AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Abstract

Dotcom domain names (.com) have become the most commonly used type of top-level domain (TLD). In fact, there are more .com domain names registered than the sum of all current “national” domain names. There is a common perception that .com domain names are international. This perception may be based on the visual contrast of .com (or other gTLDs ) with ccTLDs, such as .br for Brazil or .no for Norway. While ccTLDs seem to indicate that websites that are referred to by this type of domain names are related to a specific country, “.com” domain names do not carry any such geographic distinction. This lack of location indicative in the TLD may give the impression that gTLDs are, indeed, not bound to a particular country. The scope of this work is to answer whether the international status of .com domain names is recognized through their contractual regulation and if courts recognize such status when dealing with disputes over domain names or takedown requests.