ICANN’s Debating what’s in a domain name

Should a company be allowed to run a generic term such as tire, insurance or book as a domain and wall off its use from competitors? That’s the question the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is wrestling with as it prepares to begin awarding firms new top-level domains — the words to the right of the dot. The nonprofit firm has been evaluating about 1,900 applications for new domains, many of them common dictionary terms.