DOMAIN NAME, ELECTRONIC COMMERCE, E-COMMERCE, ‎ZIP ADDRESS, DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM (DNS), UNIFORM ‎RESOURCE LOCATOR (URL), REGISTRATION ISSUES, ‎RESOLVE PROBLEMS WHILE SELECTING A DOMAIN NAME, ‎BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, ‎EDUCATION AND LEARNING,‎

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SELECTING DOMAIN NAME AND
REGISTRATION PROCESS
DOMAIN NAME
“An IP address represented by a natural language convention is called a domain name. The founders
of the Internet realized that users find the dotted decimal notation difficult to remember. So, to make
the numbering system easier to use, they created an alternative addressing method that uses words.
For example www.pearson.com is called a domain name. Domain names are sets of words that are
assigned to specific IP addresses. Domain names can contain two or more word groups separated by
periods. The rightmost part of a domain name is the most general. Each part of the domain name
becomes more specific as you move to the left.” (Schneider, 2017)
“For example, the domain name www.sandiego.edu contains three parts separated by periods.
Beginning at the right, the name”‘edu’“indicates that the computer belongs to an educational
institution. The institution, University of San Diego, is identified by the name”‘sandiego’. The
‘www’“indicates that the computer is running software that makes it a part of the World Wide Web.
Most, but not all, Web addresses follow this”‘www’ naming convention.“For example, the group of
computers that operate the Yahoo! Games service is named games.yahoo.com.”
 “Domain name: IP address expressed in natural language”
 “Domain Name System (DNS): system for expressing numeric IP addresses in natural
language”
 “Uniform Resource Locator (URL): the address used by a web browser to identify the
location of content on the Web.”
“Figure 1- The Hierarchical Domain Name System (DNS)”
“The Domain Name System is a hierarchical namespace (Figure 1) with a root server at the top. Top-
level domains appear next and identify the organization type (such as .com, .gov, .org, etc.) or
geographic location (such as .uk [Great Britain] or .ca [Canada]). Second-level servers for
each top-level domain assign and register second-level domain names for organizations and
individuals such as IBM.com, Microsoft.com, and Stanford.edu. Finally, third-level domains identify

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a particular computer or group of computers within an organization, e.g., www.yourname.co.uk. ”
(Laudon & Traver, 2018)
“Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. For
example:”
TLD Use
.edu Educational Institution
.gov Government Agencies
.mil Military
.net Network Organizations
.org Not-For-Profit Organization
.com Commercial Business
.info General Use
.name Individual Persons
.pro Licensed Professionals (such as accountants, lawyers, physicians)
.pk Pakistan
.ca Canada
.uk United Kingdom
“As the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain
Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.”(Webopedia, 2020).
“While forming a proper domain name, there are some of the rules that we should remember. These
rules basically fall as a part of the Domain Name Service or DNS. So let’s“have a look at some of
the rules that we need to watch out while setting up any of the domain names. Domain names are
usually formed using some of the ASCII characters ranges from a-z, A-Z, 0-9. These are
alphanumeric, case-sensitive characters. In some of the cases, you can also use hyphens if it’s“a
combination of character or digits. There are some of the limitations that you need to remember such
as the combinations should not exceed more than 63 characters. The name of the domain should not
exceed 253 ASCII characters. It should not contain any hyphen.”(Irvineuser, 2018)
REGISTRATION ISSUES TO
REGISTER A DOMAIN NAME
“A domain name not only helps for branding purposes but also helps for security purposes. Any
business websites that require registering a domain name to protect the trademarks or the website
along with the copyrights. While as a part of the marketing technique, it helps to build credibility and
brand awareness.”
“Use location-based keywords for the Domain name. If the business or the system you are having is at
any specific location, then it would be better to use the location name in the domain. The second
thing that you have to do is to register yourself as the owner of the domain name. In some of the
cases, owners make a mistake by not registering themselves as the owner of their website. In some of
the cases, it has been seen that ownership of domain may get stolen by the partner or subordinate,
working under the owner. So, it is always better to follow this path.”
“The domain registrar is a company that registers a domain name on your behalf, and then gives you
full access to that domain name. The key with registrars is to only use respectable and trustworthy

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companies. You really don’t want to run into any domain problems further down the line -- when
your website’s brand is already established and losing the domain would mean trouble.” (Karol,
2020)
The recommend registrars are:
 Namecheap
 GoDaddy (e.g. GoDaddy Pakistan https://pk.godaddy.com/domains)
 SiteGround
GoDaddy Pakistan provides instruction to register a domain name as following:
 Decide on a domain name extension. The extension is the part at the end of
the domain name — .net, .biz, .org or .com, for example.
 Think about what you'd like on the other side of the dot. It could be your
business name or your specialty.
 Type the domain you want into the box at the top of this page. We'll tell you
if that particular domain is available and show other you may like better.
 Pick one, add it to your cart and check out. You are now the proud owner of
your very own domain. As long as it's registered to you, no one else may
use it.
“The technical management of the domain name system is in the hands of the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). However, in the gTLDs, the registrations themselves
are handled by a number of Internet registrars accredited by ICANN, that can be found at ICANN's
site at http://www.icann.org. One can also check whether a domain name has already been
registered, either by searching via a registrar's site, or by using a 'Whois' search, like that offererd by
UWhois, at http://www.uwhois.com. For registrations in the ccTLDs, one shall need to contact the

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registration authority designated for each ccTLD. To do this, one can consult a ccTLD database set
up by WIPO that links to the web sites of 243 ccTLDs, where one can find information about one’s
registration agreement, Whois service and dispute resolution procedures.”
“When one chooses company's domain name, depending on where to register, one may pick a generic
or common name, but if a distinctive name is picked, users may more easily be able to remember and
search for it. Ideally, it could also be distinctive enough to be protected under trademark law,
because domain names can be protected as trademarks in some countries. If one picked a very
common domain name (e.g. "Good Software"), the company could have difficulty in building up any
special reputation or good will in this name and more difficulty in preventing others from using the
name in competition.”(WIPO, n.d.)
HOW TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS WHILE
SELECTING A DOMAIN NAME
“A domain name is chosen that is not the trademark of another company, particularly a well-known
trademark. This is because most laws treat registration of another person's trademark as a domain
name as trademark infringement, also known as 'cybersquatting', and our SME might have to
transfer or cancel the domain name, and also pay damages. Also, all domain names registered in the
gTLDs like .com, as well as many registered in the ccTLDs, are subject to a dispute resolution
procedure that allows a trademark or service mark owner to stop the cybersquatting of their
trademark. There are various databases that can be searched on the web to determine if our choice of
domain name is a registered trademark in a particular country. WIPO has established a Trademark
Database Portal (at https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/trademark/index.html) to help us to do this search.”
“If we find that someone else is using our trademark or service mark as a domain name, what can we
do? Some unscrupulous people have made a practice of cybersquatting, usually to extract money
from the rightful owner of the name or to mislead or confuse consumers. If we find that our
trademark or service mark is being cybersquatted, there is a simple online procedure we can go
through where an independent expert will decide whether the domain name should be returned to us,
and the registrars are required to follow this decision. This Uniform Administrative Dispute
Resolution Policy (UDRP) was first recommended by WIPO as a result of its Internet Domain
Name Processes and then adopted by ICANN, and you can find information about it at WIPO's‘site
at https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/index.html.”
“In addition to trademarks, it is wise to avoid domain names that include certain other controversial
words such as geographical terms (e.g. Champagne, Beaujolais), names of famous people, generic
drug names, names of international organizations, and trade names (e.g. name of another person's
business), that might interfere with the rights of others or international systems of
protection.”(WIPO, n.d.)
“A domain name can function as a trademark or service mark, which is a term or symbol used to
create an exclusive association in the marketplace between a company and the goods and services it
sells. For example, Google, AOL, or Facebook their companies and web address are virtually
synonymous, as are hundreds of other companies. If our choice of domain name is so similar to
another company’s domain name, or other trademark or service mark, that it is likely to cause
confusion among consumers and our company may be subject to allegations of trademark
infringement.”

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“For example, we would not be likely to get away with starting a website called facebook-illinois.com
because of its close relationship to the well known Facebook domain and trademark, and the
likelihood that this could confuse consumers into believing our site is affiliated with the better
known Facebook. Thus, even though the address may be available for registration, it is unlikely we
could use it for anything without immediately drawing a lawsuit!”
“Thus, simply determining whether a domain name is available for registration is not enough.
Companies should consider having a trademark search performed with the assistance of competent
legal counsel to determine whether their choice of domain name creates the potential for liability for
trademark infringement. A regionally recognized company could have an infringement claim even
though we have never heard of them in our location because the Internet reaches into virtually every
corner of the world.”
“Similarly, if our site uses a copyrighted name or expression, w may also be subject to liability. For
example, if our site incorporates the name of a certain well-known boy wizard from England and
contains information about the movie and book series or other fan topics, there is a possibility that it
could be considered an infringement of copyright AND trademark.”
“One should not violate someone's trademark or copyright, our hosting company will likely not
defend us. If the hosting company is threatened with legal action, it may turn around and sue us or
our company for indemnification of any losses it may suffer as a result of our infringement.
Similarly, we may be directly liable to the owner of the original intellectual property, meaning we
could get walloped by lawsuits from more than one entity.”(HG.org, 2020)
REFERENCES
GoDaddy Pakistan. (2020). GoDaddy Operating Company. Retrieved from https://pk.godaddy.com/domains
HG.org. (2020). Legal Concerns When Registering Domain Names. HG.org Legal Resources. Retrieved from https://www.hg.org/legal-
articles/legal-concerns-when-registering-domain-names-31036
Irvineuser. (2018, Nov. 23). Issues We Face With Domain registration. Robinhoweb [blog]. Retrieved from
https://robinhoweb.com/blog/domain-registration/
Karol, K. (2020, March 1). 22 Essential Tips for Choosing the Best Possible Domain Name for a Website (2020). WinningWP [blog].
Retrieved from https://winningwp.com/essential-tips-for-choosing-the-best-domain-name-for-a-website/
Laudon, K. C. & Traver, C. G. (2018). E-commerce 2017: business, technology, society. 13th ed. Boston: Pearson Education
Schneider, G. P. (2017). Electronic Commerce, 12th
ed. Boston: Cengage Learning
Webopedia. (2020). Domain name. Retrieved from https://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/domain_name.html
WIPO. (n.d.). IP Issues Related to Internet Domain Names. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Retrieved from
https://www.wipo.int/sme/en/e_commerce/domain_names.htm