The Name Game
The Domain Name Game
ABC Ltd decides to start a Web site and naturally wants to name it ABC.com but much to the disgust of its management, it discovers there already is a Widgets.com. Someone else has registered the "domain name" and ABC Ltd is stuck.
It happens every day as the battle for the best domain names grows. But what in fact is a domain name and what are the issues surrounding their use?
Domain names are simply the addresses of the Internet. Without the domain name, a computer would have no idea where to look for a Web page, and e-mail routers would not be able to send e-mail.
Domain names are divided into hierarchies. The top-level of the hierarchy appears after the last dot in the domain name. In www.discountdomainsuk.com, the top level domain name is .com. The .com name is the most common top-level domain name, and is used to indicate that the domain name is owned by a commercial enterprise.
The disputes that arise over domain names involve "second level" domain names directly to the left of the top-level domain name. For instance, in the address "www.discountdomainsuk.com," the second-level domain name is "Discount Domains UK."
Two identical second-level domain names cannot coexist under the same top-level domain. For example, even though both ABC Ltd and ABC Airlines would like the "abc.com" domain name, only one ABC company can have abc.com.
In order to register a second-level domain name under a top-level domain, a request must be made to the organization that has the power to assign names for that top-level domain. Prior to December 1999, a company called Network Solutions Inc. ("NSI") was almost solely responsible for the registration of second level domain names for the most popular top-level domains, including .com, .net and .org.
As of December 1999, the ability to register.com, .net and .org domain names was spread out among many registrars. These registrars are accredited by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (or "ICANN"), a non-profit corporation formed specifically to control Internet domain name management and similar functions.
NSI continues to assign domain names, but now they are just one of many domain name registrars. All of these registrars assign names on a first-come, first-served basis, and do not do any checking before assigning a new domain name.
Because of the increasing popularity of the Internet, companies have realized that having a domain name that is the same as their company name or the name of one of their products can be an extremely valuable part of establishing an Internet presence.
When a company finds that the domain name corresponding to their corporate name or product trademark is owned by someone else, the company can either choose a different name or fight to get the domain name back from its current owners.
When a dispute over a domain name occurs, the parties can always turn to the courts. While courts and judges have the authority to award control and ownership over domain names, the judicial process is notoriously slow. Consequently, many parties have avoided the courts and turned to the domain name dispute policies of the domain name registrars.
In response to intense lobbying from trademark owners and famous individuals, Congress passed the Anticyber-squatting Consumer Protection Act in November of 1999. This act made it easier for individuals and companies to take over domain names that are confusingly similar to their names or valid trademarks. To do so, however, they must establish that the domain name holder acted in bad faith.
One portion of this Act related to famous individuals. This portion allows individuals to file a civil action against anyone who registers their name as a second level domain name for the purpose of selling the domain name for a profit.
The more general portion of the statute protects companies against persons who, in bad faith, register a domain name that is the same or confusingly similar to an existing trademark.
DOMAIN NAME DISPUTES
Some well publicized examples of domain names disputes are:
* candyland.com: Both Hasbro and an adult entertainment provider desired the candyland.com domain name. Hasbro was too late to register the name itself, but it is never too late to sue (well, almost never). The domain name is now safely in the hands of Hasbro.
* mcdonalds.com: This domain name was taken by an author from Wired magazine who was writing a story on the value of domain names. In his article, the author requested that people contact him at ronald@mcdonalds.com with suggestions of what to do with the domain name. In exchange for returning the domain name to McDonalds, the author convinced company to make a charitable contribution.
* microsOft.com: The company Zero Micro Software obtained a registration for microsOft.com (with a zero in place of the second `o'), but the registration was suspended after Microsoft filed a protest. When the domain name went abandoned for non-payment of fees, the domain name was picked up by someone else: Vision Enterprises of Roanoke, TX
* mtv.com: The MTV domain name was originally taken by MTV video jockey Adam Curry. Although MTV originally showed little interest in the domain name or the Internet, when Adam Curry left MTV the company wanted to control the domain name. After a federal court action was brought, the dispute settled out of court.
* roadrunner.com: When NSI threatened to suspend the roadrunner.com domain name after a protest by Warner Brothers, the New Mexico Internet access provider who was using the domain name filed suit to prevent the suspension. Although the access provider was able to prevent the suspension, a joint venture company involving Time Warner, MediaOne, Microsoft, Compaq, and Advance/Newhouse eventually obtained the domain name
taiwan.com: The mainland China news organization Xinhua was allowed to register the domain name taiwan.com, much to the disgust of the government of Taiwan.
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