We keep hearing that generic names are not valuable. Some are valuable and
some are not. The internet is more conducive to certain types of business
than others. Phone.com keeps coming up. Most people wouldn't think of either
buying phones or changing telcos (whatever those people do) via the net.

So Barnes and Noble has books.com and doesn't use it. It doesn't need to use
it because it already has a good name. Its a good defensive strategy to keep
it off a competitor who may have made good use of it. Had Amazon got the
name first it may well have simply branded itself books.com.

Generic names don't necessarily mean you don't have to promote your site.
They can give you better value for your advertising dollar however. Once you
are told that a certain product is associated with a certain generic domain,
you don't forget it in a hurry. If you see an ad to the effect that a travel
business has a website at lets say harveytravel.com.au you may well not
recall that next year when you want a holiday. You are much less likely to
forget travel.com.au.

Generic names will also give you a better ranking on some search engines.

Stephen Gethin
IT Lawyer

This email represents my own views and not those of my firm. Where this
email contains comment on legal issues it should not be considered legal
advice. (I know that you don't think that it does, but I have to say it
anyway.)