Many major celebrities, big corporations and mere mortals have had a rude awakening in discovering that their names are not theirs alone on the Web. This realisation has led to a slew of lawsuits, and the rise of a booming new industry to help secure domains for companies and celebrities with a name worth protecting. One of the most prominent of the new breed of Internet domain management companies, 1Global Place, visited this week's giant Cebit computer and telecommunications fair in Hanover, Germany to drum up business. Mr Tobias Wann, chairman of the European division of the US company, told AFP in an interview that many companies with copyrights on their names have been surprised to discover that so-called cybersquatters have the right to use the name on the Internet if they get to it first.

He said companies such as America Online have found as they expand internationally that "www.Aol" followed by a country code had already been "squatted" by rival national Internet service providers. "Each country is just a click away and there has to be continuity in the names you are using," Mr Wann said.