.seven Domain

THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .SEVEN 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 .seven gTLD will operate as a restricted registry, in which Seven West Media Limited (Seven West) can create and control domain spaces that promote its brands identity and authenticity. In this regard, the .seven gTLD will be used by Seven West to provide information, services and resources regarding its media platforms and entertainment content to consumers in a way that promotes trust, convenience and utility. The .seven gTLD will provide an authoritative internet space for Seven West, its affiliates and partners that are associated with the "Seven" brand. Second and third level domain names can then be utilised for communication and marketing purposes, with internet users assured of brand authenticity.

Seven West is the leading multi-platform media business in Australia and comprises Seven Television, the market leading national Free to Air Television Network; Pacific Magazines, the country's second largest magazine group by readership with 7 million monthly readers; Yahoo!7, a 50% owned joint venture (JV) with Yahoo! and one of Australia's most successful internet platforms with 8.2 million unique users; The West Australian, the fast-growing State's leading newspaper, and regional newspapers and radio stations in Western Australia (WA). Seven West is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of approximately AUD2.2 billion and revenue in 2011 of AUD725 million. Seven West was created through the acquisition of Seven Media Group by publicly listed West Australian Newspaper Holdings Limited in April 2011. Seven Television includes digital channels, commercial networks in each capital city and regional Queensland, as well as affiliates broadcasting Seven content in regional Victoria, New South Wales and WA. Seven reaches 90% of Australian homes and has around 13 million viewers per month. In this regard, customer trust and continuous innovation are paramount considerations in all of Seven West's business activities. The new .seven gTLD will strengthen Seven's brand and maintain its innovative online presence whilst providing a simplified, aligned and trusted core gateway for consumers to access Seven's entertainment content across its multiple media platforms.

Business activities are increasingly conducted over the internet, allowing for greater levels of interaction between businesses and customers. As a result, both businesses and end users benefit from ease of interaction and a wider range of choices with lower transaction costs. However, the development in this arena in the current domain name system, which affects all internet users, has exposed both businesses and consumers to increased criminal activities over the internet, including data breach, hacking and phishing. These sophisticated criminal activities cause reputational damage to businesses as internet users lose consumer confidence and trust with the businesses targeted by such criminal activities. .seven will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with Seven West online, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction and distribution of content to customers.

Seven West's mission and purpose of the gTLD share ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest through its entertainment, education and information services. Seven West is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:
- consumer trust: the .seven gTLD will be operated in a centralised manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to Seven West and its affiliate entities, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .seven domain names are trustworthy. As .seven domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under Seven West's control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .seven domain space;
- competition: the 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 focused on promoting consumer trust. Increased trust in .seven 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 gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations assisting Seven West'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 Seven West. As Seven West has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under .seven domain space, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.

Given the restricted nature of .seven, the projected number of registrations is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that around 240 domain names will be registered in the first year. However, over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to 640 domain names as Seven West develops and implements new services and marketing campaigns to match its growth in on line content while developing a broader brand.

Seven West intends to create relevant domain names for use including product, services or geographic names in the second or third level domain names. In accordance with registration policy and the proposed measures for protection of geographic names as outlined in response to Question 22, Seven West will use geographic names to localise its websites in Australia. 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 and state territory.
Seven West does not intend to utilise Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at the second level initially. However, as the use of the .seven gTLD evolves, Seven West may wish to utilise IDNs to allow internet users to engage with .seven in their native language, creating a more positive user experience and encouraging diversity.

Seven is a well-recognised Australian brand with its "SEVEN" and "7" trademarks registered in Australia for nine categories, including: Electrical and scientific apparatus including that used for recording, transmission or reproduction of audio or visual matter (Class 9); Paper goods and printed matter including magazines (Class 16); Advertising, marketing and publicity services (Class 35); Telecommunications including television broadcasting and electronic communication services (Class 38); and Education and entertainment services provided by television broadcasting (Class 41).

Seven West has existing domain names with an exact match to the "SEVEN" trademark in seven.com.au and seven.net.au. Additionally, Seven West has 87 domain names containing the "SEVEN" trademark. Yahoo!7.com, the JV between Seven West and Yahoo!, is responsible for hosting all of Seven West's external content and has over 1000 existing domain names.

Seven West believes that the .seven gTLD is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs. Seven's trademarks are a leading and distinctive television broadcasting brand with a long history and significant reputation in Australia. Seven West (formerly known as Seven Media Group) has extensively used the term .seven in conjunction with its media and broadcasting businesses for almost 58 years. As such, the "Seven" brand is synonymous with quality television broadcasting and media production in Australia.×