The Domain Name Game
May 08, 2011
Given no guidance from the courts, how should Network Solutions referee disputes between two organizations that want the same name? Before, the policy was basically first-come, first-served. Recently, however, Network Solutions has sought a better answer. A trademark holder will get priority for a domain name -- even if someone else has already registered for that name. Disputed domain names, meanwhile, will be frozen until a solution is found. Several disputes over domain names have become the stuff of Net legend. The name peta.org remains tied up in bureaucratic limbo -- it was once the home for Miki Warner's People Eating Tasting Animals page, until People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sought to reclaim it. Similarly, Roadrunner Computer Systems, of Santa Fe, N.M., found its domain name -- roadrunner.com -- challenged by Warner Bros. and wound up taking Network Solutions to court. (Roadrunner Computer Systems and Warner Bros. have since reached an agreement allowing the smaller company to keep its domain name.) --Jay Levy
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
