Legal

Domain name ownership is an important part of the way businesses function today. A catchy domain name can mean everything when it comes to getting traffic to your site. If the name is hard to remember or spelled in a strange way, people wont remember it when they sit down at their computer and try to type in the address they just read on a bumper sticker (among other bumper stickers on the back of that VW bug).

Domain name ownership can be confusing at times. Usually when a person registers a domain name, he does not actually own the name. He owns a license to use the domain name. However, assuming the domain name has nothing to do with someone elses registered trademark or legal right to the name, owning the license to use the name is essentially like owning it.

In the 1990s, domain name ownership became a quick way to make an easy buck for many people. Through a practice called cybersquatting, people were quickly buying up domain names that were either identical or very similar to the trademarks of large companies. They would then sell the name to the company for a large sum of money. Cybersquatting is now illegal, but there are still plenty of lawsuits over the rights to domain names.

The Policing of Domain Name Ownership
Today, there are many laws, regulations and committees designed to regulate domain name ownership. The committee in charge of keeping track of domain name registration on an international level is called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. This committee has set up system called the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Policy used to settle disputes between trademark owners and domain name owners. If you think you have a domain name lawsuit on your hands, contact a laywer to go over your case. Lawyers are easy to find on the Internet–but be sure to check out their credentials before signing on with one.