Group proposes policy for creating Net name suffixes 
By Reuters
April 19, 2000

NEW YORK--The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) took a small step toward creating more space in cyberspace by adding new domains to the ones connoted by the ubiquitous ".com," ".net" and ".org" suffixes. 

ICANN is the nonprofit responsible for maintaining the infrastructure for Internet addresses. An ICANN committee issued a recommendation to the group's board of directors that a policy governing the creation of such categories, called "generic top-level domain names," be created in an effort to better categorize Web sites and make them easier to find. 
 
Support for the expansion of top-level domains was not unanimous. Some companies complained that with the introduction of new domains comes new vulnerability for trademark infringement. 

The committee proposed to introduce such domains gradually with an eye on minimizing "cybersquatting," the unauthorized use of brand names in Web addresses. 

Web domain registrars, not surprisingly, lauded the move, saying it not only expanded the market for companies like themselves, but would make it easier to navigate through the Web. 

Web domain name registrar Network Solutions (NSI) voiced support for the expansion today, saying it backed the creation of such names, suggesting the adoption of ".shop" and ".banc." 

"Opening the namespace and creating new competition among top-level domains will offer consumers more choices and, we believe, lead to wider use of the Internet," Jim Rutt, NSI chief executive, said in a statement. 

"By making use of the legal and policy infrastructure that already supports '.com,' '.net' and '.org,' the Internet community can rapidly advance this most important task at minimal costs," he said. 

ICANN was chosen by the government to oversee the name-and-address system. Previously, NSI contested ICANN's authority to assert ownership over the database of previously assigned Internet names. 
 
 

NSI reaches Net name agreement with groups 
By Evan Hansen
CNET News.com
September 28, 1999

The five-part deal, which must still be approved by ICANN after a 30-day comment period, resolves a number of key issues concerning the relationship between NSI, ICANN, and the Commerce Department. 

Significantly, NSI agreed for the first time to recognize the authority of ICANN to regulate aspects of the domain name system and agreed to grant public rights to certain features of its domain name database. This was a major change in strategy for the company, which had previously balked at following ICANN procedures and had said that the nonprofit had no authority over its business. 

Joe Simms, a partner with Jones Day Reavis & Pogue--a Washington law firm that is representing ICANN--said the registry ownership impasse was resolved because of the organization's refusal to deal with technical intellectual property issues. 

"We tried to deal with the practical matters, rather than getting involved in a theological debate" over ownership, he said. 

With certain limitations, the deal guarantees public access to NSI's database through so-called Whois queries that identify the owner of a domain name, as well as bulk access for a fee.