This may therefore be a crucial period during which to act or react to domain name issues.
Domain names are presently the coin of the realm on the Internet.
New technologies may eventually render domain names obsolete, but present Internet technology, both on the Internet itself and on the desktops of users, relies largely on domain names as identifiers of the source or affiliation of Internet websites. As would be expected in any case where new value is created almost out of nowhere, many disputes have arisen between real and putative trademark holders and domain name registrants. It is necessary to provide InterNIC with an official certified copy of the registration, from the PTO, to effectuate this process, but besides this formality the procedure is quite simple and quite effective for trademark holders. In essence the existing policy allows trademark holders to freeze domain names registered by others that are superficially the same as the registered mark, and effectively hands them over to the registered holder. This latter factor is increasingly being relied on in the courts, notwithstanding a number of earlier rulings to the contrary.