| Internet Domain Names
Registering your domain name is the first step. How many variations of your domain should you register? What about registering with other generic level domains or country codes? Canceling a conflicting domain name.
Domain name basics-what are domain names?
Domain names are the alphanumeric addresses that relate to a numeric string, such as 104.46.120.22, known as an Internet Protocol number. Each computer is assigned an Internet Protocol number. However, to make these numbers easier to remember, the domain name system was created. Thus, domain names serve as a directional address, identifying the address of a particular computer on the Internet.
What parts of a domain name can be registered?
Domain names consist of two levels, each separated by a period or "dot." The top level domains (TLDs) are located to the right of the dot. Following is a list of the generic TLDs now available:
- .aero, (reserved for the global aviation community)
- .asia (reserved for the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific region)
- .biz (restricted to businesses)
- .cat (reserved for the Catalan linguistic and cultural community)
- .com (unrestricted but intended for commercial entities)
- .coop (reserved for cooperatives)
- .edu (reserved for United States educational entities)
- .gov (reserved for United States government)
- .info (unrestricted)
- .jobs (reserved for the human resource management community)
- .mobi (reserved for consumers and providers of mobile products and services)
- .museum (restricted to museums and related persons)
- .name (restricted to individuals)
- .net (unrestricted)
- .org (unrestricted)
- .pro (restricted to licensed professionals)
- .travel (reserved for entities whose primary area of activity is in the travel industry)
In addition, there are country code TLDs, such as .de (Germany), .ca (Canada), etc. Secondary TLDs (e.g., google, yahoo, and iph2) are located to the immediate left of the dot. It is these secondary TLDs that can be registered.
Where and how can a domain name be registered?
The domain name system is administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"). ICANN is a not-for-profit partnership of people from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet's unique identifiers. ICANN doesn't control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam, and it doesn't deal with access to the Internet. But through its coordination role in the Internet's naming system, it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet. ICANN has accredited hundreds of registrars from which one can obtain a secondary TLD for the generic and country code TLDs. For a complete list of these registrars who assign those TLDs, see Accredited Registrars at (http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html).
Is it possible to dispute the assignment of a domain name to someone else or require that a domain name be reassigned to you?
In the United States and in most countries, the courts and the trademark laws are available to parties and trademark owners seeking to register, or who claim rights, in a specific domain name. However, court cases filed under the Anti-Cybersquatting Piracy Act are usually costly and slow to reach final resolution.
For instances involving abusive domain registrations, there is an alternative to filing a court action. Each of the ICANN accredited registrars for the generic TLDs are required to have all registrants submit to ICANN's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (the "UDRP"). A complete copy of the UDRP can be found at Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy. The UDRP is intended to provide a relatively speedy (three to four months) and inexpensive (usually less than $10,000) system for remedying abusive domain name registrations.
Some examples of abusive domain registrations include the registrant's offer to sell the domain to the trademark owner for an inflated price, non-use of the domain for an extended period of time, using the domain name to show affiliation or trade off the goodwill of the trademark owner, a pattern of registrant registering domain names consisting of the marks or names belonging to others not affiliated with the registrant, and registering the trademark owner's name while or after working for the trademark owner. Obviously, there may be many other situations where bad faith can be shown.
However, if the domain name registrant is making good-faith use of the domain, a UDRP proceeding will not likely be successful. So, for example, the Ford Modeling Agency could not likely wrestle the www.ford.com domain name from Ford Motor Company, or vice versa. In such cases, the first to register will be able to retain the ford.com domain name.
What tactics exist for securing exclusive rights to a domain name?
Because the domain name registration system for all TLDs is on a first-come, first-served basis, and because of the difficulty of establishing bad faith under the UDRP and the cost of bringing a UDRP proceeding or a trademark infringement claim against a domain name registrant, some companies have chosen to embark on ambitious domain name registration campaigns. The Intel Corporation estimates that it has acquired several thousand domains relating to its PENTIUM integrated circuit chips. Obviously, this approach involves considerable expense. By way of example, such an approach might involove the possible registration of the following domain names (for a fictional business called THE BIG STORE):
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