"The schools were calling and asking what to do if projects wanted to register in dot-com," Wald said.

Another guideline discusses for-profit domain names like dot-org and dot-net.

"In most cases, the appropriate domain for University activities will be '.edu' or '.org,'" the policy reads.

"Registration (but not actual use) of a name in '.com' or '.net' is allowable for the purpose of protecting against a third party's use of that domain name, but use of such an address will be the exception and is allowable only upon permission of the Provost," it adds.

In early April, the University settled a lawsuit with a cybersquatter who registered 68 domain names including the word "Harvard."

University officials also recently expressed concern about the name of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a financially troubled HMO, when authorities considered trying to salvage it by making it for-profit.

"They're all very similar and closely related," Wald said of the new guidelines, the cybersquatter case and the Harvard Pilgrim matter.

The provost's office started working on the guidelines this past fall, and deans and information technology directors at various schools saw a rough version in February. Officials from Harvard's trademark office, Assistant Provost Daniel D. Moriarty and some members of Harvard's general counsel's office also helped formulate the policy.