The internet faces a radical shake-up at this year’s Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) meeting in Paris, where proposals for a relaxation of the rules on top-level domain names will be put to a vote.

If approved, new registration rules could allow companies to register actual brand names as domain names, in a move widening the current 21-strong suite of domains from favourites such as .com, .org, .co.uk. and .eu.

The new regulations would allow any public or private organisation from anywhere in the world to register any string of letters as a top-level domain name so long as it can show a business plan and technical capacity. This option will not come cheap, although no pricing guidelines are currently available.

Paul Twomey of ICANN notes that the revised naming convention would give rise to a ‘massive increase in the geography of the real estate of the internet’. While companies will be able to secure domain names based on their intellectual property easily, some domain names could become bones of contention and even start bidding wars.

The benefits of a universally recognised name on the internet are enormous, and this radical shake up is being likened to the democratic impact of multi-channel television, with plans including allowing domain names to be written in scripts for Asian and Arabic languages for the first time.