.fidelity Domain

THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .FIDELITY GTLD IS TO BENEFIT INTERNET USERS BY ENSURING INCREASED TRUST AND CONFIDENCE THROUGH THE ELIMINATION OF USER CONFUSION AND ASSURANCE OF BRAND AUTHENTICITY. The new .fidelity gTLD will operate as a restricted registry, in which Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC (Fidelity) can create and control domain spaces that promote its brand identity and authenticity. In this regard, the .fidelity gTLD will be used by Fidelity, its affiliates and partners to provide authoritative information, services and resources regarding its financial and investment management products and services to consumers in a way that promotes trust, confidence and reliability. Second and third level domains can then be utilised for specific pages for Fidelity's financial products and services, as well as for education and marketing purposes, with internet users assured of brand authenticity. Fidelity is a subsidiary of FMR LLC, the parent company of the affiliated group of businesses collectively known as "Fidelity Investments". Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial products and services including investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, securities brokerage, and benefits outsourcing. Fidelity Investments is a leader in the US in the retirement, mutual funds and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) fields. Founded in 1946, Fidelity Investments provides financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals and institutions, as well as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms. As of February 29, 2012, Fidelity Investments had assets under administration of USD 3.6 trillion, including managed assets of USD 1.6 trillion. Fidelity Investments employs over 39,000 people and services retail customers through 168 Investor Centers across the US. Fidelity Investments managed more than 67 million customer accounts and its websites handled an average of more than 3.1 million visits per day during the fourth quarter of 2011. In this regard, consumer trust and continuous innovation are paramount considerations in all its activities. The .fidelity gTLD will provide a secure and reliable location where current and potential customers and other internet users can interact with Fidelity and learn about financial topics, industry trends and Fidelity's range of financial products and services. Since the inception of the current domain name system, business activities conducted on the internet are constantly changing and evolving with increased complexity. The volume of commercial transactions over the internet is constantly growing and bringing benefits of simplicity and lowered transaction costs to businesses and consumers. However, at the same time, criminal activities over the internet including data breach, hacking and phishing activities have also become more sophisticated resulting in loss of consumer confidence beyond mere monetary harm. The .fidelity gTLD will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with Fidelity online, while still allowing convenient and efficient interaction. Fidelity's mission and purpose of the gTLD share ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest. Fidelity is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments, which includes: - consumer trust: the .fidelity gTLD will be operated in a centralized manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to Fidelity, its affiliates and partners, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .fidelity domain names are trustworthy. As domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under Fidelity's control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .fidelity gTLD; competition: the .fidelity gTLD is not intended to instigate competition and consumer choice at the level of registration of domain names among prospective registrants. Instead it is anticipated to contribute to ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest through its operation being focused on promoting consumer trust. Increased trust in the .fidelity gTLD will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs; and consumer choice: the .fidelity gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations assisting Fidelity's marketing efforts through its ability to create new second and third level domain names on demand. These names will provide the consumers with more choices for interacting with Fidelity. As Fidelity has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under the .fidelity gTLD, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet. Given the restricted nature of the .fidelity gTLD, the projected number of registrations is likely to be limited, with about 5 to 100 domain names to be registered in the first three years. The number of registrations is likely to increase as Fidelity implements innovative new financial and investment products, services and marketing campaigns. As the new .fidelity gTLD expands, Fidelity will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, and will maintain consumer trust and the stability of the internet. Fidelity will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to the .fidelity gTLD including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement. Fidelity intends to create relevant domain names including some corresponding to its financial products and services, its business unit or affiliated entity names, or geographic names at the second or third level. In accordance with registration policy and the proposed measures for protection of geographic names and two-character country code labels as outlined in response to Question 22, Fidelity may use geographic names to localise its websites in countries in which it, an affiliate or partner operates. The use of geographic names is intended to: connect internet users with relevant information as applicable to the territory; and comply with required rules and regulations in the national territory. Fidelity is a well-recognized global brand and FMR LLC, the ultimate parent company of Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, owns registration for the FIDELITY trademark in multiple countries, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, in several international classes including: Financial services including investment management, mutual fund and retirement fund investment, financial planning and securities brokerage (Cl 36); Printed matter including newsletters relating to investments and financial services (Cl 16); and Education services including seminars relating to investments (Cl 41). Additionally, Fidelity Investments has the licensed right to use the FIDELITY trademark in connection with various financial services in numerous other countries. Fidelity Investments has existing domain names with an exact match to the "Fidelity" trademark and the applied-for .fidelity string in the following spaces: gTLDs: .biz, .com, .jobs, .mobi, .net, .org and .tel; ccTLDs: .as, .fm, .com.pr, .us and .co.vi. Fidelity was successful in securing sunrise application protection for Fidelity in the .xxx domain space based on its existing trademark rights. Fidelity is a leading global brand with a strong reputation around the world, particularly in the US and Canada. Fidelity has used the term Fidelity in conjunction with its financial services businesses for over 65 years. As such, the Fidelity brand is well known for providing high quality financial and investment management services and Fidelity believes that the .fidelity gTLD is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs.×