Until now all domain names have been based on Latin letters e.g. A, B, C, D, etc. ICANN the equivalent of the UN for domain names is set to approve non Latin domain names. This is a good thing for those users that are not native to a Latin based language but it creates nightmares for in-house counsels and trademark attorneys trying to stop infringement of non arbitrary marks.

One of the key issues to be taken up by ICANN’s board at this week’s gathering is whether to allow for the first time entire Internet addresses to be in scripts that are not based on Latin letters. That could potentially open up the Web to more people around the world as addresses could be in characters as diverse as Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Greek, Hindi and Cyrillic — in which Russian is written.

Technically it’s also very difficult. “This is the biggest change technically to the Internet since it was invented 40 years ago,” Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of the ICANN board, told reporters, calling it a “fantastically complicated technical feature.” He said he expects the board to grant approval on Friday, the conference’s final day.