Domain names are protectable as trademarks if they are used in the web site other than as part of the Internet address alone. For instance, Marklaw.com is a domain name because it is used in the URL, but also a trademark because it is used as a masthead to identify the service of providing trademark information. If Marklaw were not used on the page itself, but merely as a URL, then it is unlikely that it serves as a trademark. However, theoretically speaking, if the relevant consuming public understands a domain name to represent a particular Internet service, then it arguably is a trademark. Courts have yet to work out the fine lines in this area of law pertaining to the Internet.
