How to choose a good domain name?

The domain name must not infringe a protected name or trademark owned by another party. Domain name holders are responsible for making sure that the domain name they have registered is lawful. Consult the public registers to verify that the domain name you are about to register is lawful.

An fi-domain name may contain 2-63 characters. The permitted characters and the restrictions in their use are further specified.

Permitted characters in domain names are

• letters a-z
• numbers 0-9
• hyphen-minus (-)

Permitted native language characters are

• letters å, ä and ö
• characters in the Sami languages spoken in Finland

A domain name may not begin or end with a hyphen-minus. The third and fourth characters may not both be hyphen-minuses.

An exception to this is the ACE form (ASCII Compatible Encoding) of a domain name containing native language characters å, ä or ö. In such case, the third and fourth characters may both be hyphen-minuses.

Tips for a good domain name

A domain name should be clear and contain as few technical restrictions as possible. A good domain name:

• does not infringe any names or trademarks already registered by another party
• cannot be confused with another domain name. A name that is very similar to another name may lead to misunderstandings.
• matches your company name, auxiliary company name or trademark
• is distinctive and reflects your subject or service
• sounds clear also when spoken and pronounced in different languages. Replacing letters å, ä and ö with a and o, for instance, may change the name's meaning into something unflattering. Keep in mind the technical requirements concerning the Finnish and Sami native characters as well as hyphen-minus.
• may be used as an email address, if necessary. For example, the domain name citywastewatertreatmentplant.fi is too complicated to be used as an email address firstname.lastname@citywastewatertreatmentplant.fi.

It is very important to verify that the fi-domain name is lawful before registering it. If your domain name infringes someone else's protected name or trademark, you can lose your domain name.
Traficom can remove an fi-domain name from the domain name register at the request of the owner of a protected name or trademark if the domain name is identical or similar to the protected name or trademark.