Byline: By richard siklos section: Section C; Column ; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. Length

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: RELIGION (92%); MUSLIMS & ISLAM (90%); BEACHES (90%); RACE & RACISM (89%); ETHNICITY (87%); IMMIGRATION (87%); NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS (69%); POPULATION SIZE (69%); REFUGEES (68%); WORKPLACE DIVERSITY (68%); RIOTS (64%); CHILDREN (62%); WATER SPORTS (90%) Assaults; Immigration and Refugees; Islam; Fringe Groups and Movements ; Beaches; Lifeguards; Women; Apparel
PERSON: TZIPORA LIVNI (62%) Raymond Bonner
GEOGRAPHIC: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (94%); MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (79%) NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA (79%) AUSTRALIA (94%); PALESTINIAN TERRITORY (92%); LEBANON (89%); UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (79%); SYRIA (79%) Australia; Cronulla (Australia); Australia; cronulla beach (australia)
LOAD-DATE: March 9, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Photos: Suheil Damouny, left, and Mecca Laalaa on duty. Ms. Laalaa's outfit is meant to comply with Islamic modesty.

Ms. Laalaa and Mr. Damouny, both 20, are Muslims taking part in an outreach program called On the Same Wave, which started a year ago. (Photographs by Tony Sernack for The New York Times) Map of Australia highlighting Cronulla: Cronulla, a short drive from Sydney, is a popular summer resort.

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

1043 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
March 9, 2007 Friday

Late Edition - Final

Al Gore's Outsourcing Solution
BYLINE: By Gregg Easterbrook.

Gregg Easterbrook is a fellow of the Brookings Institution and the author of ''The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse.''

SECTION: Section A; Column 1; Editorial Desk; Pg. 23
LENGTH: 896 words
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
LAST month, to the delight of many global-warming skeptics, it was revealed that Al Gore uses 20 times as much electricity and natural gas at his Tennessee house than the national average. Out of curiosity, I put the former vice president's power bills and ZIP code through the home-emissions calculator of TerraPass, a company that sells ''carbon offsets'' -- the promise to reduce greenhouse gases by the same amount your behavior increases them.

TerraPass estimated that the power use of a house equivalent to Mr. Gore's causes 377,000 pounds of greenhouse gases annually. That is roughly the annual carbon emission of 20 Hummers. Next time you see Mr. Gore wagging his finger about the energy sins of others, picture a caravan of 20 Hummers driving to the Academy Awards.

A Gore spokeswoman told the press that the former vice president pays extra for wind energy, and buys carbon offsets. He's not the only one: companies that sell such offsets are rising in popularity, and certificates for them were included in the stars' Oscar night goodie bags. Soon not just individuals, but the entire United States, may be purchasing carbon offsets on a grand scale.

TerraPass charges $1,247.50 for one year of carbon offsets for a home like Mr. Gore's, the price including a refrigerator magnet proclaiming the home ''carbon balanced.'' Initially I found it hard to believe anyone could counteract Mr. Gore's prodigious energy lust for just $1,247.50, since planting about 20,000 trees would be required to neutralize even half his house's carbon footprint.

But it turns out that TerraPass does its good works in part by covering landfills to prevent methane from seeping out. Since methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, covering landfills is a cost-effective way to wrestle with global warming. I may be annoyed by Mr. Gore's hectoring, but I'm not going to accuse him of hypocrisy on this one.

This all seems a classic example of economies of scale. Individuals can't do anything about landfill methane. But a company like TerraPass can combine the resources of many to accomplish this task, allowing the person of good intent to use energy with no net contribution to the greenhouse effect. Whether companies marketing offsets really do reduce greenhouse gases is something for consumer reporters or the Federal Trade Commission to determine. Assuming the sellers do as promised, buying carbon offsets isn't an exercise in guilt. It's smart economics.

There is also a bigger issue here. That offsets are smart economics may be central to slowing carbon accumulation in the atmosphere. The scientific case for greenhouse-gas regulation now strong, and Congress may soon impose the first carbon dioxide limits on American producers. Current bills in the Senate -- one sponsored by John McCain and Joe Lieberman, another by John Kerry and Olympia Snowe -- would cut domestic greenhouse emissions to about the level of 1990.

On the plus side, these bills would create a significant profit incentive for greenhouse-gas reduction. Offering inventors and entrepreneurs a profit incentive should lead to an outpouring of anti-global-warming innovations.

But even if successful, the McCain-Lieberman or Kerry-Snowe bills would only slightly lower future atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases. That's because Chinese carbon emissions are skyrocketing.

Since 1990, according to the World Resources Institute, American greenhouse emissions rose 18 percent while Chinese emissions rose 77 percent. China may pass America as the No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases as soon as 2010. If current trends hold, by 2050 emerging nations led by China and India will emit twice as much carbon as the United States and Western Europe combined.

China's emissions are soaring because the Chinese economy is nearly three times as ''carbon intensive'' as America's, burning far more fossil fuel per unit of gross domestic product. Chinese coal-fired power plants are notoriously inefficient, consuming twice as much coal per kilowatt produced as American generating stations. They also run without the elaborate anti-pollution ''stack scrubbers'' found in Western power plants. And China opens a new coal-fired generating station every week to 10 days.

Here's where offset economics come into play. Dollar for dollar, capital invested in greenhouse gas reduction would accomplish more if used to improve the efficiency of Chinese power plants than if spent in the United States. America needs legislation capping carbon emissions here, but Congress should allow American companies and consumers to use investments in carbon offsets in China and India against those caps, where the bang for the buck is much higher.

As a bonus, American investment in reducing Chinese and Indian air pollution would improve public health in those nations. Today smog in Chinese and Indian cities is worse than any in the West since London of the early 1950s. The result is far higher rates of respiratory disease in China and India than in the West.

If our goal in legislating against carbon releases is not simply punishing the West and its power companies but truly trying to reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the main event will be in the developing world. We must use the smartest possible economics, and that means investing in China and India.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: GLOBAL WARMING (90%); CLIMATE CHANGE (90%); NATURAL GAS PRODUCTS (90%); EMISSIONS (90%); OUTSOURCING (90%); EDITORIALS & OPINIONS (90%); METHANE (89%); NATURAL GAS & ELECTRIC UTILITIES (78%); ENERGY & UTILITY LAW (78%); ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION (78%); LEGISLATION (77%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (77%); WIND ENERGY (73%); ENERGY REGULATION (73%); LANDFILLS (70%); ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS AWARDS (68%); EARTH & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE (64%); COMMERCE DEPARTMENTS (50%); CLIMATOLOGY (89%); CARBON OFFSETS (91%) Weather; Global Warming; Carbon Dioxide; Law and Legislation; Weather
PERSON: AL GORE (97%) Gregg Easterbrook
GEOGRAPHIC: UNITED STATES (94%); CHINA (79%) United States; China; India
LOAD-DATE: March 9, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Op-Ed
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

1044 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
March 9, 2007 Friday

Late Edition - Final

China Nears Passage of Law Protecting Private Property
BYLINE: By JIM YARDLEY; Lin Yang contributed reporting.
SECTION: Section C; Column 2; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 860 words
DATELINE: BEIJING, March 8
China's national legislature began deliberating Thursday on a landmark law that would provide legal protections for private property as well as a law that would gradually equalize corporate taxes on foreign and domestic corporations.

The two pieces of legislation are a result of years of debate within the Communist Party. They are intended to protect private wealth, create more coherence in the tax code and continue the country's market-driven economic reforms. The property law is particularly symbolic, because it writes private property into the evolving legal code of a country that is growing rich on capitalism but nominally remains a socialist state.

''To me, the private property law is more a symbolic ratification of how far China has rejected its socialist past,'' Arthur R. Kroeber, managing editor of China Economic Quarterly, said in an e-mail message. ''That's important insofar as it signifies a point of no return in the reform process.''

Both pieces of legislation were introduced Thursday during the National People's Congress, the annual two-week gathering of the Communist Party-controlled legislative body. Passage, considered a formality, is expected next week.

Approval of the property law was expected last year, but party leaders tabled the proposal after an unusually public and passionate ideological fight erupted. It was led by leftist scholars who argued that the law would worsen income inequality, legalize the misappropriation of state assets and undermine the socialist tenet of state ownership of property.

''This will accelerate the loss of state assets,'' Gong Xiantian, a law professor at Peking University, said in an interview this week. ''And it will accelerate the process of turning the country into a place where private ownership is the dominant system.''

This year, Mr. Gong and other critics tried to continue their fight, but the law's introduction indicates that it will be approved. Wang Zhaoguo, a ranking official in the National People's Congress, said that the public wanted legal safeguards for its property and that such protections stimulated ''people's initiative to create and accumulate wealth and to promote social harmony.''

Mr. Kroeber said the property law largely ratified customary practice, and he predicted that the practical short-term impact on business would be limited. He said the law offered entrepreneurs protection against seizure of assets but most businesses were more concerned about fees, levies and illegal taxes.

Land in China is owned by the state, but individuals and corporations are permitted to own buildings, homes or apartments while renting the land below on long-term leases.

Real estate has become a primary engine of the Chinese economy, but also a source of widespread official corruption and illegal land confiscations. Government studies indicate that land has been confiscated from more than 40 million farmers, often by corrupt officials working in concert with developers. Urban residents have been evicted from aging apartments to make way for development.

Critics like Mr. Gong have argued that the property law would legalize such misappropriations. But Jiang Ping, a scholar involved in the early drafting of the law, said the law protected only ''legally obtained'' property and also included protections for farmers against illegal land seizures.

Mr. Jiang, an emeritus professor at the Chinese University of Politics and Law, also said the law addressed specific concerns of the emerging middle class on narrow issues like ownership rights of common areas and parking garages in apartment complexes.

''I see the law as a great encouragement for people to seek wealth legally, and be protected,'' Mr. Jiang said.

The proposed law on corporate taxes has also been under discussion for several years. For years, China has offered tax incentives and lower rates to foreign corporations, a package that has helped attract record amounts of foreign investment. Domestic companies also receive certain tax preferences, but many resent the tiered tax-rate structure.

Anthony M. Fay Jr., a tax lawyer with White & Case in Beijing, said domestic companies paid a 33 percent statutory tax rate while their foreign competitors paid a much lower rate and often received ''tax holidays'' like two-year exemptions followed by three years of paying half the usual rate. Under the new law, the statutory tax rate will gradually be equalized to 25 percent for all companies, Mr. Fay said.

Most existing companies will be grandfathered into the old system for up to five years, Mr. Fay said. Mr. Kroeber said the proposed changes had been publicized for several years to give foreign companies time to plan for them.

Mr. Kroeber said the tax changes might prompt manufacturers of low-end items like shoes and garments, which depend on tax preferences to make their profit margins, to move to places like Vietnam. But he predicted that China would remain a favorite for foreign investment.

''Foreign companies still have enormous incentives to invest in China because of the manufacturing efficiencies it offers and the market opportunities,'' he said.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: REAL ESTATE (90%); POLITICAL PARTIES (90%); POLITICS (90%); LEGISLATION (90%); COMMERCIAL RENTAL PROPERTY (90%); PROPERTY LAW (90%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (90%); LEGISLATORS (90%); TAXES & TAXATION (90%); ASSET FORFEITURE (89%); EMERGING MARKETS (79%); COMMERCIAL PROPERTY (78%); MISAPPROPRIATION (78%); LAW SCHOOLS (78%); OFFICE PROPERTY (78%); TAX LAW (78%); INCOME DISTRIBUTION (76%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (75%); ECONOMIC NEWS (72%); FOREIGN INVESTMENT (72%); ECONOMIC POLICY (72%); APPROVALS (71%); TRENDS (70%); INTERVIEWS (68%); LEASE AGREEMENTS (64%); FRAUD & FINANCIAL CRIME (63%); SEARCH & SEIZURE (60%); COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS (50%) Economic Conditions and Trends; Law and Legislation; Real Estate; Taxation; Corporations; Foreign Investments; Office Buildings and Commercial Properties; Housing; Renting and Leasing; Search and Seizure; Frauds and Swindling
COMPANY: CNINSURE INC (93%)
TICKER: CISG (NASDAQ) (93%)
PERSON: Jim Yardley; lin yang
GEOGRAPHIC: BEIJING, CHINA (90%) NORTH CENTRAL CHINA (89%); SOUTH CHINA (74%) CHINA (97%) China; China; China
LOAD-DATE: March 9, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Photos: Women from Guangxi Province appeared yesterday outside the hall in Beijing where China's national legislature was holding its annual meeting. (Photo by Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images)

The National People's Congress, China's national legislature, is expected to enact a law equalizing taxes on foreign and domestic companies. (Photo by Claro Cortes IV/Reuters)

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

1045 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
March 8, 2007 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section C; Column 5; Business/Financial Desk; TODAY IN BUSINESS; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 842 words
TAKEOVER PLOT AT TAKE-TWO -- A consortium of investors disclosed that it intended to oust the board and possibly the top management of Take-Two Interactive Software, a video game publisher that has been plagued by legal, regulatory and accounting issues. [Page C1.] RETHINKING THE EUROPEAN CAR -- The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, below, wants European automakers to adhere to new limits on carbon dioxide emissions. But first she will have to take on the auto industry at home, where Porsche sports cars tear along the no-speed-limit autobahn. [C1.] A SHORTFALL IN POWER -- A deal that delighted environmentalists -- TXU Corporation's decision to scrap plans for eight new coal-fired plants under a deal it has agreed to with potential new owners -- could leave Texas with a shortfall in energy.

[C4.]ENVIRONMENTALISTS HIRE BANKER -- One of the nation's largest and most influential environmental groups, Environmental Defense, has hired Perella Weinberg Partners, the boutique investment bank, to advise it as the group takes on an unusual role in the middle of the $38 billion buyout of TXU, the Texas energy giant. [C1.] WALGREEN ACCUSED OF RACIAL BIAS -- The Walgreen Company, the nation's largest drugstore chain, discriminated against thousands of black employees across the country, including managers and pharmacists, according to a class-action lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. [C1.] FRAUD RULES QUESTIONED -- Some lawmakers are questioning the Justice Department's recently revised guidelines on combating corporate fraud, asking whether they do enough to protect the confidentiality of legal communications and the right to legal counsel. [C3.] A TO-DO LIST, IN BILLIONS -- Exxon Mobil, which earned a record $39.5 billion last year, said that it would spend much of that money by increasing investment in oil and natural gas projects. [C6.] A WIDGET BY ANY OTHER NAME When global marketers try to come up with a meaningful name for a new product, the odds of finding a name not already taken are getting smaller and smaller. Advertising. [C5.] HIGHER BID FOR CAREMARK -- Express Scripts sweetened its $26.1 billion offer for Caremark Rx but cautioned that the bid would be delayed by further regulatory scrutiny. [C3.] BRINGING VIDEO TO THE WEB -- A New York-based Internet start-up that is backed and will be run by former executives of MTV and Nickelodeon will announce plans to begin a series of video-oriented Web sites on niche topics. [C3.] CHANGES AT A RETAILER? The resignation of the supervisory board chairman at Carrefour, the French retailer, has fueled speculation over a shift in strategy. [C6.] SEEKING SUPPORT FOR 'OPEN SKIES' -- European transportation officials urged Britain not to scuttle a landmark deal on trans-Atlantic air travel. British officials are concerned that the draft ''open skies'' agreement could hurt British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. [C6.] E.ON RECONSIDERS TAKEOVER BID -- The German energy giant E.On said that it might abandon a yearlong effort to take over the utility company Endesa of Spain, or settle for just a slice of the company.[C6.] INDIAN EXCHANGES DIVERSIFY -- The Bombay Stock Exchange sold a 5 percent stake to the Singapore Stock Exchange for 1.89 billion India rupees, or $42.6 million, and the exchange in Calcutta said it planned to sell 51 percent of its shares to partners and strategic investors. [C11.] SAKS REVERSES A LOSS -- Saks Inc. reported a fourth-quarter profit, reversing a year-earlier loss, as improved merchandise drove higher sales. The company, operator of Saks Fifth Avenue stores, also said that sales at stores open at least a year had gained nearly 25 percent in February. [C2.] WAIT TILL YOU SEE MY HARD DRIVE -- External hard drives for computers have suddenly become stylish, with brushed aluminum cases, decorator colors and glowing blue or amber lights that grab attention. [C9.] A MEANS TO INFLUENCE POLICY -- The founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar, has named a new leader for his personal philanthropy as he explores ways to play a bigger role in shaping public policy. [C11.] FILLING A FOUNDER'S SHOES -- When an heir steps in to run a start-up after an entrepreneur dies, it can be difficult undertaking. Small Business. [C7.] MARKETS SHOW STABILITY -- Stocks fell modestly but showed more signs of stability as investors sifted through new economic data and found little reason to resume last week's heavy selling. [C11.]ONLINEON MORTGAGES -- Bob Tedeschi talks about lenders who are redoubling their efforts to keep borrowers afloat. That article and more on home mortgages are available at nytimes.com/realestate.PODCAST ON HEALTH -- Jane Brody, the ''Personal Health'' columnist, discusses the latest health news. Subscriptions to her podcast are available at nytimes.com/health. BATTLE FOR BLUE SKIES -- A decade and a half after Thailand began a battle for better air quality, this erstwhile icon of smog has emerged as a role model for pollution-choked capitals in Asia. A slide show is at nytimes.com/science.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: PHARMACIES & DRUG STORES (90%); ENVIRONMENTALISM (90%); TAKEOVERS (90%); AUTOMOTIVE MFG (90%); LITIGATION (90%); PHARMACIES (87%); RETAILERS (87%); SELF REGULATING ORGANIZATIONS (78%); CLASS ACTIONS (50%); ACCOUNTING (78%); INVESTMENT BANKING (78%); AUTOMAKERS (77%); SOFTWARE MAKERS (77%); MOTOR VEHICLES (77%); TRANSPORTATION REGULATION (77%); LEGISLATORS (77%); AUTOMOBILE MFG (77%); INTERNET VIDEO (77%); EMISSIONS (76%); ENVIRONMENTAL & WILDLIFE ORGANIZATIONS (76%); EMPLOYMENT (74%); BUYINS & BUYOUTS (74%); RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT (74%); CORPORATE WRONGDOING (74%); STARTUPS (73%); RETAIL PHARMACEUTICALS (73%); LAWYERS (73%); SUITS & CLAIMS (72%); SPEED LIMITS (72%); COMPUTER GAMES (72%); RACE & RACISM (71%); COAL FIRED PLANTS (71%); AFRICAN AMERICANS (71%); JUSTICE DEPARTMENTS (67%); NEW PRODUCTS (66%); LAW ENFORCEMENT (64%); INTERNET & WWW (64%); DELAYS & POSTPONEMENTS (60%); NATURAL GAS PRODUCTS (54%); RIGHT TO COUNSEL (50%); ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES (90%); COMPUTER SOFTWARE (89%); PHARMACISTS (70%) Terms not available from NYTimes
COMPANY: TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE INC (93%); TXU CORP (83%); WALGREEN CO (82%); EXXON MOBIL CORP (56%); ENERGY FUTURE HOLDINGS CORP (70%); CVS CAREMARK CORP (52%)
ORGANIZATION: EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION (54%)
TICKER: TTWO (NASDAQ) (93%); TXU (NYSE) (83%); WAG (NYSE) (82%); XOM (NYSE) (56%); XOM (BRU) (53%); EXX (LSE) (53%); CVS (NYSE) (52%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS446110 PHARMACIES AND DRUG STORES (82%); SIC5912 DRUG STORES & PROPRIETARY STORES (82%); NAICS325110 PETROCHEMICAL MANUFACTURING (56%); NAICS324110 PETROLEUM REFINERIES (56%); NAICS211111 CRUDE PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS EXTRACTION (56%); SIC2911 PETROLEUM REFINERIES (56%); SIC2869 INDUSTRIAL ORGANIC CHEMICALS, NEC (56%); SIC2865 CYCLIC ORGANIC CRUDES & INTERMEDIATES & ORGANIC DYES & PIGMENTS (56%); SIC1311 CRUDE PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (56%); NAICS446110 PHARMACIES & DRUG STORES (82%)
PERSON: ANGELA MERKEL (57%)
GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, USA (79%) GERMANY (92%); UNITED STATES (79%)
LOAD-DATE: March 8, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Photo Graph shows Saks shares for the week.
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Summary
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

1046 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
March 8, 2007 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

In a Global Marketplace, Claiming a Name Becomes an Art in Itself
BYLINE: By KATE WEISMAN
SECTION: Section C; Column 1; Business/Financial Desk; MEDIA: ADVERTISING; Pg. 5
LENGTH: 1074 words
WHEN a snazzy new product goes on sale in many countries, its name must be one of a kind.

Yet today it has become increasingly difficult to find a name for a company, a product, even a new shade of lipstick that has not been taken.

''Finding names today is a total headache,'' said Bernard Fornas, the president and chief executive of Cartier. ''Once you come up with a name that's interesting, you'll also discover that it's already registered.''

In the end, ''it's all a legal game,'' said Joseph Gubernick, chief marketing officer for Estee Lauder, who has been with the company for more than 30 years and recalls when the naming process was much easier.

What has changed, industry specialist say, is that companies and the distribution of their goods have become more global. Now names have to be registered in a company's home country and secured in several others. And the Internet, with its vast reach, has complicated the process.

In addition, many products, particularly in the luxury and fashion categories, need a name that conveys a feeling or a sense of emotion -- and do that across many cultures and languages.

''The word 'Viagra' is really meaningless,'' said Jasmine Montgomery, the deputy managing director in London of FutureBrand, a branding and marketing business. Viagra and other made-up brand names acquire meaning only when backed with a lot of advertising and marketing.

''But if I am launching a new fashion label, the task gets really hard because I have to find a name that communicates the creative style, or lifestyle, that the brand is supposed to embody,'' Ms. Montgomery said. ''There's this high degree of emotion,'' which beauty businesses also require, that is not an issue for other industries.

For a global brand like Estee Lauder, as many as 40 new products are trademarked every year -- something the company has been doing for the last 35 years. The number does not include the hundreds of new products or colors that are the result of Lauder's line extensions or expansions, like a second kind of mascara within an existing group of cosmetics, a company spokeswoman said.

As for the Internet, the growth of trademarked Web addresses or Web sites is exponential, said Delphine Parlier, a founder and partner in Quensis, a company in Paris that goes through the process of choosing a name at the same time that it does the legal, cultural and linguistic screening.

''Today, there are over 64 million domain names,'' Ms. Parlier said. ''This compares to 45 million in August 2005.''

''Naming is not a problem for a small company with local distribution, but it's a big problem for global brands,'' she said. ''Before, it used to be like climbing a hill. Now, it's like crossing the Himalayas.''

For companies, it's best if a Web search goes directly to the proper name of their site or their product's site. But for years entrepreneurs have been registering many dot.com names, dreaming that one day some company will need a name and be willing to pay for it.

In mid-January, the luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton came upon such a legal snag in China, a country whose population of luxury consumers is on the rise while counterfeiting runs rampant.

According to The Changjiang Times, a Wuhan businessman named Wang Jun had trademarked the phonetic translation of Louis Vuitton in Roman letters and Chinese characters. There were even reports that he was preparing to offer the trademarks to Vuitton for 120 million yuan, or about $15 million.

Louis Vuitton said last month that it was not trying to buy the trademarks and that it would appeal a 2002 decision by the Chinese Patent Re-examination Board that upheld Jun's rights to make a handbag with various Vuitton motifs and logo.

In any event, naming is a costly endeavor. Fees for simply coming up with an unregistered name can range from a few thousand dollars for a one-market venture to more than $70,000 for a global name and a dot-com counterpart, according to industry estimates.

In addition, there are the legal fees for the registration, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

''It's a real puzzle,'' Mr. Fornas of Cartier said. ''The investment for a name can go from nothing to a very high price. A company has to decide what it wants to invest: how important is the product vis-a-vis the price to register its name.''

Despite the challenges, companies do have success stories.

In 1998, Cartier developed a unisex fragrance that it wanted to call Declaration. Members of the development team proposed the name, then crossed their collective fingers.

''For a perfume, it was actually available! We wondered: How on earth could that be available? Such luck,'' Mr. Fornas recalled.

Success also occurs when managers come up with obscure or very hard-to-copy names.

When Cartier wanted to name a watch La Dona, for the late Mexican actress Maria Felix, once among Cartier's most extravagant jewelry customers, it found that the name, not surprisingly, was available.

Ms. Montgomery of FutureBrand gives the nail care company OPI kudos for its clever, hard-to-copy nail polish color names like Didgeridoo Your Nails, a mauve hue from the brand's Australia collection for 2007.

Choosing the right name can also help in the creative process, said Jim Nevins, the creative director at Clinique who in 1997 came up with the name Happy for a perfume.

''The fragrance was being developed before we had a name for it,'' Mr. Nevins recalled. ''I was watching a biography of Judy Garland on the A&E channel one night and the song came on, 'Come On Get Happy.' I thought to myself: 'Who doesn't want to be happy?' ''

He said the name helped direct the final stages of the product's development. An orange note was added to the fragrance and orange was chosen for the package color because, Mr. Nevins said, several consumer studies indicated that the color and smell of orange evoke happiness.

The fragrance, however, could not be marketed under the single word Happy. The company had some concerns it would be too generic, a spokeswoman said. And, when Clinique was registering the name, it learned that a small company had already registered a similar name, although for an item in another product category.

As a result, the perfume is called Clinique Happy, a phrasing combining the brand and the product name in what the industry calls a ''lockup.''

Consumers, however, generally refer to the product as just Happy.