In the Wild West, a wildcatter was a person who drilled for oil in places where nobody expected it. Many times, the wildcatter would hit a dry hole, but once in a while . . . PAYDIRT !!

Now, we're in the world of information technology and the Internet. Anyone who has watched television, picked up a newspaper, or even walked down the street recently is familiar with of the ever-expanding reach of the Internet. "Internet start- ups," "dot-coms," and "e-commerce," are words on the lips of every business person and even most ordinary consumers these days. Online business is definitely the wave of the future. That is why many "real-world" businesses are scrambling to establish an Internet presence. This desperation has left these businesses vulnerable to what is now commonly referred to as "cybersquatting" or "cyberpiracy."

A presence on the Internet must start with a "domain name" as a unique identifier. Most businesses obviously choose to use their trademarks as domain names because consumers are already familiar with those marks. A trademark is any word, symbol, device, 

or combination of these to identify and distinguish the source of one's goods or services, rather than merely the goods or services themselves. Because most Internet users know that companies use their trademarks as domain names, people will often type in a company's trademark into their Web Browsers in the hope of finding the company's website. Thus, using a product or company's trademark as a domain name makes access to a website more convenient for consumers and boosts online commercial success. Without the use of an easily identifiable trademark as a domain name, the consumer must USUALLY utilize an online search engine, or the company must promote a less recognizable domain name. We say "usually," because there is an important exception. More and more, people are starting to type in generic domain names directly into a web browser. When users are looking for used cars, they will type in "usedcars.com," and when they are looking for wine, they will type in "wine.com." It's no surprise or coincidence that the highest-priced domain names on the Internet are precisely those which are most likely to be typed in directly into a customer's Web browser when he or she is looking for a particular product or service.

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