Trademark registration is a key to domain name protection.

Kevin McNeely is an attorney in the Providence office of Partridge, Snow & Hahn, LLP, and may be reached for comment at kjm@psh.com.

On the web, a domain name can be an important asset for marketing and brand recognition. Rapid growth of new domain names has been causing interference between similar names and the potential for trademark infringement. While the domain name registrar provides a dispute resolution policy, this system offers few protections against many domain name misuses. Thus, federal trademark registration for a domain name can greatly enhance protection of this asset.

The domain name system allows the use of a user-friendly character string, such as company name, to access computers on the Internet by mapping the …