Gray Chynoweth's blog

Reading the news reports this week of President Obama’s Asian tour, especially his visit to China and discussions with its leadership, I could not but reflect on my own trip last month as an invited participant in the China International Education Forum. The invitation had been extended from the Chinese organizers of the forum because they had heard through US channels of the StayWorkPlay initiative here in New Hampshire.

An Nyoung from South Korea! In keeping with Dyn Inc.’s commitment to driving the development of a better Internet, two members of the Dyn Inc. team (Jeremy and Gray) will be in Seoul for ICANN 36. ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is the policy governance body for the Internet, which three times a year, gathers to develop the policies and that ensure the availability of one global, interoperable network.

It didn’t make headlines, but it is an interesting sign of the Internet times that, effective January 1, 2009 , the United State Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) changed the International Classification of “domain name registration services” to Class 45 (defined below). The reason that the move is interesting is that it is just one more indication that the world of the Internet is becoming less and less about technology and more and more about law and policy.

In 1999, eCompanies, Inc. ‘purchased’ the domain name ‘business.com’ for 7.5 million dollars. At the time, it was the most ever spent on ‘purchasing’ a domain name. If eCompanies had spent that money on a new office building or hot air balloon rides for all its employees, everyone would have a pretty clear picture on what the company got for its money. It didn’t, and everyone doesn’t. This article provides some brief discussion of what it means to ‘own’ a domain name, and why most people (even many ‘experts’) get confused when they talk about domain name ‘ownership.’