Monthly Archives: May 2009

Sun 31st May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Camilla.com Sells For $16K on NameJet.com - The domain Camilla.com sold for $16,100 on NameJet.com another great name for Mrs Jello. There are over 18 million reference to this name on Google. The second highest bidder went by the bidder id of camillacorp, which could have been the clothing company from Australia whose site is at camilla.com.au.  If so they stopped bidding at $16K. Other notable sales from NameJet.com over the last few days include: nutritionsupplements.com     $5,050 youcai.com                                 ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
TechCrunch: Facebook Vanity URL Coming Soon - According to TechCrunch,  Facebook will announce later this week that they will allow users to claim a vanity URL pointing to their regular profile page. At a date and time, to be announced, the landrush will begin and users will be able to grab a vanity URL of their choice. The Landrush rules will prohibit trademark infringement and a lots of words will be blacklisted, such as generic terms. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Trademark Group Pushes Rapid Domain Takedown Scheme - Group submits final report to ICANN. Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), an ad hoc group put together to represent trademark interests in the launch of new top level domains, has issued its final report (pdf). The report will be discussed at ICANN’s next meeting in Sydney. The part that seems most relevant to domain investors is the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS). Think of it as a fast track UDRP for obvious trademark cases. Here are few of my observations: 1. ... read more ...
Sat 30th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
If We Want To Attract The Fortune 500 To Domains, We Should Have Gone To This Show - We all talk about it. For years and years now. Getting big business to understand the value of domains. Getting the Fortune 500 to “get” domains. Problem is the Fortune 500 isn’t coming to our trade shows. God knows Rick Howard have moved heaven and earth trying to get them to come to the show, even bringing the show to them, in New York and Silicon Valley. So maybe instead of banging our heads on the wall to get them to come to our shows, we need to go to there shows, and if so, we just missed ... read more ...
Fri 29th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
CNET.com Covers Domains Names: Top 5 Domain Sales: Watch The Video - CNET.com has just released a video presentation called “Top 5 Most Expensive Domain Names”. I will leave the surprise top 5 list for you to watch. Watch the video. Here’s the question that the video ends with, How valuable are domains, because how many of the top 5 have you visited this week? No wonder CNET is parking radio.com, they are clueless when it comes to domains, which is just said for an online media company. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Congress To Hold A Hearing To Examine The Future of a US-ICANN Relationship In June - National Journal, Rick Boucher, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee, is holding  a hearing on June 4th to examine the future of the U.S. government’s relationship with ICANN. “Boucher has previously expressed interest in holding an ICANN hearing, particularly since a joint project agreement that has allowed Commerce Department oversight of ICANN is slated to sunset on Sept. 30 amid accountability and transparency concerns.” Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google Sued Again: This is Going to Be A Huge Issue - Google has been hit with another AdWords-related lawsuit, this time by a Connecticut law firm.The personal injury firm Stratton, Faxon filed a suit in the New Haven Superior Court alleging that its name was being used to trigger ads for the rival law firm Silver, Golub and Teitell. Stratton, Faxon causing confusion and endangers its reputation. The firm has asked for an injunction and for a prejudgment lien against Google for $50,000. Attorney Michael Stratton (not the ex-football player), a partner ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ccTLD Danger: Argentina to Take Away .AR Domain Names - ccTLDs carry lots of risks with the rewards. With TRAFFIC ccTLDs just around the corner, it’s only fitting that another example of the risks of registering country code domain names should pop up this month. As spotted by Internet Commerce Association, The Argentina Ministry of Foreign affairs is limiting the number of com.ar and org.ar domain names that any one entity can register to 200. The organization is doing this because it believes there is abuse of the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Report: Former ICANN Executive Joining Obama Administration - Andrew McLaughlin to be deputy chief technology officer. The New York Times is reporting that former ICANN executive and current Google head of global public policy Andrew McLaughlin is joining the Obama administration as deputy chief technology officer. He will report to chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra. McLaughlin joined Google about five years ago. Before that he was an executive with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, holding the position ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Thought Convergence Amends Lawsuit Against Westerdal - Amended complaint includes new parties and allegations. Thought Convergence (TCI) has amended its complaint against Jay Westerdal and other parties related to TCI’s acquisition of Name Intelligence, LLC (NIL). The amended complaint names Name Intelligence, Inc., a holding company owned in part by Westerdal, and DOTMOVIE, Westerdal’s company that plans to introduce a .movie top level domain name. According to the amended complaint, TCI has now paid the full amount ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DomainTools Typo Generator Protects Your Brand - Typo Generator includes the information you need to protect your brand against typosquatters. All week I’ve been writing about how I use DomainTools. Here’s the latest tool I use… There are a number of typo generators out there, but DomainTools’ is the only one that makes it easy to find out who is typosquatting on your domain name. It also lets you know if someone previously typosquatted or tasted a typo of your domain. To use the typo generator, go to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
RB.net Domain Owner Can Keep Domain Name - Arbitration panel finds no bad faith, but declines to find reverse domain name hijacking. A Korean man has successfully defended against a domain arbitration claim waged by United Kingdom pharmaceutical company Reckitt Benckiser Plc for the domain name RB.net. Reckitt Benckiser claimed to have common law rights to the term ‘RB’. It claimed that the domain name was a parking page until 2006 showing unrelated pay-per-click links, and since then has not resolved. ... read more ...
Thu 28th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
CheckMyCredit.com Sells for $23K On SnapNames.com - Every few days we seem to publish some “big” dollar domain sales from NameJet.com, but usually don’t find them on Snapnames.com Today is an exception, as a very good domain, in a high paying category, CheckMyCredit.com sold for $23,000.           . Since were on the subject of SnapNames.com here are so other notable sales from the last week: bookmakers.net                       $5,300 alena.com                                  ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
It’s Offical; Bing.com Is Introduced: “We Needed A Name That Says This Is All About Search” - Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer formally introduced Bing.com Microsoft new search platform today at the All Things Digital conference hosted by The Wall Street Journal. According to the Journal,  the search engine “is different from its predecessor and rivals’ search engines, with search results displayed on the left hand side of the Web page.   It also allows users to access a range of categories of search, which Microsoft hopes will give consumers more search options. Microsoft has targeted ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Time Warner To Spin Off AOL.com Later This Year - Time Warner announced today official plans to spin off AOL.com around the end of this year. Time Warner’s board is expected to meet today and approve the plan. Once completed, the deal would once again make AOL an independent, publicly traded company. AOL bought Time Warner in 2001 for $147 billion dollars which has largely been regarded as one of the worst convinced mergers of all time. After the merger Time Warner was renamed for a short period as AOL-Time Warner. Time Warner owns 95 percent ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
How Accurate Is Alexa.org? - We all seem to rely on web ranking services,  in valuing domains we are looking to acquire and one of the tools many domainers use, including myself, is Alexa.org Alexa.org basically uses the information from those who have downloaded its toolbar (and specifically allowed Alexa to use the info) as a sample of Internet usage and than ranks sites by estimated traffic based off those users.  I have been a user of the Alexa toolbar for many years and allow my info to go back to Alexa. We know that ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Yahoo: We Will Do A Deal With Microsoft For “Boat Loads of Money” - Yahoo’s CEO,  Carol Bartz said Wednesday she would be open to striking a search deal with Microsoft if they offered “boatloads of money.” “If there’s boatloads of money and the right technology involved, we’d do a deal, sure,” Ms. Bartz said at the All Things Digital conference. “It’s that simple.” Ms. Bartz also said Yahoo was interested in acquiring social-networking and video start-ups, noting that video advertising has grown sharply in recent years. She added Yahoo, which ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
First .Tel UDRP Will Be Important - Dispute over osram.tel will test new top level domain. Osram GmbH has filed the first ever UDRP dispute for a .tel domain name, going after the domain Osram.tel. This should be an interesting case because of the differences between .tel and other top level domain names. In a UDRP, the complainant must prove three things: 1. The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights 2. The Respondent has ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sigourney Weaver Wins Domain Name Dispute - Actress Sigourney Weaver picks up her namesake domain name. Actress Sigourney Weaver has been awarded the domain name SigourneyWeaver.com by an arbitration panel at National Arbitration Forum. She filed the claim last month. The owner of the domain name, Stephen Gregory, did not respond to the allegations. Weaver’s complaint stated that Gregory forwarded the domain name to a porn site until the complaint was received, at which time the forward was removed. The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Editorial: Why I’m Opposed to New Top Level Domains - The risks of releasing hundreds of new TLDs at once outweigh the benefits. It’s no secret that I’m generally opposed to introducing new top level domain names. And I’m not alone. Even before people started talking about a mass introduction of new TLDs, most of the domain name industry was opposed to new TLDs. I’ve asked the question on every Domain Name Wire survey for the past four years, and the no’s always beat the yes’. But I think it’s important ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Whois History Important Part of Domain Due Diligence - Use DomainTools’ whois history to research the history of a domain name you’re buying. When you’re ready to shell out a bunch of cash for a domain name, it’s important to understand the ownership history of the domain name. There’s no title insurance for domains, so the onus is on you to make sure the domain isn’t stolen and has clean title. In fact, it was DomainTools’ whois history that saved me from buying a stolen domain name for $5,000 back in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BlackBerry Wins 101 Domain Names in Single UDRP Case - Smartphone maker gains 101 domain names in single dispute. When it comes to getting bang for your buck in domain name arbitration, Research in Motion may have just set the bar. In a single UDRP case filed at World Intellectual Property Organization, the BlackBerry maker won 101 domains (and was denied 10 others). BlackBerry filed the complaint against Georges Elias, who registered all 111 domains at GoDaddy. Elias’ imaginative registration spree included domains ... read more ...
Wed 27th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
Why Would CNET.com Just Park A Domain Like Radio.com? - Radio.com was first registered by CNET, the company CBS paid $1.7 billion dollars to acquire about a year ago. If you look at radio.com today its a simple parked page. Incredibly strange considering CBS owns last.fm, an online radio station which it paid $280 Million for in May 2007, and over 100 on-air radio stations throughout the US. The parked page for radio.com does not even list Last.fm or any of the other CBS properties prominently, if at all (I didn’t click on every link on the page). A ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
How Can A Typo With 191 Monthly Visitors Be Worth $3k+ ? - The domain realsestate.com is at auction at Godaddy and with over 1 day to go, it’s already at over $3K. Godaddy.com estimates traffic, at a pretty minimal, 191 visitors a month. Why would someone spend thousands of dollars to buy a typo with minimal traffic? Thoughts Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Top Level Domain Demand Still Elusive - Hard to prove demand for new top level domain names One of the key questions facing ICANN and the internet community is if there is any demand for new top level domain names should they be released. So far no one has released convincing evidence of demand. And if past TLD launches are any indication, demand will be minimal. One company, Quintaris, has taken a stab at proving demand by allowing people to ‘backorder’ new domains at Pool. These backorders are ... read more ...