Monthly Archives: August 2009

Fri 7th August 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
KbToys.com Sold At Bankruptcy Auction For $2.1 Million - Yesterday, according to Reuters, former toy retailer, KBToys, which filed for bankruptcy in December, sold its trademark, logos and domain names at a bankruptcy auction for $2.1 million. The company’s assets, including 15 registered trademarks including  KB Toys and Toy Works, and more then 65 URLs, including kbtoys.com. CE Stores, a retail operator, won the auction. Earlier this year, Toys.com was sold in a bankruptcy auction for $5.1 million to to Toy R US. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
VeriSign Reports 7% Increase In Domain Registrations & $1.3 BILLION In Cash - VeriSign reported earnings today VeriSign reported revenue of $257 million from continuing operations for the 2nd quarter of 2009. Here are some interesting notes from the report: VeriSign ended the quarter with approximately 93.5 million active domain names in the adjusted zone for .com and .net representing a 7% increase year-over-year. VeriSign also reported, having on hand at the end of the second quarter cash,  and cash equivalents, of $1.3 Billion. Yes that is Billion with a “B”. Now ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
If The Google Brand is Worth $100 Billion, What Would VeriSign Set As The Annual Renewal Fee For Google.com? - TechCruch.com published a post today in which it estimated the value of the Google brand to be $100 billion dollars. That’s Billion with a “B”. For me the issue isn’t whether the Google brand is worth $100 Billion or $50 Billion, but what VeriSign would charge Google, to  renew its domain per year, if the price caps on domain prices were lifted? I know your thinking this issue was dealt with years ago. I know your thinking this issue was decided. But its wasn’t and its not. The issue is ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
“Assumed Name Squatter” Gets Squatted Herself - Texas lawyer threatens others but forgets to register her own domain name. Yesterday we wrote about Mina Brees, a Texas lawyer who registered assumed names of Texas restaurants that had let their D.B.A.s lapse. She then sent letters (acting as a lawyer on behalf of a client) to the restaurants offering to sell them back their assumed names for $20,000. The letters apparently didn’t mention that Brees is the president of the company making the offer. (Mina Brees ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Zappos Paid $4.9 Millon for Clothes.com Domain Name - Zappos ponied up serious money for Clothes.com domain name last year. Now it’s Amazon.com’s toy. Online shoe retailer Zappos paid $4.9 million to acquire the domain name Clothes.com from IdeaLab last year, SEC records show: In May 2008, we acquired the Clothes.com internet domain name from Idealab. The domain name was recognized as a purchased intangible asset with a useful life of 20 years. The entire purchase price of $4.9 million was assigned to the price ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ancestry.com Files Slew of Domain Disputes - Ancestry.com files four domain disputes. In its SEC filing to go public, Ancestry.com warned that it may have difficulty protecting its brand in domain names. The company just took its first step to protecting its name by filing four separate arbitration requests for domain names with World Intellectual Property Organization. It seems that the company filed four “low hanging fruit” cases to establish a precedent. The no-brainer is wwwancestry.com, which you ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Registrar Fights ICANN Over De-Accreditation - Lead Networks files for arbitration. Domain name registrar Lead Networks Domains Pvt. Ltd. has filed for arbitration to challenge ICANN’s decision to not renew its accreditation. ICANN had sent a breach notice to the registrar for failing to comply with UDRP decisions. Instead of de-accrediting the registrar for the continued breach, ICANN decided to simply not renew its accreditation when it expired. A lawsuit filed earlier this year charges Lead Networks with ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo-Microsoft Deal Could Cost Marchex $8M Revenue - Paid-inclusion’s future is questionable. Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) saw its revenue plunge 44% this quarter compared to the same one last year, and the Yahoo-Microsoft search deal could make a further dent when it goes into effect. On its earnings conference call this week, Marchex CFO Michael Arends said: Furthermore, during the second quarter, Yahoo! Search Submit Pro, also known as Paid Inclusion, which is a product that provides distribution within the Yahoo algorithmic ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
DNA 11 Protects Turf with Category-Defining Domain Name - DNA art company profits from DNAArt.com domain name. [Editor’s note: Over the past few days we’ve been collecting stories of “end user” companies that bought domain names in the aftermarket. They realized it was a smart move and are reaping the benefits. This is the first in a series of posts about companies who “get it” that will be appearing on Domain Name Wire over the coming week.] What started as a quirky form of art — so called DNA art that is ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Revisiting a CPA Business Model - Another look at cost-per-action and how it can be used with domain names. With Rick Latona Auction’s CPA (cost-per-action) domain name auction on the horizon, I thought it would be worthwhile to revisit CPA and how it can make money for domainers. Most domainers use pay-per-click to monetize their domain names. This is a great monetization strategy, but for certain verticals CPA may produce more money. Domains that have to do with anything that requires leads, ... read more ...
Thu 6th August 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
.CM LandRush To Go Live Tomorrow? - The registry for the .cm ccTLD has updated their site to indicate that they expect the Land Rush for .cm domains to start tomorrow. The update on the site says: Dear Registrars, Netcom.cm Sarl is working together with CAMTEL to get the name server issue resolved. We expect to announce the new date for the go live of .CM this Friday, 7th of August 2009. We sincerely apologize for the inconveniences caused. Best regards, Moustapha Saya Kaigama CEO of Netcom.cm Sarl Of course today is Thursday August ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Comcast Launches “Domain Helper”: we Call It “Cash For Typos” - With all the talk about cash for clunkers program, Comcast just released a product that will give it “Cash For Typos.” According to PcWorld.com, Comcast will direct all non resolving page requests that formerly went to a “sorry this page cannot be found” type page, to a Yahoo landing page. Comcast calls the Program “Domain Helper”. We call it Cash For Typo’s Domain Helper, the only thing its going to help is Comcast, to some cash for typos. We know that this the vast majority of the ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
The Countdown Is On For SnakesOnACane.com; But Does It Infringe On You Know What? - In just over 46 days the site on the domain SnakesOnACane.com will launch. How do I know? Because the site has a countdown clock. Fox Entertainment teased the site with a 5 second ad on the finals of So You Think You Can Dance tonight and a 5 second spot on Hell’s Kitchen the other night. The ad itself was very different with just the medical symbol (a snake wrapped around a cane) showing with the domain listed on the bottom of the screen, with no audio. The domain was just hand registered just ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
“Assumed Name Squatter” in Hot Water - Lawyer allegedly tries to squeeze Texas restaurants over their assumed names. Think cybersquatters, who register trademarked domain names in an attempt to extort the trademark owners, are bad people? Get a load of this. Texas lawyer Mina Brees has allegedly threatened Texas restaurants that let their assumed names lapse. After their assumed name filings (also know as “doing business as”) with the county lapsed, Brees allegedly snapped them up through a company ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Disabled American Veterans Wins DAV.com Domain Name Case - Non-profit wins three letter domain name in highly questionable ruling. The non-profit Disabled American Veterans has won the domain name DAV.com through arbitration at National Arbitration Forum. The organization’s main web site is DAV.org. This case gives me great consternation. The truth is, the owner of the web site appeared to use all sorts of whois identities. And, a couple years ago, the domain name did show ads for veterans benefits. But none of these ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Microsoft Buys Office.com Using a Different Tact - Microsoft uses Marksmen to acquire Office.com. Microsoft has acquired the domain name Office.com, but the software company appears to have taken a slightly different tact in acquiring it than it has in the past. As I wrote after Microsoft acquired CashPerks.com and CashBack.com, the company typically uses a broker to acquire domain names. This is smart; if the seller knows Microsoft wants the domain then the price goes up. But in previous acquisitions the acquirer ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Runway Magazine Trips Up Over Domain Name - Fashion magazine loses domain name dispute. Runway Magazine has a domain name issue. The print publication uses the domain name RunwayBeauty.com for its online presence. It also has RunwayMagazine.us. It also registered RunwayMagazine.info/.biz, but neither of those are ideal for a web site. Adding to the complexity, the book and subsequent movie The Devil Wears Prada featured a magazine called Runway magazine. As a result, a lot of traffic is flowing to RunwayMagazine.com. The ... read more ...
Wed 5th August 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Web3d.com Sells On NameJet For $14,000 - The domain Web3d.com sold today on Namejet.com for $14,301. The Web 3D Consortium, is non-profit group, which “has open standards for real time 3D communications” and operates under Web3d.org. Here are a couple of other notable sales over the last couple of days at NameJet: muster.com $4,900 whiteglove.com $4,637 kilometer.com $2,989 photodoctor.com $2,400 boxup.com $1,110 Over at Snapnames.com,  some notable domain name sales over the last couple of days: DatingBlog.com $5,100 forexexchange.com  ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Yahoo Has An “Out” In Its Deal With Microsoft & Could Get A 93% Rev Share - If you check out the form K-8 that Yahoo filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, last week you’ll find some interesting information, previously undisclosed about the deal. First of all, according to that document, Yahoo has right to terminate the deal it signed with Microsoft last week; “If the trailing 12-month average of the revenue per search (RPS)  in the United States of the combined search queries of  Yahoo/ Microsoft, falls below a specified percentage of Google’s estimated ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Congress: Create Permanent Tie to ICANN - It’s such positive, uplifting news to see justice and integrity restored. Andrew’s comment is also worded perfectly and is the essence of everything that ICANN seems to fail at … “ICANN has seemed to steamroll dissenters”. This is what I have observed over and over in my own assessment of ICANN as a policy making entity. That elitist “we are better than everyone” undercurrent. I wonder what it will take for some real leadership to step up within that organization and forge ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Marchex Revenue Falls 44% - Revenue in free-fall, but company still generating cash. Domain name and local search company Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) today reported a 44% drop in revenues for Q2 2009 compared to the same quarter last year, but the company still managed to generate cashflow and carries no debt. The company posted $21.1M in revenue for the quarter, compared to $37.4M in the same quarter of 2008. For the first half of the year revenue dropped to $47.7M compared with $74.4M in the first ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cash For Clunkers Isn’t So Bad After All - How I’m profiting from “Cash for Clunkers”. I’m not a fan of the government spending my tax dollars. So I haven’t been too keen about the “cash for clunkers” program, in which the government gives my tax dollars to other people to buy new cars. When the program started to run out of cash I was even more upset. Did the government think that people wouldn’t take them up on an offer of free cash? Did they not see how much money Germany has spent on ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Name Companies Spend $2M Lobbying Washington - Analysis shows over $2M spent in first half of year on lobbying. Domain name related companies continue to spend millions of dollars lobbying representatives in Washington, a study by Domain Name Wire shows. The analysis used public records filed with the U.S. Senate to calculate lobbying expenses by domain name companies and other companies regarding domain name issues. By far the biggest spender is VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), which spent $1.4M in the first half of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domain Names: One Word Call-to-Action - Good domain names are the simplest form of advertising. What do you do when you have limited ad space but want to get your message across? Just use a domain name. Domain names are a one-word call-to-action. I was reminded of this last night while watching the Cardinals beat up the Mets on MLB.tv. Here’s what I saw: StubHub had some big rotating ads, but my eyes were equally drawn to Mets.com and LosMets.com. They may not look like ads, but they are. And they ... read more ...
Tue 4th August 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Bing.com Picks Up Another 1% Share Of The Search Market - According to Internet data firm StatCounter, Microsoft’s Bing search engine had a 9.41% share of the U.S. search market in July, up from 8.23 percent in June. Google’s share of the US search market slipped to 77.54%  from 78.48 % StatCounter said Google’s share of the global search market slipped in July to 89.23 percent from 89.80 percent in June. xi4a3m5prt Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...