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Article: Domain Name Games.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- New York Times Upfront
- Article date:
- November 29, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Scholastic, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Who owns a Web address? A business with that name? Or the first person there?
To the brokers at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., the plan seemed simple enough: Set up a Web site where clients could buy and sell stocks online, which would boost Morgan Stanley's profits and give them an edge on their Wall Street competitors. Trouble was, the brokers hadn't banked on Ivan Wong, a 17-year-old California high school senior.
The Morgan Stanley Dean Witter executives had planned to use a Web site address based on their company's initials and that clients could easily remember: msdwonline.com. Wong, however, had already registered that address, or domain name, ...