紐時賞析／有多值錢？太平洋島嶼紐埃為2字母的網域名爭逾20年

南太平洋島嶼紐埃爭取網域名稱權利已逾20年。圖爲紐埃國旗。圖／Ingimage

The Two-Decade Fight for Two Letters on the Internet

價值何在？兩個字母的網域名讓人爭20年

The South Pacific island of Niue is one the most remote places in the world. Its closest neighbors, Tonga and American Samoa, are hundreds of miles away. The advent of the internet promised, in a small way, to make Niue and its 2,000 or so residents more connected to the rest of the world.

南太平洋島嶼紐埃是世界上最遙遠的地區之一。紐埃最近的鄰居東加和美屬薩摩亞，也在數百英里之外。網際網路的出現，有望讓紐埃島及其2000多名居民和世界其他地區略爲加強連結。

In the late 1990s, an American businessperson offered to hook up the island to the internet. All he wanted in exchange was the right to control the .nu suffix that Niue was assigned for its web addresses. The domain did not seem as lucrative as .tv — which was slotted to Tuvalu, another South Pacific nation — and the leaders of Niue signed off on the deal. But the two sides were soon at odds.

1990年代後期，一名美國商人提議讓紐埃島連上網際網路。他要的交換條件是控制紐埃島被分配到的網址域名詞尾.nu的權利。這個域名似不像另一個南太平洋島國吐瓦魯的網域名.tv那麼值錢，而紐埃領袖也簽下合約。但雙方很快發生爭執。

Now, after more than two decades of back and forth, the disagreement is finally nearing a resolution in a court of law. Disputes over domain names were not uncommon during the internet’s infancy, but experts are hard pressed to recall one that has lasted this long.

現在，歷經逾20年的來回反覆，這個分歧終於幾乎要在法庭上得到解決。網際網路發展初期，關於網域名的爭端並不罕見，但專家很難回想起世上曾發生過持續這麼久的爭端。

It turned out that .nu was, in fact, very valuable. “Nu” means now in Swedish, Danish and Dutch, and thousands of Scandinavians registered websites with that suffix, creating a steady business for Niue’s business partner, Bill Semich.

事實上，.nu其實非常有價值。在瑞典語、丹麥語和荷蘭語，Nu的意思是現在，成千上萬斯堪地那維亞人用這個域名註冊網站，爲紐埃的商業夥伴塞米奇創造穩健業務。

Niue felt it had been cheated out of a reliable stream of cash that would have helped it reduce its reliance on tourism and foreign aid.

紐埃覺得被騙走可靠的現金流，這些錢能讓他們減少對觀光業和外國援助依賴。

Niue canceled the deal with Semich in 2000 and has since been attempting to reclaim .nu — which is now operated by the Swedish Internet Foundation, a nonprofit. It is seeking about $30 million in damages, an amount that could be transformative for a tiny island that was recognized by the United States as a sovereign state only in 2023. The dispute has landed in the Swedish courts, and a ruling is expected in the coming days.

紐埃2000年取消與塞米奇簽訂的合約，並一直試圖收回.nu，該域名目前是由非營利組織瑞典網際網路基金會營運。紐埃正尋求約3000萬美元賠償，對於一個直到2023年才被美國承認爲主權國家的小島而言，這筆錢能帶來徹底改變。這場爭端已被提交至瑞典法庭，判決預計在未來幾天出爐。

“This is a unique, complex, and somewhat strange case,” said David Taylor, an intellectual property and domain name expert at the law firm Hogan Lovells, adding that this made it extremely difficult to predict the outcome.

美英法律事務所「霍金路偉」智慧財產與網域名專家泰勒表示，「這是個獨特、複雜且有點奇怪的案件」，讓預測判決結果變得困難。

Websites using the domain are not expected to face any changes even if Niue wins.

即使紐埃勝訴，使用該網域名的網站預料不會面臨任何改變。

文／Jacob Judah 譯／羅方妤