Legal Definitions - ICANN

ICANN, which stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a global non-profit organization responsible for coordinating the internet's unique identifiers. Its primary role is to manage the Domain Name System (DNS), which translates human-readable website addresses (like "example.com") into numerical IP addresses that computers use. ICANN ensures that the internet remains stable, secure, and globally interoperable, allowing users worldwide to access the same websites and online services seamlessly. It does not control internet content but rather the underlying addressing system that makes the internet function.

Here are some examples illustrating ICANN's role:

• Imagine a technology company wants to introduce a brand new type of website address, such as .tech or .blog, for specific industries or purposes. To make this new "Top-Level Domain" (TLD) available globally and ensure it works with all existing websites, the company must apply to ICANN. ICANN reviews and approves the creation of these new TLDs, then oversees their operation, ensuring they are properly integrated into the internet's global addressing system. Without ICANN's coordination, such a new domain would not be recognized or accessible worldwide.

• Consider a scenario where a well-known clothing brand discovers that someone has registered a domain name like brandname-official.com and is using it to sell counterfeit products. While ICANN doesn't directly resolve every dispute, it establishes the policies and framework for resolving such domain name conflicts, such as the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). This policy, implemented by domain registrars under ICANN's oversight, provides a mechanism for trademark holders to reclaim infringing domain names without resorting to lengthy court battles, thereby protecting intellectual property rights on the internet.

• When you type a website address like www.university.edu into your browser, regardless of whether you are in New York, London, or Sydney, you expect to reach the correct university website. This seamless global access is possible because ICANN coordinates the root servers of the Domain Name System (DNS). By managing the central database that links domain names to their corresponding IP addresses, ICANN ensures that when you request a website, your computer can find the correct server no matter where you are located, maintaining a single, unified internet experience for everyone.