One of the important issues considered is the relationship between domain names and trademarks. Originally domain names were intended to perform only the function of helping connect computers through the Internet. Today, domain names have come to constitute a form of business identifier, because they are easy to remember and use. Businesses have started to realize the significant potential of web sites as a primary means of facilitating electronic commerce. By using trademarks as their domain names, businesses hope to attract potential customers to their web sites and increase their market visibility, and ultimately their sales and profits. (Id.) Domain names are now used routinely in advertising as a means of indicating the presence of a business on the Internet. Domain names are also important identifiers and can symbolize a business’s goodwill and recognition in the marketplace. (Id.)

Under the current system, however, there are simply not enough domain names available. Conflicts between domain names and trademarks present unusual features that the ordinary judicial system finds problematic. That system is also territorially based, so that it cannot always provide a comprehensive solution to a conflict with a global dimension. (Id.)

Currently, no single DNS reformation plan has received worldwide support or consensus. (Eric T. Fingerhut & P.L. Skip Singleton, Jr., The gTLD-MoU: A Yellow Flag For Trademark Owners On The Information Superhighway, 38 IDEA: J.L. & Tech. 281, 281 (1998).) The most viable DNS plan envisioned for the Internet is a comprehensive proposal, entitled "The Memorandum of Understanding on the Generic Top Level Domain Name Space of the Internet Domain Name System" ("gTLD-MoU"). (Id.)

The gTLD-MoU shifts control of the DNS from the government to the private sector. It is an ambitious plan with global implications and complexities, including self-regulation, global governance, increased generic top level domain name choices and a shared system of generic top level domain names. (Id. at 284.) Its goal is to create a stable and predictable global commercial environment for the DNS. Its design is to be an international framework with the flexibility to adapt to the continued demand of the DNS. The gTLD-MoU is a "voluntary" plan with public and private sector actors, including internationally respected companies and organizations that have agreed to utilize the Internet's top-level domain name space as a "worldwide public trust." (Id. at 286.) This is a good example of international cooperation that can lead to harmonization of national Internet legislation.