FINANCING OF DOMAIN NAMES

Financing of Domain Names



Financing of Domain Names

Introduction

How much is Sex worth? Looking at an abbreviated history of Sex.com, the value of Sex.com has a wide range of values. In the beginning of the internet, the registration of the domain name Sex.com was free. In 2006, Sex.com sold for an estimated $14 million. However, it appears Sex may not be worth as much as it used to be. In 2010, Sex.com sold for $13 at auction after Escom declared bankruptcy. This is far short from the $250 million that Sex.com supposedly retailed for according to a footnote in Interstellar Starship Servs. v. Epix, Inc., 304 F.3d 936, 942 (9th Cir. Or. 2002). However, when Stephen Cohen stole Sex.com, a court ordered a $65 million judgment “for fraudulently converting the internet domain name.”

Discussion

No matter what value is used for Sex.com, the idea that six letters and a period can be valued in the millions of dollars would seem to indicate that an easy to follow set of laws should be in place to control and value the use of domain names. Examining the history of the intersection of the internet and intellectual property reveals a past that at times makes for counterintuitive customs as to the management of domain names (Peters, 1992, 110-116). A domain name now has some of the same characteristics as trademarks, however based on the law that has created a hybrid of property rights and contracted. Trying to assign a value to a domain name first requires understanding what a domain name is and is not. An Internet domain is a network identifier associated with a group of devices or equipment connected to the Internet.

The main purpose of Internet domain names and domain name system (DNS) to translate the IP address of each active node in the network, memorized words and easy to find (Clark, 2000, 138-142). This abstraction allows any service (network) can move from one geographic location to another on the Internet, even if the change implies that have a different IP address. Without the help of domain name system, Internet users would have to access each Web service using the IP address of the node. Also, reduce the number of possible sites, and is now common for a single IP address is shared by multiple domains (Bawa, 2004, 2-7).

Domain Name and the Nature of Dispute

The advent of the Internet and the concept of domain name create a real problem for the protection of intellectual property rights. Many governments and agencies for the protection of intellectual property, national and international, have joined together to find practical and economical solutions. As the national trade mark laws recognize a person's exclusive right to its brand protection agencies have concluded that the interim solution to maintain its rights on a domain name is to protect it as a trademark (Adelman, 2008, 111-136). Protection of the trademark should be in every country where a trader intends to use its products or ...