Law firm sees end of road for .com names

That's the view of Garretts New Media, an international law firm division which specialises in IT matters, on the eve of a new structure and policing system for international commercial domain names. As of May, Net trademarks and new categories proposed by the IAHC, comprising .firm, .store, .web, .arts, .rec, .info and .nom will begin to take their place, requiring a rethinking of registration policies.

"The common practice of registering in the .com domain as an international category may disappear," said Mark Turner, a partner at Garretts. "[The initiative] will change the rules for domain name registration in every country in the world. It also has teeth because it can enforce the suspension of a domain name."

Garretts can be contacted by telephone can be contacted by telephone on 0171-344 0344.