Ms. Johnson said the city is not trying to shut down Web sites such as Mr. Gwinn's and does not plan to sue them. Mr. Gwinn said he does not plan to bring the site online until January. He said he would use a disclaimer, as he does on Dallas.org, to inform readers that they had not arrived at the mayor's official site. Under federal law, complaints that a domain name is being used in bad faith are arbitrated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a quasi-governmental organization. Disputes about domain names that use a city's name, Mr. Hicks wrote, are more difficult to challenge.
Cities are less likely to be able to prove that their names are trademarked.