International Keywords
International Keywords are a form of navigation, much like domain names.A user simply types an ikeyword into their browser (some versions of internet explorer, netscape or opera) and hey presto they arrive at a site.
Why would anyone use them?
Thats the real question. The main reason is that they are much easier to remember and use. They are plain english, so for example "oracle 9i" is an ikeyword. When you type this in you arrive, not only at the oracle.com, but the actual specific section related to 9i.
Where do they work?
All over the place. Most of the time you will see them working in your browser, but they also work in search engines (for example Teemo), mobile phones and some PDAs.
A lot of disabled people have also started using them with voice navigation, since saying "oracle 9i" is much easier than saying "w w w dot oracle dot com slash applications ...."
How much do they cost
Ikeywords cost about $45 per year.
Someone has registered my company name... what can I do?
The status of ikeyword ownership is still a little blurred, thankfully the registry for ikeywords operates a pretty good dispute resolution service.
If someone has registered a trademark of yours then the best thing to do is start a dispute.... Online Dispute Resolution Service
If that still fails then you can take the usual legal action.
Whats the deal with special characters?
Because ikeywords support languages like Korean and Chinese, latin characters like slashes and dots arent allowed.