rewrite the statutes with every decision. It may well be that the Supreme Court had anticipated congressional inclination to amend and clarify the statute, and to give it the specificity and predictability that would be harder, though not impossible, to achieve by judicial decisions 2. The unique cases. Domain names and trademarks a. The unique cases. The Internet does not create an entirely new environment in the cases mentioned. Therefore, many of the legal problems that are raised in the Internet environment can find ready analogues in precedents. But not all cases concerning the Internet are that easy. Few are very difficult and these ended on the legislature's table. Time constraint does not permit a historical view and comparison to other areas of law. Rather, I discuss the role of the courts in triggering congressional lawmaking in Internet cases. This role points both to the limits and the impact of the common law One set of facts comes close to producing a unique environment. It relates to domain names and their clash with trademarks while the law of trademarks and unfair competition may have relevance to this conflict, the issues are fundamentally different from anything we have known before.4 That is because the purpose, use, and legal situation of domain name holders is different from the position of traditional violators of trademarks b. What are domain names and how do they compare with trademarks? Domain names are the keys to accessing the Internet. without a ame there is s. More importantly, domain names attest to ones very existence in cyberspace. These names are not like birth certificates, but like the very flesh and blood of persons, and existence of entities. In cyberspace there are no nameless persons or entities. The reverse is also true. In cyberspace, persons die and entities disappear when their names are erased from the registries database. This is the reason why domain names can be used for business, or personal purposes, or just held for no use at all The main purpose of trademarks is different. It is to protect custom from confusion. While domain names signify anyone in cyberspace, trademarks cover only goodwill(businesses and products), and cannot exist without them Domain names are a condition to the existence of persons and entities in cyberspace, businesses can exist without trademarks But see Sommer, supra note 4, at 1228("The law of domain names, for example, is not quite the law of trademark and unfair competition. But it is not all that different) HOMAS MCCARTHY, MCCARTHY ON TRANSACTIONS AND UNFAIR COMPETITION at 2-2(4ed. 2001). Other policies underlying trademark law include"property rights, economic efficiency and universal concepts of justice. ld.$212 at 2-3, see also S REP. No 97-1333 ( 1946), reprinted in 1946 U.S.C. C.A. N. 1274, 1274(stating that any trademark statute has twofold purposes: protection of the public and protection of the investment of trademark owner)11 rewrite the statutes with every decision. It may well be that the Supreme Court had anticipated congressional inclination to amend and clarify the statute, and to give it the specificity and predictability that would be harder, though not impossible, to achieve by judicial decisions. 2. The unique cases. Domain names and trademarks a. The unique cases. The Internet does not create an entirely new environment in the cases mentioned. Therefore, many of the legal problems that are raised in the Internet environment can find ready analogues in precedents. But not all cases concerning the Internet are that easy. Few are very difficult and these ended on the legislature’s table. Time constraint does not permit a historical view and comparison to other areas of law. Rather, I discuss the role of the courts in triggering congressional lawmaking in Internet cases. This role points both to the limits and the impact of the common law. One set of facts comes close to producing a unique environment. It relates to domain names and their clash with trademarks. While the law of trademarks and unfair competition may have relevance to this conflict, the issues are fundamentally different from anything we have known before.43 That is because the purpose, use, and legal situation of domain name holders is different from the position of traditional violators of trademarks. b. What are domain names and how do they compare with trademarks? Domain names are the keys to accessing the Internet. Without a name there is no access. More importantly, domain names attest to one’s very existence in cyberspace. These names are not like birth certificates, but like the very flesh and blood of persons, and existence of entities. In cyberspace there are no nameless persons or entities. The reverse is also true. In cyberspace, persons die and entities disappear when their names are erased from the registries’ database. This is the reason why domain names can be used for business, or personal purposes, or just held for no use at all. The main purpose of trademarks is different. It is to protect customers from confusion.44 While domain names signify anyone in cyberspace, trademarks cover only goodwill (businesses and products), and cannot exist without them. Domain names are a condition to the existence of persons and entities in cyberspace, businesses can exist without trademarks. 43 But see Sommer, supra note 4, at 1228 (“The law of domain names, for example, is not quite the law of trademark and unfair competition. But it is not all that different”). 44 See 1 J. THOMAS MCCARTHY, MCCARTHY ON TRANSACTIONS AND UNFAIR COMPETITION § 1:2, at 2-2 (4thed. 2001). Other policies underlying trademark law include “property rights, economic efficiency and universal concepts of justice.” Id. § 212 at 2-3; see also S. REP. No. 97-1333 (1946), reprinted in 1946 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1274, 1274 (stating that any trademark statute has twofold purposes: protection of the public and protection of the investment of trademark owner)