By Yasmine EDDAM
1 May 2025
Today, domain names are a strategic asset for any company operating on the Internet. Yet their legal nature remains difficult to define. These digital identifiers occupy an ambiguous position in our law, between a simple contractual right of use and true ownership. This classification is not just a theoretical question: it determines the protection afforded to the holder and the operations that can be carried out on this asset. The complex nature of domain names A technical resource first and foremost The domain name is first and foremost a technical addressing element on the Internet. It enables a numerical address (IP address) to be associated with a name that users can easily remember. This primary function explains the hierarchical technical organisation of the domain name system, with different levels (top-level domain such as ".fr", second-level domain such as "example.fr"). This technical nature determines the legal framework for domain names. The management of the...
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