[2] Country code top-level domains (ccTLD) are delegated by IANA to national registries such as DENIC in Germany and Nominet in the United Kingdom.
Some are co-operatives of Internet service providers (such as DENIC) or not-for profit companies (such as Nominet UK).
Historically, domain name registries operated on a first-come-first-served system of allocation but may reject the allocation of specific domains on the basis of political, religious, historical, legal or cultural reasons.
[5] A challenge to this ruling resulted in elimination of the “seven dirty words” policy for registration of US Domain Names based on first amendment grounds.
Domains that are registered with ICANN registrars, generally have to use the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP),[6] however, Germany's DENIC requires people to use the German civil courts, and Nominet UK deals with intellectual property and other disputes through its own dispute resolution service.