GENERIC DOMAIN NAMES (gTLDs)

Generic domain names were created so as to be widely used by the Internet Community. Originally, the domains set were: .com, .net, .org, .gov, .edu, .mil and .int. Five of these generic domains were international in their nature and tow of them were reserved for their use by organisms from the U.S.A..

International domains are:

1. .COM: The .COM domain was created with the aim of covering the requirements of commercial organisms. The volume of registers of .COM domains was dramatically increased, until it involved an administrative and operation overload for the system. Even the possibility was considered of creating a subdivision and allowing only sub-domains of existing .com domains.
2. .EDU: The .EDU domain was born to be used by any educative institution: universities, colleges, institutes, schools, educational service institutions, education consortiums, etc. Furtherly, its access was limited to those institutions which carry out superior studies of over four years.
3. .INT: The .INT domain was addressed from the start to organisations created on the basis of international treaties or databases. It has not been widely used.
4. .NET: The .NET domain was created to provide support to the computers of any network supplier, so that they could sub-divide their .net domain for their customers. Actually, it became the plan B for those who found their .com domain occupied.
5. .ORG: The .ORG domain was established with the aim of giving service to organisations, but it soon became an alternative for those who found their .com or .net domains not available. Another aim was to provide support for non-government organizations.

The domains reserved for US entities were:

1. .GOV: The .GOV domain, designed for any kind of government agency or office. After a short period, it was decided that it would only be available for US Federal Government agencies, and that local or state agencies would register their names under the geographic .us domain.
2. .MIL: The .MIL domain was probably the most restricted one, as its use was restricted for military entities of the US only.

Definitely, the most successful domains were .com and .net, and .com has been the most widely registered and consequently, the one which has arisen most of the problems concerning trademarks. Currently, there are about 39 million domains registered, of which over 28 million are .com domains. Statistics show very clearly which has been the most successful domain.

On November 16, 2000 ICANN approved the creation of seven new generic domains: .biz, .info, .name, .pro, .museum, .aero, .coop. Every type of domain has its specific features, while the register in charge of the database is also different in each case.

The appearing of these seven new domains could be considered as a First Stage of the Test ("proof of concept") in order to see what is the direction taken by domain names in the future.

Main features of every domain:

1. .BIZ: The meaning of this domain is the phonetic abbreviation of business. The register of this name is completely free, although those who register a .biz domain must acknowledge that the name of the domain will be used with commercial purposes.
2. .INFO: It is the abbreviation for information. It is a completely free domain, just like .com.
3. .PRO: It is a domain basically reserved to 3 types of professionals. It features the following sub-domains: .med.pro for phisicians, .law.pro for attorneys and .cpa.pro for auditors.
4. .NAME: It is an open domain, but for a specifically personal use. Its aim is to register the names of natural persons. The structure of the register is as follows: my surname.myname.name (e.g.: javier.rodríguez.name).
5. .COOP: This domain is reserved to cooperatives. Therefore, it is a completely restricted domain, as in order to have a .coop domain, an organization must proof that it is registered as such. The name of the domain must be the same as the name of the cooperative.
6. .AERO: It is a restricted type of domain for aircraft industry: air companies, aircraft manufacturers, airports, etc.
7. .MUSEUM: The .museum domain is restricted, and only those museums which are registered as such can own one domain with such features.