Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

The Development Of Arbitration In The Resolution Of Internet Domain Name Disputes, Christopher S. Lee

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Web surfers who use the AltaVista Internet search engine may not realize that in 1998, Compaq Computer Corporation paid $3.3 million for the rights to the domain name AltaVista.com. A year later, eCompanies paid $7.5 million for the domain name business.com. And in February of 2000, Bank of America paid $3 million for the domain name loans.com. These transactions demonstrate that the ownership, transfer, and control of Internet domain names is a multi-million dollar industry.