Proposed Unsponsored TLD Agreement: Appendix G (.info)

Proposed Unsponsored TLD Agreement: Appendix G (.info) Posted: 2 March 2001

This schedule specifies the maximum price Afilias may charge for services. In a manner consistent with Section 3.4.3 of the Registry Agreement, Afilias may charge a lower-than-specified rate for services, including not charging for a specified service. Except as set forth herein or otherwise agreed, Afilias shall not be entitled to charge for any service not specified in this Appendix G. Afilias shall also make rebates to registrars as specified in item 5 below.

1. Maximum Domain-Name Initial Registration Fee

Afilias may charge a maximum of US $5.75 per year for each domain name registered (the "Initial Registration Fee") in the Registry TLD during the Term of the Registry Agreement. The Initial Registration Fee shall be paid in full by the ICANN-Accredited Registrar sponsoring the domain name at the time of registration.

2. Maximum Domain-Name Renewal Fee

Afilias may charge a maximum of US $5.75 per year for each domain name registration renewal (the "Renewal Fee") in the Registry TLD during the Term of the Registry Agreement. The Renewal Fee shall be paid in full by the ICANN-Accredited Registrar sponsoring the domain name at the time of renewal.

3. Fees for Transfers of Sponsorship of Domain-Name Registrations

During the Term of the Registry Agreement, where the sponsorship of a domain name is transferred from one ICANN-Accredited Registrar to another ICANN-Accredited Registrar, Afilias may require the registrar receiving the sponsorship to request a renewal of one year for the name. In connection with that extension, Afilias may charge a Renewal Fee for the requested extension as provided in item 2 above. The transfer shall result in an extension according to the renewal request, subject to a ten-year maximum on the future term of any domain-name registration. The Renewal Fee shall be paid in full at the time of the transfer by the ICANN-Accredited Registrar receiving sponsorship of the domain name.

4. Additional Fee-Based Services

Afilias may also charge a fee for the following services, as established according to Subsection 3.4.3 of the Registry Agreement, which will be made available based on customer demand and technical feasibility:

a. Xwhois Services: This subscription-based service is intended to provide an interface to the Whois database that will permit interested third parties to conduct enhanced Whois searches using Boolean and character string technologies. The enhanced search will also allow the ability to identify registered domain names that incorporate a certain character string, or all domain names registered by a certain registrant. Additional information about Xwhois is available in Appendix O.

b. Bulk Whois Access: Bulk Whois Access is a subscription-based service that will provide intellectual property owners with the ability to more effectively police their marks while reducing the load on the core Whois system.

The service will operate by generating a file, once a week, that contains the entire list of registered domain names. The file will be delimited to allow for easy extraction and manipulation of the data contained within. A web-based interface will be provided that will allow the subscriber to download this file.
The web interface will be protected with HTTP over SSL (secure HTTP). Every subscriber will be given their own unique access password, in addition to a weekly generated passphrase that is emailed to them. Subscribers will only be able to access the system via a single known IP address. The web interface will only allow access when the password, weekly passphrase, and IP address are authenticated and valid. Passwords will be changed regularly. When a party's subscription expires, access to the web interface will not be allowed until the subscription is renewed.

c. Multilingual Domain Registrations: This service will allow registrants, through the registrars, to register domain names in their native language according to the current ICANN plan for internationalized registrations. Afilias will take advantage of the collective experience of its member registrars to properly deploy multilingual domain name registrations. This service will increase the availability of the Internet and help bridge the digital divide.

d. Directory Services: This service provides the ability to search the Whois database in a directory-oriented approach. Consumers will be able to use LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) clients included with popular applications like Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. This eliminates the need to use inefficient web-based Whois clients and non-user-friendly text-based Whois clients.

e. Monitoring Services: This is a value-added service for registrars to provide to registrants. The service consists of two monitoring services. 1) Monitor for changes to the domain data of an existing domain to improve the security of domain ownership. 2) For intellectual property owners, monitor for the registration of domain names which may infringe on a registered trademark.

5. Rebates

For each fiscal year of Afilias (the "Rebate Period") during the Term, Afilias shall make a rebate to each registrar accredited by both ICANN and Afilias that made at least one initial or renewal domain-name registration, or became the sponsoring registrar for at least one domain name as a result of a registrar transfer, during the Rebate Period. The total rebate for each Rebate Period shall be equal to 25% of Afilias' cash on hand at the end of the rebate Period, less allocations for operating expenses (for purposes of this calculation, the allocation for operating expenses shall equal the balance of unearned income on Afilias' balance sheet as of the end of the applicable Rebate Period, less prepaid expenses as of such date); provided, however, that in no event will the total amount rebated with respect to any Rebate Period be less than one-third of the total amount of dividends made to Afilias owners with respect to such Rebate Period. The total rebate will be distributed no later than 120 days after the end of the Rebate Period and shall be distributed to qualifying registrars pro rata according to the total domain years registered in the .info registry during the Rebate Period.

6. Fee Adjustments

The Initial Registration Fee and Renewal Fee are subject to adjustment according to the terms of Sections 3.14.4 and 4.4 of the Registry Agreement, and are also subject to adjustment to account for additional charges that Afilias may pass through to ICANN-accredited registrars in accordance with the terms of the Registry Agreement.