The move comes as groups call for better segmentation of the Web and the chance to register addresses using single common words. Some companies are trying to stop the expansion plan. They already have problems protecting multi-million dollar trademarks online and don't want a larger community to police. As the Internet becomes more popular outside the U.S., trademark enforcement has grown more difficult, said Sarah Deutsch, chief intellectual property counsel at Bell Atlantic, the second-largest U.S. local phone company.
Domains control how Web users get to specific sites, functioning as a telephone directory.
When a user types in a Web address, the request travels to a host computer over a network and then to the server containing the domain registry. The registered name is linked to a multi-digit number that tells the computer where to find the Web site. The process takes seconds. These include country codes such as .us, used by authorized groups and state governments, and closed domains such as .edu, used by schools and other educational organizations. The .net and .org have about 1.4 million addresses.