The Domain Name Game
The Widgets Corporation decides to start a Web site and
naturally wants to name it Widgets.Com. But much to the
consternation of its management, it discovers there already is a
Widgets.com. Someone else has registered the "domain name" and
Widgets 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
"microsoft.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.microsoft.com," the
second-level domain name is "Microsoft."
Two identical second-level domain names cannot coexist under
the same top-level domain. For example, even though both the
Delta Faucet Company and Delta Airlines would like the
"delta.com" domain name, only one Delta company can have
delta.com. Unfortunately for both Delta Faucet Company and Delta
Airlines, that Delta company is Delta Financial of Woodbury, New
York. Instead of using delta.com, Delta Airlines uses
deltaairlines.com, while Delta Faucet Company uses
deltafaucet.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.
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