The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), The Voice for Real Estate®, is the world’s largest professional association, representing greater than one million members over approximately 1,400 local associations⁄boards. The term REALTOR® is registered as a collective membership mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It is also registered for that or other services in the trademark offices of an additional 45 nations and the European Community.
The mark REALTOR® identifies a real estate professional who is a member of NAR and subscribes to NAR’s Constitution, Bylaws and rules and regulations, including NAR’s strict Code of Ethics. The Code establishes time-honored and baseline principles that come from the collective experiences of REALTORS® since the Code of Ethics was first established in 1913. In addition, REALTORS® earn designations and certifications to increase their skills, proficiency, and knowledge. Designations and certifications acknowledging expertise in various real estate sectors are awarded by NAR and its affiliated groups upon completion of required courses and experience. Most REALTORS® also join state and local associations, and subscribe to the rules and regulations of such state and local associations.
NAR is composed of REALTORS® who are involved in residential and commercial real estate as brokers, salespeople, property managers, appraisers, counselors, and others who are engaged in all aspects of the real estate industry. Consistent with its Vision, NAR strives to be the collective force influencing and shaping the real estate industry. It seeks to be the leading advocate of the right to own, use, and transfer real property; the acknowledged leader in developing standards for efficient, effective, and ethical real estate business practices; and valued by highly skilled real estate professionals and viewed by them as crucial to their success. Working on behalf of Americaʹs property owners, NAR provides a facility for professional development, research and exchange of information among its members and to the public and government for the purpose of preserving the free enterprise system, and the right to own, use, and transfer real property.
NAR firmly believes that establishment of a .REALTOR top-level domain imbued with the principles established in NAR’s Code of Ethics will promote competition, consumer trust and consumer choice. The mission⁄purpose of .REALTOR is to create a name space wherein users can come to find trusted sources for real estate information and ethical real estate services. With the intent to accomplish this purpose, NAR will permit NAR, REALTORS®, NAR members, NAR affiliates, NAR licensees and parties otherwise in a contractual relationship with NAR relating to use of the REALTOR® mark, the opportunity to register and⁄or use domain names in .REALTOR under terms, policies and guidelines as NAR so determines in its sole discretion, consistent with any applicable ICANN Consensus Policies, ICANN’s registry agreement, any applicable rules of law and NAR-approved guidelines regarding use of and⁄or membership with the mark REALTOR®. As the steward of the REALTOR® mark, NAR believes that having the right, in its sole discretion, to determine who may register domains in .REALTOR, and to determine how such domains may be used, is the best way to achieve this mission⁄purpose.
NAR firmly believes that the .REALTOR gTLD, as used to promote the above-stated mission⁄purpose, would provide benefit to Internet users in general (including, for example, home buyers, home sellers and others involved in real estate transactions), REALTORS®, NAR itself and its members, affiliates, licensee and contracted parties. In fulfilling .REALTOR’s mission⁄purpose, NAR, upon allocation of .REALTOR, intends to explore ways of promoting adoption and use of .REALTOR to fulfill the mission⁄purpose set forth above, and will likely obtain input from its members, affiliates, licensees, contracted parties and REALTORS® towards investigating many such ways.
One way of promoting adoption and use of .REALTOR which NAR intends to explore includes providing support to REALTORS® in promoting their on-line real estate businesses by allowing individual REALTORS® to acquire their name at the second level. In this example, a REALTOR® who otherwise may not be able to obtain a second level domain of “my name” in a meaningful TLD will be able to use “my name” at the second level of the .REALTOR gTLD, which would inherently be very meaningful . This would promote competition in the TLD space by providing alternative domain options to REALTORS®.
In another example which NAR intends to explore, geographic terms not otherwise reserved from registration and⁄or use may be used at the second-level to provide listings of REALTORS® practicing in the area associated with the geographic term. In this regard consumer trust and choice are promoted by providing a trusted, easily accessible source for providing REALTOR®-related information.
NAR recognizes that consumers of REALTOR®-provided services associate the REALTOR® mark with membership in the National Association of REALTORS® and the associated level of professionalism and ethics in real estate services appurtenant to such membership. Consumers have come to trust real estate professionals who practice under the REALTOR® mark. NAR believes that the .REALTOR gTLD would extend that trust into the DNS namespace.
NAR believes that the .REALTOR gTLD can provide a trusted and valued space consistent with current consumer perception of the REALTOR® mark, and that such trust and value is created in no small part by NAR’s ability and willingness to protect the value and trust associated with the .REALTOR brand both through the registration limitations set forth above and NAR’s history of rigorous enforcement of its Code of Ethics through a system of peer review. When a consumer visits a .REALTOR domain, she can be assured that the registrant is associated with NAR as a member, affiliate or contracted party, and that, particularly for REALTOR® users, a website at a .REALTOR domain will provide an on-line connection to a trusted real estate professional practicing under standards of membership of REALTOR® Associations.
Towards these missions⁄purposes, NAR has engaged Real Estate Domains LLC to apply for, obtain and operate the .REALTOR gTLD under license and direction from NAR.
NAR pledges to assist ICANN in reviewing the New gTLD Program as specified in section 9.3 of ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments as such relates to .REALTOR and the materials set forth in this application, including consideration of the extent to which the .REALTOR gTLD has promoted competition, consumer trust and consumer choice, as well as effectiveness of the application and evaluation process for .REALTOR, and all safeguards put in place for .REALTOR to mitigate issues involved in running .REALTOR. |