Domain Name Registrations: Curiosities and Historical Facts
A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Nuno Rolinho
The Beginnings of Domain Name Registrations
The first domain name ever was "symbolics.com" which registration was applied by Symbolics Technology, Inc. This domain name was registered on March 15th 1985.
The First Companies to Apply for a Domain Name Registration
Xerox, IBM, AT&T, Bell, NASA and Intel were some of the first companies to apply for their domain name registration.
A Domain Name Extension Used As Part of the Domain Name Itself
The meaning of a domain name extension is being used by several companies or individuals as a logical extension of their domain name. The Italian government has ruled that anyone could register an ".it" extension, since then domain names like "buy.it" (read "buy it") or "sell.it" (read "sell.it") appeared in the world wide web. Another country's useful extension is Tonga's ".to" which originated "fly.to" (read "fly to") or "takeatrip.to" (read "take a trip to").
Austria's ".at" and American Samoa's ".as" are also different alternatives for domain name owners who want to give another meaning to their domain names.
Odd Facts Concerning Domain Name Registrations
- All domain names with "A's" only, from "a.com" to "aaaaa[63characters maximum]aaa.com, have been registered or are already reserved.
- Every registration of a domain name with 3 characters (in no specific order) have always been registered or reserved.
- The record of domain name registrations owned by a single individual is 200 thousand. Lieven P. Van Neste is a Belgian citizen who has spent more than $2 Million on his domains collection
- According to the Guiness Book of World Records, the most expensive domain name till date was "business.com", the price of such registration was $7, 5 Million in 1999. The current status of this domain is just pathetic, it's just a simple business search based website. The truth is that ".com" domain names were sold long time ago to internet pioneers who realized their potential importance in a near future.
The Most Expensive Domains Ever
• Business.com $7, 500, 000 December 1999
• AltaVista.com $3, 250, 000 July 1999
• Loans.com $3, 000, 000 January 2000
• Wine.com $3, 000, 000 September 1999
• Autos.com $2, 200, 000 December 1999
• Express.com $2, 000, 000 December 1999
• WallStreet.com $1, 030, 000 April 1999
• eFlowers.com $1, 000, 000 February 1999
• ForSaleByOwner.com $835, 000 January 2000
• Drugs.com $823, 456 August 1999
• Cinema.com $700, 000 January 2000
• University.com $530, 000 June 1999
• Computer.com $500, 000 May 1999
Some Famous Domain Name Registration Battles:
www.roadrunner.com - Warner Brothers, Inc. (owner of Roadrunner Records) VS. Roadrunner Computer Systems
www.froogle.co.uk - Google VS. LWD Internet
www.nirvana.com - Kris Novaselic (ex-Nirvana bass player) VS. Courtney Love (Kurt Cobain's widow)
www.ajax.org - Creative Commons (non-profit organization) VS. Colgate-Palmolive
www.vw.net - Volkswagen VS. Virtual Works
www.sex.com - Gary Kremen VS. Stephen Michael Cohen
www.baa.com - Tom Bourke VS. British Airports Authority
www.teenmagazine.com - Teen Magazine VS. Blue Gravity
www.carmenelectra.com - Carmen Electra VS. Celebrity1000
www.federatedfarmers.com - Northland Federated Farmers VS. Federated Farmers of New Zealand
