DotCoop Board Approves New Policies

On 31 March, 2008, the dotCoop Board of Managers approved two new policies to define broad support by dotCoop for pricing and domain use to encourage domain registration in the .coop domain. The policies approved by the Board were:

- .Coop Domains Bulk Registration Offer Policy
- .Coop Domain Name Category Policy

The .Coop Domains Bulk Registration Offer Policy openly encourages potential registrants and registrars to propose bulk pricing programs to encourage .coop registrations that may be affected by pricing.

The .Coop Domain Name Category Policy allows eligible co-operatives to submit proposals to .coop to allow registration and/or reservation of domain names with a particular structure. This will support co-operatives that want to work with an entire group of domains to create consumer recognition of the name structure. Proposals will be submitted to dotCoop but domain registration will continue to be with the dotCoop accrediated registrar of choice of the co-op submitting a proposal.

Both of these policies seek to support innovative proposals from cooperatives seeking to create additional registrations in the .coop TLD that can take advantage of the many names that are still available in the .coop namespace.

Please see the complete policies below and contact us with your proposals!

DotCooperation LLC
.Coop Domains Bulk Registration Offer Policy

1. Purpose

DotCooperation would like to explore the possibility of
marketing initiatives involving bulk registrations that
could assist the cooperative community in exploring
different business ideas and concepts.

2.  Scope

This policy applies to all eligible organizations as
defined in the dotCoop Charter
(http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/coop/appendix-S


01jul07.htm#part1) and to their selected registrars.

3.  Policy

DotCooperation LLC would like to encourage registration
of large numbers of .coop domain names by eligible
cooperatives and cooperative organizations by allowing
for special pricing for these organizations and their
selected registrars.  

Consistent with the marketing initiatives of other gTLD
registries, both sponsored and unsponsored, dotCoop
believes that exploring the marketing potential
associated with bulk registration pricing could offer
benefits to the cooperative community as a whole.

Tiered pricing can be proposed in, but is not limited
to, the following levels:

Less than 1,000 Domain Name Years
From 1,000 - 5,000 Domain Name Years
Greater than 5,000 Domain Name Years

DotCooperation LLC
.Coop Domain Name Category Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to identify the
requirements for eligible co-operatives to propose the
reservation of specific categories of domain names so
that a predictable name structure can be established.

2.  Scope

This policy applies to all eligible organizations as
defined in the dotCoop Charter
(http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/coop/appendix-S-
01jul07.htm#part1) and to their selected registrars.

3.  Policy

DotCooperation LLC recognizes the need for co-operative
businesses to clearly identify particular name
structures to facilitate business development efforts.
These structures will enable Internet users to recognize
these name structures to more effectively identify
particular sites within the .coop domain.  

Eligible cooperatives may submit proposals to
DotCooperation LLC to establish particular domain name
categories with the following restrictions and 
requirements:

1.  The domain name category must not conflict with 
existing general domain registrations or existing domain 
name categories
2.  The proposing cooperative must explicitly agree 
to the dotCoop Dispute Resolution Policy in case of any 
domain name registration conflict with the domain name 
category
3.  The proposing cooperative must define the exact 
structure of the domain name category 
4.  The proposing cooperative must define the exact 
set of domain names that would be initially reserved 
5.  The proposing cooperative must define the 
process and timetable for the registration of the 
individual domain names within the category
6.  The proposed domain name category cannot require 
any changes to the registry system that would require
any changes by existing registrars to continue 
registration and support of new or existing .coop domains

DotCoop will evaluate all Domain Name Category proposals
as quickly as possible.  All decisions concerning
acceptance or rejection of a Domain Name Category
proposal are at the discretion of dotCoop.  

If a proposal is accepted, dotCoop will then enter into
specific negotiations with the proposing cooperative to 
define all aspects of the implementation associated with 
supporting the proposed Domain Name Category resulting 
in a mutually agreeable contract.

Published on 15 April 2008