The term geodomain refers to
domain names that are exact matches in spelling to geographic locations, such as
cities and
countries
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, so ...
. They are unrelated to the
ccTLDs such as the
.us
.us is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. It was established in early 1985. Registrants of .us domains must be U.S. citizens, residents, or organizations, or a foreign entity with a presence in the United ...
country code domain. Examples of geodomains are Atlanta.com, LosAngeles.com, Texas.com and LongIsland.com. Since geographical names are limited in number, and have good
name recognition, geodomains are valuable, with the
.com
The domain name .com is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Added at the beginning of 1985, its name is derived from the word ''commercial'', indicating its original intended purpose for domains registere ...
extension valued the most. Geodomains tend to provide a virtual representation of the locations they serve—for example, Hawaii.com is heavily
tourism focused, while Syracuse.com and Madison.com have more local content. Collectively, geographic domain names are estimated to represent approximately over 500 million
dollars a year in gross
hotel bookings alone.
Seizure of France.com
Unlike United States law, GEO domains and trademark rights may be treated differently around the world as in 2018 the European Country of
France successfully seized France.com from its owner, a
Miami, Florida resident, who according to a lawsuit filed in California had lawfully owned and used the domain name in commerce since 1994. This was an unprecedented occurrence where the registrar,
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is an American-based technology company and a subsidiary of Web.com, the 4th largest .com domain name registrar with over 6.7 million registrations as of August 2018. In addition to being a domain name registrar, Network S ...
(Web.com), was intimidated by a French Court Order, despite the lack of
jurisdiction, and transferred the domain name to the complainant without notifying the owner of France.com, Jean-Noel Frydman, who is suing and will likely take years to sort out.
Industry conferences
* In 2008 the GeoDomain Expo was held in Chicago from July 10–12.
* In 2010 the GeoDomain Expo was held in New Orleans from April 28-30
2010 GeoDomain expo coverage story
/ref>
Highest reported sales
Many geodomains were reported to be sold for high amounts. Among them:
See also
* GeoTLD
A geographic top-level domain (often shortened as geographic TLD or geoTLD) is any of an unofficial group of top-level domains in the Domain Name System of the Internet using the name of or invoking an association with a geographical, geopolitical ...
References
External links
The Future Of Geo Domains: Chicago.com Makes $125K In 1st Year Of Selling SubDomains & Email Addresses
''City dot-coms still waiting to strike it rich'' article
Domain Name System
{{Compu-domain-stub