Up until now the domain-name game has been played between registrant and registrar; one sells, the other buys; and then the domain is put to work anchoring a website or parked in hopes that ad income will find its way to the owner while he waits for somebody with money to purchase the domain. That might all change if giant registrar Godaddy gets its way. According to United States Patent Application 20090171823, the giant registrar wants to bring underwriters into the game by selling them equity shares in domains.

This patent initiative takes considerable nerve on Godaddy's part considering the disaster created by financial derivatives in the last year; but then nobody has ever accused Godaddy of lacking nerve. On the other hand, the application was made in December of 2007, almost a year before the balloon went up and the market went down, down, down. Now that the market is clawing its way back upward Godaddy must have decided to go public with the idea.

The invention also recognizes that the registrant (domain owner) and the new underwriters will need greater protection against fraud and outright theft than exists in the system at the present; the invention, they insist, will take care of that. Much as I'd like to explain how the invention or process would accomplish this feat, I found the explanations given in the patent application impenetrable by anyone but a patent lawyer. No doubt illumination will come later; for now I'm willing to take their word for it; after all, something has to be done.

This greater security, the patent application claims, will benefit all the players by allowing those that want to invest in domain-name share equities to invest with confidence that their money won't be stolen, and at the same time let the domainer do what he does best (which, I assume, is create value by registering the name).

Although it isn't mentioned, I think one possible benefit to domain owners might be the added protection against companies making unreasonable claims of cybersquatting against them. It is one thing for these bullies with their money and lawyers to go up against the average domainer, and quite another to take a run against the financial muscle of banks and insurance companies holding shares of these threatened domains in the new domain game; and even the registrars themselves will be forced to show some interest in the domain's ownership instead of looking the other way when things go wrong as they do now.

While the devil, as always, will be in the details, any system that will allow domain owners increased income and security should be allowed a chance to succeed. Although equities have lost some of their luster in recent months, historically they have been a good source of investment income. Even such commodities as gold and silver can be purchased as shares. Why not domains? Corporations, the usual source of equity shares are often referred to as "legal fictions." Are domain names any less real?