Thomas Halket, a partner at the New York office of law firm Bingham Dana LLP, sits on two panels that resolve disputes occurring over Web site domain names: the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Center for Dispute Resolution. He explains how companies can protect their domain names, and what to do if their domain is violated.

DIRECT: What problems do companies have concerning their domain names?

HALKET: There are at least four causes of harm. One is picking a name that lets you mooch traffic by using a domain name similar to another one. For example, using www.microsofty.com instead of www.microsoft.com.

The second cause of harm is when a site sells goods similar to another company’s goods, and is trying to lure customers. For example, the arbitration case in which a guy was selling FDNY and NYPD caps from a site called www.fdnyandnypd.com. Someone from the New York City fire or police department complained because they felt someone was profiting from their name without being licensed to do so.

A third is to pick a name similar to a company’s and then sell it back to the company for a profit. If I have smith.com and I sell $100 million worth of teas a year and someone registers smithteas.com, he is registering it in the hopes that I will buy it.

A fourth is actively trying to interfere with your competitor’s business. Say your competing company is www.smith.com and you are www.jones.com. If you can grab smith.org, you can put anything you want on the Web site, such as:

Thomas Halket, a partner at the New York office of law firm Bingham Dana LLP, sits on two panels that resolve disputes occurring over Web site domain names: the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Center for Dispute Resolution. He explains how companies can protect their domain names, and what to do if their domain is violated.

Direct: What problems do companies have concerning their domain names?

Halket: There are at least four causes of harm. One is picking a name that lets you mooch traffic by using a domain name similar to another one. For example, using www.microsofty.com instead of www.microsoft.com.

The second cause of harm is when a site sells goods similar to another company