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The TCP/IP Guide  9  TCP/IP Application Layer Protocols, Services and Applications (OSI Layers 5, 6 and 7)       9  Name Systems and TCP/IP Name Registration and Name Resolution            9  TCP/IP Name Systems: Host Tables and Domain Name System (DNS)                 9  TCP/IP Domain Name System (DNS)                      9  DNS Name Registration, Public Administration, Zones and Authorities

DNS Second-Level and Lower Domains, Delegation of Registration Authority and Public Registration 1 2 3 4 DNS Name Space Administrative Hierarchy Partitioning: DNS Zones of Authority

Dispute Resolution Methods

So, how do we resolve these situations? As the saying goes, it can be done either the easy way, or the hard way…

Sometimes the antagonists agree on a productive solution. One particularly constructive idea is to agree to share the domain name. For example, the three ACME companies mentioned in my example above could each create their own more-specifically-named domains, such as “acmefurniture.com”, “acmerestaurantsupply.com” and “acmefootwear.com”. Then, they might agree to have the “www.acme.com” registered to nobody, by having one company register it and not use it for anything.

Even better, they could set it up with a simple web page that says the domain is shared, with a link to the three sites above. I have seen this before, but rarely. Unfortunately, it seems grade school children understand the concept of sharing better than most corporate executives do.

Another option is purchase. If a big company wants a domain name already registered by an individual or small business, they will often just purchase it, as this is the easiest thing to do. During the height of the Internet mania, there were domain names that sold for millions of dollars—just for the right to use the name! Again, many cybersquatters and other speculators got rich doing this.

Often the combatants don't play nice, and the usual occurs: threats, intimidation, law suits, and so forth. Sometimes a letter from a lawyer is enough to resolve the issue, especially when some poor individual owning a web site gets threatened with legal action by a large company—this has happened many times.

However, often the disagreeing parties stick to their guns, especially if two companies lock horns and their lawyers refused to back down. Usually the matter then ends up in the courts, and is eventually be resolved one way or the other. This gets into legal issues that I am totally unqualified to even talk about. Usually, claims of trademark infringement would be used by a company challenging a prior domain name registration.

DNS Second-Level and Lower Domains, Delegation of Registration Authority and Public Registration 1 2 3 4 DNS Name Space Administrative Hierarchy Partitioning: DNS Zones of Authority