on a domain name that are used to control a collection of compromised computers or ʺzombies,ʺ or to direct distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks);
  • Illegal Access to Other Computers or Networks: Illegally accessing computers, accounts, or networks belonging to another party, or attempting to penetrate security measures of another individualʹs system (often known as ʺhackingʺ). Also, any activity that might be used as a precursor to an attempted system penetration (e.g. port scan, stealth scan, or other information gathering activity).

Pursuant to the Registry-Registrar Agreement, registry operator reserves the right at its sole discretion to deny, cancel, or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain name(s) on registry lock, hold, or similar status, that it deems necessary:

  1. to protect the integrity and stability of the registry;
  2. to comply with any applicable laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement, or any dispute resolution process;
  3. to avoid any liability, civil or criminal, on the part of registry operator, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, and employees;
  4. per the terms of the registration agreement and this Anti-Abuse Policy, or
  5. to correct mistakes made by registry operator or any registrar in connection with a domain name registration. Registry operator also reserves the right to place upon registry lock, hold, or similar status a domain name during resolution of a dispute.

The policy stated above will be accompanied by notes about how to submit a report to the registry operator’s abuse point of contact, and how to report an orphan glue record suspected of being used in connection with malicious conduct (see below).

Abuse point of contact and procedures for handling abuse complaints:

The registry operator will establish an abuse point of contact. This contact will be a role-based e-mail address of the form “abuse@registry.MUSIC”. This e-mail address will allow multiple staff members to monitor abuse reports on a 24×7 basis, and then work toward closure of cases as each situation calls for. For tracking purposes, the registry operator will have a ticketing system with which all complaints will be tracked internally. The reporter will be provided with the ticket reference identifier for potential follow-up. Afilias will integrate its existing ticketing system with the registry operator’s to ensure uniform tracking and handling of the complaint. This role-based approach has been used successfully by ISPs, e-mail service providers, and registrars for many years, and is considered a global best practice.

The registry operator’s designated abuse handlers will then evaluate complaints received via the abuse system address. They will decide whether a particular issue is of concern, and decide what action, if any, is appropriate.

.MUSIC Community Specific Protections:

In protection of the interests of the Music Community, in line with the .MUSIC mission established in response to question #18, DotMUSIC reserves the right to deny, cancel, transfer and registration that it deems necessary, in its discretion, to protect the integrity and stability of the registry, to comply with ay applicable laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement agencies, in compliance with any dispute resolution process result, or to avoid any liability, civil, or criminal, on the part of the registry operator, its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, and employees. DotMusic reserves the right to lock a domain name during resolution of a dispute. DotMusic reserves the right to terminate a domain at any time for failure of the registrant to demonstrate that it meets all established requirements under .MUSIC policies.

.MUSIC has established specific protection mechanisms as described in the response to question #20e. As a means to cure any disputes concerning adherence to the .MUSIC requirements and policies, DotMUSIC is establishing the .MUSIC Policy & Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (ʺMPCIDRPʺ). All .MUSIC registrants will be bound by this policy by means of the .MUSIC Registration Agreement.

The MPCIDRP may be invoked by any third party in order to solve a dispute with a registrant over the registration or use of the registration in violation of the .MUSIC policies. A dispute filing can take place with any approved MPCIDRP dispute resolution provider and must specify how the domain name is in violation of the purposes contemplated by the definition and qualification of a .MUSIC. The details of the MPCIDRP will be published prior to the launch of .MUSIC. Details of the process, proceedings, and supplemental rules a complainant must follow will be developed in coordination with respective dispute resolution providers and it will also be published prior to launch of .MUSIC.

(Application Question 28)

Two conditions must be met to fulfill the requirements for Enforcement: the registration policies must include specific enforcement measures constituting a coherent set, and there must be appropriate appeals mechanisms. The Application includes specific enforcement measures constituting a coherent set and outlines the conditions that need to be met when registering, along with mitigation measures, such as investigation and termination of the domain name.

The applicant will commission a Registry Service Provider to validate a registrant’s eligibility for a domain and to act upon requests/complaints on the basis of its registration policies. The applicant will also provide an in-house validation agent in order to respond to cases of abuse and/or arising disputes.

The straight-forward membership of the Registrant is directly tied with music-focused Registration policies associated with .music. This assures that there is consistency and a matching alignment between the string and the Community defined to ensure that the .music domain Enforcement policies align with the Mission Statement and ensure the domain follows specific enforcement measures constituting a coherent set bound by the .MUSIC Policy and Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (“MPCIDRP”) which includes investigation, penalties and takedown processes if there is any illegal activity, copyright infringement or violations of any Registration Policies.

The Registry’s .MUSIC Policy and Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (MPCIDRP) incorporates a significant number of appropriate appeals mechanisms which demonstrate continuing accountability to the Community defined and are aligned with the community-based purpose and bound to all .music domain requirements and policies. (Question 28: “As a means to cure any disputes concerning adherence to the .MUSIC requirements and policies, DotMUSIC is establishing the .MUSIC Policy & Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (ʺMPCIDRPʺ). All .MUSIC registrants will be bound by this policy by means of the .MUSIC Registration Agreement”). The MPCIDRP may be invoked by a 3rd-party filing a complaint with the appropriate Dispute Resolution Provider or the Registry according to the type of complaint. Appeals will be determined by processes filed with the Registry or the selected Dispute Resolution Providers (DRPs), such as the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Domain names in the TLD can be registered or reserved subject to eligibility or restriction requirements. This MPCIDRP describes standards that will be applied to resolve challenges to names registered in the TLD on the basis of failure to meet or maintain the eligibility or restriction criteria required by the Registry. This MPCIDRP will not be applied to Registry-reserved names in the TLD.

Enforcement Rules and Disputes Types:

A registered domain name in the TLD will be subject to an administrative proceeding upon submission of a complaint showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the registration was improper based on .music Policies and MPCIDRP rules.

1. Community “Eligibility” Restrictions for Registrants and MCMOs:

A complaint under this section shall be required to show that a registered domain name in the TLD does not comply with the provisions of the Registry’s Registration Eligibility criteria. The complaint must show:

At the time the challenged domain name was registered, the Registry’s registration “Eligibility” criteria were not met, including restrictions or requirements for maintaining the registration. The complainant must show that the Registrant is not a bona-fide member of the Music Community and does not have a formally, invoked membership with a .MUSIC-accredited Music Community Member Organization (referred to as “MCMOs”) as per the Registry’s definition of Community. The definition of the Community is a “clearly delineated and organized logical alliance of communities (referred to as “MCMOs”) of the same nature related to music.”

To qualify as a MCMO, the clearly delineated and organized Community organization applying must fulfill all these requirements and qualifications (These requirements were predominantly based on the AGB Community Priority Evaluation Guidelines criteria):

  1. Clear delineation: The Community organization must have clear and straightforward membership and the requisite awareness and recognition from those members. The following non-exhaustive list denotes elements of straightforward membership definitions: fees, skill and/or accreditation-requirements, privileges or benefits entitled to members, certifications aligned with community goals etc;
  2. Organized: The Community organization must administer its members with documented evidence of community activities;
  3. Community organization must relate to music in a non-tangential or non-peripheral manner;
  4. Membership aligns with the Nexus of the Community and the String, which is explicitly relevant to music. Any tangential or implicit associations with the Nexus of the Community and the String will not be regarded as a delineated membership since it would be considered unclear, dispersed or unbound. Such an unclear, dispersed or unbound tangential relationship would not constitute a qualifying membership of an accredited MCMO and would be ineligible for registration;
  5. Community organization activities are aligned with the .MUSIC Mission and Purpose;
  6. Total membership is of non-negligible size;
  7. Total membership geographic dispersion is either international or national (i.e. organizations with merely local memberships do not qualify);
  8. Forward-looking longevity: Membership pursuits are of a lasting, non-transient nature (i.e. will continue to exist in the future);
  9. Membership activities must be involved in the legal production and/or the distribution and/or the promotion of music (i.e. related to music); and
  10. The Community organization’s functions must legally comply with the string’s regulated sector in relation to copyright and clearly abide to the sector’s clearly, delineated systems to ensure fair compensation and proper allocation of royalties to Community rights holders.

The Community as defined is comprised of clearly delineated and organized MCMOs which were identified by the Registry to meet the Community-defined qualifications. A music organization can also apply to become a .MUSIC-accredited MCMO and must prove it fulfills MCMO qualification requirements.

The Complainant shall submit a copy of the Registry’s Eligibility criteria and show the absence of a clear and straightforward membership with the Registry’s defined Community with a Complaint based on MPCIDRP para. 2(a).

According to the Application, eligibility requires a formal membership with a delineated and organized:

Music Community Member Organization (MCMO) for registrants with demonstrated MCMO memberships.”

(Application Question 20e).

Registrants will be verified using Community-organized, unified “criteria taken from holistic perspective with due regard of Community particularities” that “invoke a formal membership” without discrimination, conflict of interest or “likelihood of material detriment to the rights and legitimate interests” of the Community.”

(Application Question 20e).

Furthermore, Registrants may not license, sub-delegate or otherwise transfer .music domain names to third parties that otherwise fail to meet the Registration Policy requirements.

2. “Name Selection” and “Globally Protected Marks List” (“GPML”) Restrictions:

A complaint under this section shall be required to show that a registered domain name in the TLD does not comply with the provisions of the Registry’s Name Selection Restrictions, including restrictions pertaining to famous music names under the music Globally Protected Marks List (GPML). The complaint may show:

After the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant failed to comply with the Registry’s Name Selection requirements and naming conditions for registration consistent with the Registry’s articulated community-based mission pertaining to increase trust, protect intellectual property, prevent user-confusion and eliminate malicious abuse. The Complainant shall submit a copy of the Registry’s Name Selection criteria with a Complaint based on MPCIDRP para. 2(b).

3) Community “Content and Use” Restrictions:

A complaint under this section shall be required to show that a registered domain name in the TLD does not comply with the provisions of the Registry’s “Content and Use” criteria. The complaint must show either:

  1. At the time the challenged domain name was registered, the Registry’s “Content and Use” criteria were not met; or
  2. After the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant failed to continue to comply with the Registry’s ongoing “Content and Use” restrictions or requirements for maintaining the registration.

The Complainant shall submit a copy of the Registry’s “Content and Use” criteria, including evidence regarding any requirement for the registrant to maintain the “Content and Use” restrictions, with a Complaint based on MPCIDRP para. 2(c).

Remedies and Appeal Mechanisms’ Processes:

The Remedies available to a complainant for a proceeding under the MPCIDRP include:

1)  Ineligibility at Registration:

If the Panel finds that the domain name was ineligible for registration under MPCIDRP 2(a) and MPCIDRP 2(c)(i), the sole remedy shall be cancellation of the registration and return of the cancelled domain name to the pool of available names available for registration in the TLD. If the Complainant independently qualifies to register the domain name, such application may be made via the standard registration process.

2) Improper Maintenance of Eligibility:

The remedies for a Complaint filed under MPCIDRP 2(b) and MPCIDRP 2(c) (ii) are either:

i. The Panel may allow the Respondent up to 14 days to bring the registration into compliance and submit proof of compliance and ongoing eligibility; and/or

ii. The Panel may order cancellation of the registration and return of the cancelled domain name to the pool of available names available for registration in the TLD. If the Complainant independently qualifies to register the domain name, such application may be made via the standard Registration process.

3) Appeal Processes:

The Appeals available to a complainant for a proceeding under this MPCIDRP include:

  1. an Appeal for Re-Instatement process filed with the Registry by a Registrant in which a registrant in violation must demonstrate they are in compliance with the Registration Rules; (See Application, Question 18b: “If a registrant is found out of compliance with any of the .MUSIC Policies the registrant will be notified that the domain will be placed on registry lock. The registrant will have a reasonable time period to fix the compliance matter or the domain will be terminated.”). This Registry determination decision can be appealed through an Appeal for Re-Instatement Re-Consideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider if the Registry failed to follow Registration Policy procedures;
  2. a DRP Procedural Re-Consideration Appeals Request process filed with the Registry against a determination if the Dispute Resolution Provider (DRP) failed to follow dispute resolution guidelines and rules;
  3. a GPML Appeal for Re-Instatement process filed with the Registry by a Registrant for a name relating to the Globally Protected Marks List (“GPML”). This Registry determination decision can be appealed through an “GPML Appeal for Re-Instatement” Re-Consideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider if the Registry failed to follow Registration Policy procedures;
  4. a Music Community Member Organization (MCMO) Eligibility Appeal process filed with the Registry by an organization which was denied qualification as a MCMO by the Registry. This Registry determination decision can be appealed through an “Music Community Member Organization (MCMO) Eligibility Appeal” Re-Consideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider if the Registry failed to follow MCMO Eligibility procedures;
  5. a Geographic Public Interest Appeal process filed with the Registry by governments/public authorities/IGOs to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance (See Application, Question 20e: “DotMusic will ensure appropriate procedures to allow governments, public authorities or IGO’s to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level”). This Registry determination decision can be appealed through a “Geographic Public Interest Appeal” Re-Consideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider if the Registry failed to follow Registration Policy procedures;
  6. a PAB Appeal process initiated by a majority of the Policy Advisory Board (PAB) for cases that substantially and negatively affect the objectives of the .MUSIC Registry filed with the Registry. The Registry can take action against a Registrant based on a unanimous decision by the PAB if registrant is determined to be in violation of the Registry’s policies. This PAB determination decision can be appealed through a “PAB Appeal” Re-Consideration Request process filed by a Registrant appealing a PAB Appeals determination; and
  7. A Civil Court Action filed in civil court under the appropriate national law of jurisdiction. Any legal decision by such a court supersedes any MPCIDRP Appeal or UDRP decision. No further action will be taken until the Registry receives (1) satisfactory evidence of a resolution or settlement between the parties; (2) satisfactory evidence that the lawsuit has been dismissed or withdrawn; or (3) a copy of an order from such court dismissing the lawsuit or stating that the domain name holder does not have the right to continue to use the domain name. ICANN-accredited domain name registrars, which have agreed to abide by UDRP and MPCIDRP decisions, must implement a decision after a period of ten days, unless the decision is appealed in court in that time. The panel decisions are mandatory in the sense that accredited registrars are bound to take the necessary steps to enforce a decision, such as transferring the name concerned. However, under the UDRP and MPCIDRP, either party retains the option to take the dispute to a court of competent jurisdiction for independent resolution.

Appeals processes which can be filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider include:

  1. an “Appeal for Re-Instatement” Re-Consideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider by a Registrant if the Registry failed to follow Registration Policy procedures;
  2. a “GPML Appeal for Re-Instatement” Re-Consideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider by a Registrant for a name relating to the Globally Protected Marks List (“GPML”);
  3. a “Geographic Public Interest Appeal” Re-Consideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider by governments/public authorities/IGOs to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance (See Application, Question 20e: “DotMusic will ensure appropriate procedures to allow governments, public authorities or IGO’s to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level”;
  4. a “PAB Appeal” Re-Consideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider by a Registrant appealing a PAB Appeals determination;
  5. a Copyright Infringement Appeal process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider by a Registrant relating to a copyright infringement takedown against a 3rd-party; and
  6. a “Music Community Member Organization (MCMO) Eligibility Appeal” Reconsideration Request process filed with the National Arbitration Forum dispute resolution provider by an organization which was denied qualification as a MCMO by the Registry.

While the Enforcement policies state the basic rules governing the .music Enforcement Policy, the finalized fully detailed specifics of the Enforcement policy (include the names of the Dispute Resolution Providers for disputes and appeals) will be announced prior to the launch of .MUSIC:

“The details of the MPCIDRP will be published prior to the launch of .MUSIC. Details of the process, proceedings, and supplemental rules a complainant must follow will be developed in coordination with respective dispute resolution providers and it will also be published prior to launch of .MUSIC.”

(Application, Question 28)

Registration policies are bound by the .MUSIC Policy and Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (“MPCIDRP”). The .MUSIC Registry’s MPCIDRP measures outline the conditions that need to be met when registering, including eligibility criteria, validation or verification, name selection rules, content and use restrictions and enforcement measures as well as condition that need to be met by Music Community Member Organizations (MCMOs) to qualify as a .MUSIC-Accredited music organization with Music Community members with a clear and straightforward membership. Any music organization with a tangential relationship with Music Community members does not fulfill the requirements to qualify as a .MUSIC-Accredited MCMO since the music organization would not have the requisite awareness and recognition from Music Community members. The .music Eligibility Requirements and Policies provide that an entity is ineligible as a Music Community Member because the unqualified entity would create a misalignment between the Music Community definition and the .MUSIC string. In short, entities with merely a tangential relationship with the string .music do not qualify as an eligible registrant.

Entities with merely a tangential relationship with the string .music are defined as entities who do not invoke a formal membership with the definition of the Community:

The strictly delineated and organized community of individuals, organizations and business, a logical alliance of communities [“MCMOs”] of similar nature that relate to music.

(Application, Definition of Community)

As per the Eligibility requirements and Policies, such an entity does not qualify as a Music Community member since there is misalignment between the Music Community (as defined by the Registry in its delineation description) and the .music string.

The MPCIDRP addresses disputes in relation to policies and mitigation measures. These measures include those pertaining to non-compliance with .MUSIC policies, such as rules with reference to domain name registrations (eligibility and name selection restrictions), rules on content and use (such as abuse and copyright infringement rules) and appropriate dispute resolution appeals mechanisms.

Registrants who do not prevail in a MPCIDRP Dispute Resolution will have a one-time opportunity to file a Re-consideration Request Appeal around the Policy decision. The Re-consideration appeal will be conducted by the Dispute Resolution Provider (DRP) and the Registry and must include a stated reason for request of re-consideration.

Any Registrant taken down or suspended for a Registry-related violation will also have the option to submit an Appeal for Re-Instatement if they remedy the non-compliance issue to comply with the .MUSIC policies.

DotMusic reserves the right to terminate a domain for failure by the registrant to demonstrate it meets established rules and requirements under .MUSIC Policies through this Appeals process.

When a domain name is terminated it is placed on hold under the Redemption Grace Period. During this period, a domain name is placed in the Pending Delete Restorable status. The domain name can remain in this state for up to 30 days and will not be included in the zone file.

The Appeal Process is a method that the original registrant can use at this stage to re-activate the domain name before it is released into the pool of available domains. During this period any requests to modify or otherwise update the domain will be rejected. If the registrant is successful in their Appeal the domain will be restored and it is moved into Pending Restore status and then OK status. If after 30 days there is no Appeal filed by the registrant then the domain is moved into Pending Delete Scheduled For Release status before the domain is released back into the pool of available domains. During the Pending Delete stage, a domain name is placed in Pending Delete Scheduled For Release status for 5 days, and all Internet services associated with the domain will remain disabled without any possibility of the domain to be restored. After 5 days the domain is released back into the pool of available domains.

Support

Is the community institution the clearly recognized representative of the community?

Does the applicant have support from at least one group of relevance to represent the community under the applied-for string?

Are there multiple organizations supporting the application with documented support from organizations representing a majority of the overall community addressed

Opposition

Does the Application have opposition that is deemed relevant?

About .MUSIC

What is .MUSIC?

Who is involved in the .MUSIC community-based  top-level domain effort?

Is .MUSIC also the name of the organization dedicated to the community applying for the community-based .music gTLD string?

What is the history of .MUSIC?

Activities, Outreach and Community-Based Representation

What documented community activities does .MUSIC have?

Why .MUSIC

Why is there a need for a .music community-based string?

What are the benefits of .music?

Premium Channels

What are the Premium Channels?

Who can register to the Premium Channels?

What are the Premium Channel benefits to .music registrants?

Why are the Premium Channels’ organization based on NAICS codes?

Song Registry

What is the Song Registry?

Why is a Song Registry needed?

Who can register to the Song Registry?

What are the Song Registry benefits to .music registrants?

Mission and Purpose

Music Community Member Organizations

What is the a Music Community Member Organization (MCMO)?

How do .MUSIC-accredited Music Community Member Organizations benefit the launch of .music?

What benefits do Music Community Member Organizations receive for becoming MCMO members?

 

Contention

 

 

Legal Rights Objections

 

 

Community Objections

 

 

Registration-related

 

 

Other

 

 

 

 

 

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