IP: Domain Names -- the "new way"

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>.nu Domain Name Added to Internet
>
>A South Pacific ISP called The Savage Island Network (SIN) has begun the
>worldwide selling of domain names under a new country code, .nu, that is
>a top-level domain for the Polynesian island nation of Niue (pronounced
>"new way"). The ISP is undercutting Network Solutions' usual $100
>registration and $50 annual fees for .com domain names by offering .nu
>domains for $25 registration and $25 annual renewal fees. SIN reports
>that several hundred Scandinavian users have already registered names
>associated with the word "nu," which means "now" in several Scandinavian
>tongues. The domain names are expected to become active in 1998. The .nu
>domain names database, www.nunames.nu, will be administered by Emergent,
>the same company that is preparing to register seven other new top-level
>domain names such as .firm and .arts.
>
>We believe that domain name grabbing on the Internet is a natural
>secondary effect of the permeation of the technology into global life.
>While most enterprises regard domain names as reflections of their
>established business names, we believe that there is a secondary market
>roughly equivalent to the personalized license plate market. The fact
>that more than a million .com names are already used up may drive some
>people to the .nu registry, but there is also a possibility for
>exponential growth of confusion and incorrect assumptions about naming.
>The downside of the Domain Name Grab of 1998 includes a great increase
>in trademark lawsuits as similar names are grabbed up in the new
>domains, the distinct possibility of domain name scalping by pre-emptive
>name speculators, and the real possibility of deceptive marketing
>practices by fly-by-night firms with domain names similar to real ones.
>From the middle of nowhere, the island of Niue could become either the
>Mouse That Roared or a back alley for scurrying rats.
>____________________________________________________
>
>








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