Domain Name

Categories: Legal,

A combination of letters and numbers that identifies a specific computer or website on the Internet. A domain name usually consists of three parts: a generic "top-level" domain such as ".com" or ".gov" that identifies the type of organization; a second level domain such as nolo or yahoo, which identifies the organization, site, or individual; and a third level domain such as "www," which is used to identify a particular host server. Domain names have various functions. They can serve as an address (whitehouse.com), as a trademark (amazon.com), or as an expression of free speech (generalmotorssucks.com). trademark owners can, under some circumstances, stop others from using a domain name if it conflicts with their existing trademark. (See also: uniform resource locator (URL))