Subject: Can domain names have a dash (-)?

From: Gerry Jensen <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 13:43:27 -0600 (MDT)

Recently, another company approached us requesting to take our domain name
from us.  They claim they have it trademarked which we haven't really
investigated yet.  Anyway, if we do have to change our domain name, we
might want to change it to 'opti-med.com'.  Does anyone know if it is
legal to have a dash (-) in a domain name?  If it is legal, could any
problems arise from it's use (like confusing mail readers)? 

Gerry
[email-masked]

PS: Sorry, I know this isn't a Debian-specific question, but I thought I'd
ask here because I know Debian users are the smartest, most coolest guys
(and gals) around.  :)

---

From: [email-masked] (Tim Sailer)
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 23:48:23 -0400 (EDT)

> from us.  They claim they have it trademarked which we haven't really

Research it. IF you had the domain before they had the trademark, they
are SOL. Check with the internic.

> problems arise from it's use (like confusing mail readers)? 

the '-' is legal, the '_' is no longer legal.

Tim

-- 
 (work) [email-masked] / (home) [email-masked] - http://www.buoy.com/~tps
       "Nothing is work unless you'd rather be doing something else."
           - George Halas
** Disclaimer: My views/comments/beliefs, as strange as they are, are my own.**

---

From: "Heiko R. Selber" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 10:10:40 +0200 (MET DST)

> problems arise from it's use (like confusing mail readers)? 

There are bazillions of them, like my old one:

'tu-berlin.de' for the Technical University of Berlin.

Never had any problem with it.

Heiko
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heiko Selber (Fritz-Haber-Institut Berlin)   | Vs lbh pna ernq guvf       |
http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/~selber         | lbh unir jnfgrq lbhe gvzr. |
email: [email-masked]              | UBX                        |
Phone:+49-30-8413-4574, Fax:+49-30-8413-4686 |____________________________|

---

From: [email-masked] (Heiko Schlittermann)
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 08:25:41 +0200 (MET DST)

Gerry Jensen wrote:
: 
: might want to change it to 'opti-med.com'.  Does anyone know if it is
: legal to have a dash (-) in a domain name?  If it is legal, could any
: problems arise from it's use (like confusing mail readers)? 

Read some RFC's or simply ask the DNS for e.g. `ardenne-at.de' ...

    Heiko
--
email : [email-masked] [email-masked] [email-masked]
pgp   : A1 7D F6 7B 69 73 48 35  E1 DE 21 A7 A8 9A 77 92 
finger: [email-masked]         [email-masked]