Monthly Archives: October 2009

Tue 27th October 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DomainAdvertising.com Could Lift Domain Industry - New service from Directi could boost industry. Every once in a while you see a new product hit the domain name market that you really want to see succeed. DomainAdvertising.com from Directi is one of those. DomainAdvertising.com has the potential to bring more advertising dollars to the domain traffic market. It is the first service I know of that will evangelize the value of domain traffic to advertisers. We all know that we can’t count on Google and Yahoo to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sendori Hits Roadblocks on Patent Applications - Many claims in Sendori’s patent applications are denied. Sendori, a domain name advertising service acquired by IAC in January, has hit some major roadblocks on patents it filed. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has sent a final notice of rejection (pdf) on a number of claims in Sendori’s application for “Domain Name Marketplace”, publication number 20080189192. It has also rejected a few of the claims in “Electronic Marketplace Used to Lease Domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
You Say See-Dough, we Say Say-Dough - One of the questions I often hear about Sedo is how it is pronounced. I’ve always said See-Dough. So when I was at the SedoPro conference in Key West earlier this month, I was delighted to hear Sedo CEO Tim Schumaker pronounce the company as see-dough as well. Case closed. But then in a session the next day Sedo Chief Operating Officer General Counsel Jeremiah Johnston kept referring to the company as “Say-Dough”. Someone in the audience asked: which is it, ... read more ...
Mon 26th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
ProteinBars.com Sells For $42K On NameJet.com - The re-auction for ProteinBar.com and ProteinBars.com closed today at NameJet.com ProteinBars.com sold for $42,000 and ProteinBar.com sold for $16,042 Both to the same bidder, with the NameJet ID is “juggernaut“ Back On September 5th, both domains sold on NameJet.com with the plural having a high bid of $57K and the singular getting a high bid of $20K. We were active in the ProteinBars.com auction but dropped out once the bidding topped $30K. However the buyer of both those domains defaulted ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Injury KO’s Monte Cahn From TRAFFIC Auction - As the TRAFFIC show sets to open tonight in New York there will be a very familiar face missing. Monte Cahn, for most the face of Moniker.com is sidelined rehabbing a very serious injury to his Achilles tendon which he has been struggling with for several months. Monte is certainly going to be missed and personally its hard for me to imagine a Moniker auction without him. Victor Pitts from Moniker will be stepping in for Monte. We of course wish Monte a fully recovery as he has a long, painful road ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Well I’m Sure Going Be Busy The Next Couple Of Days - Off to TRAFFIC in NY this morning and looking at the schedule I”ll sure be busy. I’m on 2 panels, one each day. Tuesday at 10:30 I’ll be joining several other domain investors who will pitch their ideas looking for funding in TRAFFIC version of the Shark Tank called TRAFFIC Test Track On Wednesday at 1pm, I will be joining some fellow bloggers including Ron Jackson, Elliot, Owen and The domain king himself, talking about, well frankly I have no idea, but I’m looking forward to it. Add in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Australian Company Wants .Com, Gets Nailed for Reverse Domain Hijacking - Web site company apparently doesn’t understand domain names. An Australian web site development company, Bwired Group Pty Ltd, has failed in its attempt to get the domain name Bwired.com through arbitration — and was found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. There are two interesting things about this case. First, it shows that companies can’t rely on their country code domain name alone — they still need .com. Bwired uses bwired.com.au as its domain. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New gTLD Timeline Slips, Frustration Boils Over in Seoul - Frustration, anger greets session on new top level domain names. In the opening session on new gTLDs at ICANN’s meeting in Seoul, frustrations boiled over after it became apparent the timeline for introduction of new top level domain names has slipped. Kurt Pritz, Senior Vice President at ICANN, led the session. The transcript tells an ugly tale. Pritz didn’t talk about specific dates, but basically said things would be slowed down to get it right. One example: The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Noss Calls Out WIPO during ICANN Meeting - WIPO’s inconsistency called out at ICANN meeting. Tucows CEO Elliot Noss seized an opportune moment to call out UDRP provider World Intellectual Property Organization during the first day of ICANN’s Seoul meetings. During a session on Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery, WIPO’s Eun-Joo Min commented that one of the problems with domain expiration is that registrars handle it inconsistently and in a non-transparent manner: I think it is really important for ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Kate Hudson Fights for Her Domain Name - Actress files for arbitration to get domain name. Actress Kate Hudson is fighting for the right to the domain name KateHudson.com. [Update: she won the case.] The actress, famous for roles in Almost Famous, You, Me and Dupree, and My Best Friend’s Girl (pictured), has filed for arbitration at National Arbitration Forum to get the domain name. The domain name is currently parked and shows links for “kate hudson pics”, “celebrity photos”, “kate hudson”, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
As Google Listen Launches, Domains Already Squatted - Squatters picked up Google Listen names many years ago. Google has launched a new music and audio servicecalled Google Listen, which was sometimes referred to as Google Audio as news about the launch leaked over the past couple days. Unfortunately for Google, relevant domain names have already been snatched up. GoogleListen.com was originally registered back in 2005. The owner let the domain expire in 2006, and then the new owner let the domain name expire earlier ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The Most Important Domain Conference is Happening in Seoul - ICANN #36 kicks off in Seoul. Hundreds of domainers are gathering in New York this week for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference. It should be a great time and good for business. But the conference that will have a bigger long term impact on domainers’ pocketbooks is going on some 7,000 miles away in Seoul, South Korea. That’s where ICANN is holding its 36th international meeting. A number of game-changing decisions will be influenced or decided at the meeting: -Registry/registrar ... read more ...
Sun 25th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
FaceBook Founder: If we Had To Do It All Over Again “I’d Get The Domain” - Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, was interviewed by Tech Crunch and was asked the question if he had it all to do over again what  “What would you do now different?” To which Mr. Zuckerberg answered: “””A: I’d get the right domain name.” “”The moral is that we could get the domain.  We ended up “tens of thousands” for the domain. I think we used Register.com which was also a mistake.” I’m Not sure what he meant by by any of this. Is Zuckerberg saying he paid too ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New York Magazine Buys Vulture.com Domain Name - Vulture.com now forwards to popular blog at New York Magazine. New York Magazine has acquired the domain name Vulture.com for its popular entertainment and culture blog Vulture. A review of historical whois records shows that Frank Schilling’s Name Administration sold the domain name to New York Magazine. Records indicate that the domain was transferred to New York Magazine around September 2. This is an interesting example of a domain purchase by a major media ... read more ...
Sat 24th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
SnapNames Affiliate Program Changes To Pay You Less, Like 75% Less - Snapnames sent out a notice several days ago, announcing a fundamental change in its affiliate program which means only one thing, less money for affiliates. Under the current program,  if a customer clicks on an affiliate link, a cookie is set on that customers computer, and the affiliate receives a 20% commission on every sold domain’s net proceeds (e.g. the margin) for  90 days, unless that customer clicks on another affiliate link during that time, in which case the cookie get overridden ... read more ...
Fri 23rd October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Talk About Pissing Your Money Away, How Can 4 Typos of ToonTown.com Be Worth $4K To Anyone? - A few days ago I posted a blog on my number one rule to avoid failure in the domain industry is not to piss your money away. Today on Godaddy.com,  there are 4 typos for the site, ToonTown.com on the expired auction block with a total high bid price of almost $4K with almost 3 days to go. The domains are: TooTown.com tooontown.com tontown.com toontowm.com The total estimated traffic to the 4 domains are about 3,500 visitors a month according to Godaddy.com Of course as an added bonus,  ToonTown.com ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Kentucky Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments On Domain Seizures - Yesterday the Kentucky’s Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning the seizure of 141 domain names by the Commonwealth of Kentucky last year. According to reports the oral arguments lasted for about for 90 minutes from each side. The ruling from the court is expected in sometime within the next 4 months. During the hearing one of the justices Lisabeth Abramson questioned whether domain names could be defined as gambling devices since the statute was written before online gambling started and ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
WhyPark.com Charity Domain Auction Set For December; Submit Your Domains Now - WhyPark.com is organizing a 5-day charity domain auction to begin December 7th and end December 11th. Approximately 50 domains will be chosen for the charity auction, and all domains will start with no reserve. At the close of the auction, the single highest bid from all auctions will be able to choose the charity to receive all net proceeds. However WhyPark will ensure the charity is a neutral, socially-responsible, respected charity. It’s an extra incentive to open your wallets a bit more while ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
MCU.com Sells For $24K On SnapNames.com - Last week we told you that there were 3,  three letter .com’s, all dropping on the same day. Snapnames.com wound up getting all three, beating out NameJet.com, Pool.com and other registrars. Today the auction for one of those domain ended with MCU.com selling for a whooping $24,500. MCU is a common acronym for a Microcontroller Unit, also a Multipoint Control Unit, and sthe Municipal Credit Union located in NY City, and Miami Christian University. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Dow Jones Loses Marketwatch.net Domain Name Case - Second domain arbitration loss for financial media company today. Earlier today Domain Name Wire wrote about financial media company Bloomberg losing a domain name arbitration case for BloombergRealty.com. Apparently today isn’t a good day for financial media companies and domain names: Dow Jones just found itself on the losing end of a case for Marketwatch.net. Dow Jones runs the popular Marketwatch.com web site, which it launched in 1997. About a month after ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bloomberg Loses Domain Name Dispute - Media giant loses case against small town real estate agent. Financial media company Bloomberg Finance has lost a domain name dispute with a small town real estate agent over the domain BloombergRealty.com. Bloomberg filed a case with National Arbitration Forum, arguing that the domain name BloombergRealty.com violated the media company’s trademark. The domain’s owner is Nancy Shulman, a real estate agent whose married surname was Bloomberg. Bloomberg Finance ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
End of Yahoo Paid-Inclusion Hurts Marchex - Marchex takes a big hit from product change at Yahoo. Back in August I wrote about potential exposure Marchex has to the Yahoo-Microsoft search deal, particularly around Yahoo’s paid inclusion service. Marchex grossed about $2 million from the product in the second quarter of this year, but the product’s future was up in the air with the search deal. Now that Yahoo has announced the end of paid inclusion at the end of the year, look for Marchex’s revenue and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Auction Woes Were Caused by Denial of Service Attack - DDOS to blame for problems during auction yesterday. Sedo’s outage during the .de domain name auction yesterday was not due to intense bidding activity, but was actually a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack, reports the company. In a statement released today, Sedo wrote: Due to a malicious attempt to disrupt our services, Sedo suffered from two different distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks which temporarily caused the Sedo and GreatDomains.com ... read more ...
Thu 22nd October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
Quick Poll: How Much Money Will The TRAFFIC Auctions Generate? - We asked which Live auction you though would sell more at the TRAFFIC show next week and 63% of you voted for RickLatona.com over Moniker.com auction. So the big question is what will the two live auctions generate in combined sales? We are opening the polls until Tuesday morning. Just to be clear your pick is for the total amount you think will be sold at the two Live TRAFFIC auctions next week. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TV.de Auction Ends Over $400,000 - TV.de leads .de domain name pre-auction. When .de registry DENIC starts releasing previously unavailable domain names tomorrow, you can bet a lot of Sedo’s partner registrars will be hammering the registry for TV.de. A “pre-auction” for TV.de closed at 279,499 EUR, which is about $419,000 USD at today’s exchange rates. The auction is still ongoing as I write this (thanks to Sedo’s web site failing under the bidding activity), but only one character .de domain ... read more ...