Overview of the Internet, from Trademark Protection on the Internet in for Non Top-Level Domains Used as Top-level Domains

By Owen Smigelski, Esq.

© 2001-2003, All rights reserved.

This Comment is provided as educational material, and should not be utilized as legal advice. Reproduction is authorized with proper citation to this original source. For a free trademark consultation, please contact the author.

1. Preface
2. Introduction
3. Overview of Trademark Law
4. Overview of the Internet
   1. Internet History
   2. TCP/IP
   3. Domain Name System (DNS)
5. Internet Trademark Law
6. The non-US domains
   1. Introduction/Background
   2. Repurposed ccTLDs not currently accepting new registrations
   3. Repurposed ccTLDs with no trademark protection or dispute resolution procedure
   4. Repurposed ccTLDs with dispute resolution procedures based on old NSI examples
   5. Repurposed ccTLDs with dispute resolution procedures identical to ICANN's UDRP
7. Jurisdictional concerns with non-US domain names
8. Conclusion

III.       Overview of the Internet

A.        Internet History

            The Internet of today evolved from research funded by United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).[64]  Initially known as ARPANET, the first two computers were connected remotely through this network in September 1969.[65]  The underlying network technologies of ARPANET were designed to function without any centralized control.  In theory, the network would survive even if there were partial outages of the network.[66]  The method of communicating over the Internet, known as TCP/IP, was implemented in 1973-4.[67]  The Web was invented in 1990 as method of instantaneous information transfer for physicists working at different universities and institutions throughout the world.[68]   In 1990, the United States government decommissioned ARPANET, with the National Science Foundation (NSF) taking over the managing role of the Internet backbone.[69] 

            In December, 1992, the NSF entered into an agreement with Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) in which NSI would be responsible for, and maintain sole control over, the domain registration of the dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org gTLDs.[70]  In 1995, the NSF withdrew from control of the Internet, turning the backbone over to a consortium of commercial providers.[71]  Today, there is no one entity that controls the Internet.  It is a collaborative effort, with people, institutions, and companies developing new technologies and applications for the Internet.  After NSI's agreement expired, it entered into a two-year extension that expired in September 2000.  Under the terms of that agreement, NSI agreed to allow other registrars to register domain names.  Amid concerns of NSI's ability to effectively and neutrally maintain the DNS system, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was created.[72]   ICANN is a non-profit corporation that is responsible for establishing standards for how the domain name hierarchy of the Internet will operate.[73]  It is ICANN that is responsible for developing dispute resolution procedures over trademarks that are registered as domain names.

B.         TCP/IP[74]

            TCP/IP is the protocol, or method, which data is transmitted and routed over the Internet.[75]  TCP, or Transmission Control Protocol, is responsible for verifying delivery of data from client to server.  IP, or Internet Protocol, is responsible for moving packets of data between nodes.[76]  Every computer connected to the Internet uses and understands these two protocols.  To transmit data, TCP first breaks down every piece of data into small pieces called packets.[77]  These packets are numbered and placed together in TCP envelopes.[78]  The largest amount of data that can be transmitted in one TCP envelope is 1500 characters, so often many are required for even a simple email.  IP then determines how the data is to be transmitted across the Internet through a series of routers, akin to how letters pass through several post offices before reaching their final destinations.[79]  IP determines the optimum path for each envelope to travel at the time of transmission, thus it is possible for each of the packets of a single email to travel a different path to reach their destination.[80]  Once the packets reach their destination, TCP identifies each packet and verifies that it is intact.[81]  If some of the packets are missing or corrupt, TCP requests the transmitter to resend those packets.  Once all of the packets have been received, TCP reassembles them and passes the data for use by the appropriate Internet application.[82]  The utilization of TCP/IP for the transfer of data over the Internet means that information may traverse several jurisdictions or countries in order to reach its final destination.[83]  The Internet is thus “a global medium transposed on the historical system of separate physical jurisdictions.”[84] 

            Locations on the Internet as called IP addresses.  They are represented by a 32-bit number, written as four decimal numbers, each part representing 8 bits, and look like 216.98.135.119.[85]  Read from left to right, they give information about the location of the computer on the Internet.  The Internet is essentially a network of networks, and the beginning numbers identify which network the location is part of.  The right-most number is the computer or host that should receive the data packet.  It is with these IP addresses that IP uses to transmit data packets through routers across the Internet.[86]

C.        The Domain Name System

            The Domain Name System simplifies usage of the Internet by converting IP addresses into names.  It is used mostly to translate between domain names and IP addresses, and also controls Internet email delivery.[87]  Since the early days of the Internet, names have been used to represent the numeric IP addresses, as it is easier to remember a name than a string of seemingly random numbers.[88]  The DNS system was introduced in 1984.[89]  Prior to 1984, the Network Information Center (NIC) maintained a central registry of computer names.  This registry, known as the hosts file, was regularly disseminated across the network to every computer.[90]  As the Internet grew rapidly, it became impractical to notify a central authority each time a computer was added to the network or moved.  Domain names on the Internet have a similar structure,[91] and are read starting at the far right and working left.[92]  An example of a domain name is www.smigelski.org, which is the author's personal web page.  This domain name corresponds to the IP address of 66.226.79.11.[93]  While accessing the Web, or while sending email, a user's computer will utilize several DNS servers to locate the correct IP address of the server or host to be reached, starting with “org,” then “smigelski,” and finally “www”.[94]  Each of these levels is referred to as a “domain”. The entire name,  www.smigekski.org, is called a "domain name".  The “org” domain is referred to as “top-level domain” (TLD)[95], and “smigelski” is referred to as a “second-level domain” (SLD).[96]  The process is almost transparent to the user, and often people utilizing the Internet will access DNS servers hundreds of times per day without realizing it.[97]  The DNS system has grown to handle billions of information requests per day from millions of users, and, relying upon name servers throughout the world, has remained extremely reliable.[98]

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