.aquarelle Domain

(a) The Applicant, Aquarelle.com SA ("Aquarelle"), is a member of the Aquarelle Group, and one of Europe's leading network of on line flower shops. Since 1987, Aquarelle has developed a network of flower shops under the AQUARELLE brand in France.
About ten years ago, Aquarelle started with on line sales of flowers and bouquets, and delivering them throughout France and, afterwards, throughout Europe. Currently, Aquarelle operates various websites under different domain names registered in gTLDs and ccTLDs, and has hance developed close ties with its professional customers and consumers.

In the meantime, Aquarelle has developed various other offerings, on line and off line sales channels, most of which under the Aquarelle brand. Therefore, a good and reliable Internet presence is critical for the Applicant and its day-to-day activities.

According to the Applicant, the mission and purpose of the .AQUARELLE TLD are manifold, as will be further explained below:

i. First and foremost: make the most out of the opportunity presented by ICANN's New gTLD Program, and therefore securing the distinctive element out of Applicant's key brand ("AQUARELLE") as a gTLD;

ii. Aquarelle sees great value in reflecting the highly distinctive and recognizable brand AQUARELLE - which has a true international exposure and clientele - at the top level of the DNS' hierarchy. It strongly believes that a .AQUARELLE gTLD could in the future turn out to become an interesting platform for Aquarelle, and potentially generate numerous benefits from a marketing and branding perspective;

iii. Support the Aquarelle Group's day-to-day activities, for the benefit of the Applicant, its affiliates, connected businesses and consumers;

iv. Provide stakeholders of the Applicant with a recognizable and trusted identifier - .AQUARELLE - on the Internet. Such stakeholders include, but are not limited to:

• subsidiaries;
• affiliate partners;
• sponsorships;
• prospective and current customers;
• employees, directors and officers of Aquarelle and its subsidiaries.

v. Provide such stakeholders with a secure and safe Internet environment, under the control of the Applicant, in which they are able to obtain information from and communicate with the Aquarelle;

vi. Over time: provide for the opportunity to certain selected stakeholders to register and/or use domain names in the .AQUARELLE gTLD, insofar and to the extent that (i) Aquarelle would remain in control over certain aspects of these domain names, (ii) in the opinion of Aquarelle, this would create significant business opportunities, (iii) there would be branding and marketing benefits for the Aquarelle Group as a whole, and (iv) if sufficient guarantees can be put in place in order to mitigate the risks of damage to the reputation of the AQUARELLE brand and the business activities of the Applicant;

vii. Further assist the Applicant in general in promoting and offering content in multiple languages and services to an international audience, directly or indirectly accessible under specific domain names registered in the .AQUARELLE gTLD, referring to, amongst others, products and services, product and service categories, brands, etc.

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