The .DO Domain at 25: Why a Dominican Web Address Is Also a Legal Asset

In 2016, the Dominican Republic’s corner of the internet turned 25. The country marked the anniversary of its .DO top-level domain with Internet Week, a four-day event held August 22 to 25 and organized by the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Registry (LACNIC), ICANN, the Latin America and Caribbean TLD Association (LACTLD), the Dominican Telecom Institute (Indotel) and the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, which administers the .DO registry.

The milestone came with a telling statistic: according to LACTLD, country-code domains across Latin America and the Caribbean kept posting positive annual growth even as registrations slowed across every other group of top-level domains. Local addresses, in other words, were gaining ground precisely because they signal local presence.

For businesses, that is where the legal question begins. A .do domain registration is a contract with a registry — it is not a trademark, and it confers no exclusive right over the name beyond the address itself. The reverse is also true: owning a Dominican trademark does not automatically secure the matching domain, and cybersquatters exploit exactly that gap, registering brand names as domains before the brand owner arrives.

The practical takeaway for any company building a Dominican web presence: align the two registrations. Secure the .do domain early, register the corresponding trademark with ONAPI, and treat both as part of the same brand-protection file rather than separate IT and legal chores.

Our technology practice advises on e-commerce, domain and brand protection strategy in the Dominican Republic — a conversation worth having before your name is worth taking.

Do you want more information about our E-Commerce legal services in Dominican Republic? Contact Us.

Disclaimer: This publication is not intended to provide advice or suggest a guaranteed outcome as individual situations will differ and the situation may have changed since publication. For specific advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.

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