Phil Muncaster

Domain name governance may rank alongside intelligent compression, enterprise resource planning and dynamic configuration in the sexy technology list, but it’s probably one of the most important ways IT can support the business.

Things used to be pretty simple, back in the day: you’d decide which name or names to register for your organisation and then go out and do it. And with only a handful of truly popular top-level domains (TLDs), the management process was not unreasonably complicated.

But then folks started to realise the value of domain names and the money-making opportunities of the internet, and consequently we saw the much-lamented arrival of cyber- and typosquatters.

Although these monikers conjure up rather disturbing images, the truth is more mundane. These domain name speculators are buying up names they think they can make a fast buck from ­ maybe a domain name similar to, but not quite the same as, a well-known brand. They’ll then try to make money out of the site by parking ads there, and hoping unsuspecting users will mistype the URL of the web site they want to visit. So the only way to protect a brand is to defensively register as many permutations of it as is practicable, across all the major TLDs.

Or at least that was the case. Internet overseer Icann recently made a ruling that has changed everything. Thanks to this decision, there is now the potential for companies to register literally any domain that takes their fancy. So in the future we could see regional generic names such as .sco for Scotland and .lon for London, or even .partridge for Norwich. And we could see popular brand names such as .Polo, .Mars and so on, and other more unusual or generic names.

But how on earth do you go about defensively registering a potentially limitless number of permutations of your brand name? The answer is, of course, you can’t, so businesses will have to re-evaluate their domain name strategies.

The IP law experts believe that rather than defensively registering, firms will instead need to be more proactive ­ grabbing the domain that best fits their brand or organisation. The idea is to put all your marketing efforts behind that name and only go after speculators if they are found to be infringing on your brand rights.

This strategy could hypothetically be a good solution to the problems Icann is creating here. If the permutations of domains are increased to such an extent, the value of most names will decrease, although the .polos and .mars of this world are still likely to be fought over like a doughnut at a WeightWatchers meeting.

Interestingly, analyst firm Gartner, and less interestingly yours truly, thinks that this is far from game over for the traditional domains such as .com and .uk. In fact, as the picture becomes more complex and the possibilities for your domain name multiply, companies may ultimately decide that they’d rather just stick to the suffix it has taken many years and marketing budgets to build up. The most important thing for any enterprise on the internet is to be found, and firms will not want to risk that for the sake of a cute customised TLD. Much has yet to be decided before this hypothetical scenario becomes a reality, so it’s probably not time to start panicking just yet. But IT shops should be liaising with legal and marketing teams, and keeping one eye on the changes that are coming.

The possibilities are endless, but so, it seems, are the pitfalls.

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