To alleviate the shortage of dot-com Web site addresses, the Internet’s oversight body last year approved seven new suffixes, including dot-biz and dot-info. These were the first major additions since the domain name system was created in the mid-1980s.
While the new domain names do not have the cachet of dot-com, which has become the generic term for a business operating via the Internet, businesses ignore dot-biz and dot-info at their peril. Failure to register the dot-biz or dot-info version of their trade and brand names exposes them to cybersquatting by competitors and speculators, and to the risk of creating confusion in the marketplace, diluting the strength of brand names and trademarks that are valuable company assets, and facing lengthy arbitration or litigation to resolve who has the right to use the name.
For the relatively little time and money it takes to register these domain names, businesses can protect their investment in their proprietary names.
David Radack
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC
