Patent ID: 8015317

Claim:
A method for assigning domain names configured according to a domain name system, the method comprising: by a subdomain management system comprising computer hardware: receiving requests from respective domain name holders for a subdomain licensing service; communicating with domain name servers to effect reassignment of name service records for fully-qualified domain names belonging to one or more of the respective domain name holders, whereby the fully-qualified domain names are associated with at least one IP address of the subdomain management system; providing a service confirmation message to the one or more of the respective domain name holders from which fully-qualified domain names have been reassigned; accessing a database of subdomain labels for the fully-qualified domain names, wherein each subdomain label is not associated with an IP address in the name service records, the database relating each subdomain label to a user-determinable address for content and to at least one of the fully-qualified domain names; and communicating with network users to relate via the database user selected subdomain labels with user selected ones of the fully-qualified domain names to provide subdomain names without authorization from the domain name holders, each subdomain name comprising a fully-qualified domain name and at least one subdomain label to the left of the fully-qualified domain name, wherein the subdomain management system belongs to a separate entity from the domain name holders and the network users.