Bubbles is in a very bad mood, Mukesh. He found out that someone had already booked the domain name 'Bubbles.com' for a pet dog.

Just like we all have an address in real life, comprising a building name, street name, suburb, city and state, the Internet, too, allocates a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that helps people 'find' each other in cyberspace. All addresses have an extension, which could be .com, .org or .edu amongst others.

While looking for our own domain name, Bubbles and I have found a lot of useful information you might want to look at.

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WEB RESOURCES:

A great place to begin is the LearntheNet that explains the basics about how web addresses work.

What is a domain name and what are its components? What is an IP Address? The Beginners' Domain Guide and this feature ought to clear up these basic concepts.

Who administers domain names? ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit organisation formed for this purpose. They have recently accredited .biz and .info to the current stable of .com, .org etc.

Once you have decided on the name, you can check for its availability by logging on to Network Solutions. It will tell you whether the name is available, and if not, also suggest alternative domain names. Bubbles insisted I try the evildoctor.com, but I find it is already taken. You can also use Check Domain for name availability. And no Mukesh, domain names are not free.

To make sure that the name you have chosen is not a trademark and avoid complications in the future, don't forget MarksOnline.

People in business should create profitable domain names and also avoid legal problems by getting their facts right.

Once you are through all these steps, you can then go ahead and either book directly with Network Solutions or via a reseller like 123 Domain Registry, which also offers services like web designing and hosting.

I have often been asked about cybersquatting. This is basically the occupation of web site domains by people who seek to trade on famous names, an increasingly lucrative trend.

Some of the famous cases were that of Bruce Springsteen who lost when the panel ruled that the Canadian fan had a legitimate interest in using www.brucespringsteen.com. Another famous singer who was involved in a dispute was Madonna.

Also read about a convention held by the World Intellectual Property Organisation to discuss cybersquatting.

A list of disputed domain names is available on the Dmoz Project site alongwith additional resources.

Disputes in cyberspace are mediated by the World Intellectual Property Organisation and an overview of their activities in the area of domain names are available here. World Domain Rights also carries an update about cases currently under duspute.

Countries have their own domain naming system called the country code domains. For example, Japan has .jp while India holds .in. Find out more about domain registration in different countries. An overview of Indian domain names is also available.

'What's in a name?' wrote Shakespeare. Today, the answer to that question would probably run into a dozen pages and a few million dollars. As for me, I'm off to book my domain name before someone beats me to it.