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Net Q & A
Question of the Month: January 2002
What are the new domain name suffixes and should lawyers use them to register domain names?
Answer
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN, set up by the U.S. Department of Commerce to oversee the Internet's address system) recently approved seven new "top level domains" to replace supplement the familiar .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov and .mil for United States use. The new top level domains are:
| General | Purpose |
| .biz | Businesses. |
| .info | Any use. |
| .pro | Professionals, like lawyers, physicians or accountants. |
| .name | Registration by individuals. |
| Specific Sectors | Purpose |
| .museum | Museums. |
| .aero | Air transport industry. |
| .coop | Co-operative businesses or organizations. |
Because the .pro domain is not restricted to lawyers, it requires that the letters "law" be included before the ".pro" suffix. For example:
smith.law.pro
Do lawyers need to register the .pro extension for their law firm's web site? There is probably no need to do so for the foreseeable future. The .com name has become firmly fixed in the public mind with businesses and professionals of all sorts. It will be years, if ever, before the .pro suffix catches up.
Resources
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Should My Law Firm Have More Than One Domain Name? Internet Roundtable #23, published at LLRX.com. |
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Dot-pro -- Interesting article from The Internet Journal about effect of .pro on lawyers. PDF format. |
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.pro Domain Info -- Information from Mark Pruner of WebCounsel.com, including subscriptions to online discussion group about domain names & lawyers. |
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Send us your questions. We'll select the best each month and answer it here. On request, questions will be edited to conceal the questioner's identity.
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This page last revised: January 1, 2002.