Monthly Archives: December 2009

Wed 16th December 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
Another 4 Letter .com Site Is Launched Today By The Entourage Star Adrien Grenier (Vince): SHFT.com - Well in what is becoming a trend another site was launched today using a  LLLL.com domains. This time its Adrien Grenier, star of the HBO series Entourage (he plays Vince) which is  behind the launch of the site SHFT.com (who doesn’t love that show?) According to the site, Shft.com is a “new media platform, offering original video series, curated shopping and a host of resource which speak to a modern, inspirational eco-conscious lifestyle.” This marks another in a long line of 4 letter .com’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bido Changes Up Its Game (Again) - Bido added a number of new features today. Credit domain name auction site Bido with constantly tweaking (or overhauling) its site in response to feedback. Today the company announced a number of new changes: 1. Name your starting price. No more $28 minimum/maximum. A lower minimum will likely result in more votes. 2. Vote for profits. If an auction you vote for goes to auction and sells, you get a cut of Bido’s commission. The goal is to incentivize you to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Why I’m Not Going to Follow You on Twitter - A few quick ways to make sure I don’t follow you on Twitter. I use twitter daily. Not only do I post my recent blog posts, interesting articles, retweets of other’s tweets, and my thoughts, but I use it to get story ideas. But I have a few pet peeves: 1. My main pet peeve is someone who follows you just to try to get you to follow them back. Follow me because you’re interested in what I have to say, not because you want me to follow you back. The worst ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN to Hold Live Consultation on New gTLD Registry Agreement - Live consultation to settle differences on domain name registry agreement. ICANN has scheduled a live consultation regarding the new top level domain name registry agreement for Thursday, 7 January 2010. The goal of the consultation is to discuss open issues in the agreement including: the process for amending the agreement, aspects of registry services reviews, and registry/registrar separation. One other major issue that should be discussed: (lack of) limits on ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Experience a New Auction Platform and Help Charity - Charity domain name auction underway. The WhyPark charity auction is now live, and I can think of a couple good reasons to participate. First is that all auction proceeds go to charity. For me, December is a month of giving. Although I donate to charities throughout the year, my wife and I are sure to make our big donations before the end of the year. In this auction, the person who places the single highest bid in the entire auction gets to choose the charity ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Houston Astros Make Play for Domain Name - Houston Astros play ball for domain name. The Houston Astros baseball team may not have had a winning season on the field this year, but they’re hoping for a win off the field: getting the domain name AstrosBaseball.com. The team and Major League Baseball have filed for arbitration at National Arbitration Forum to get the domain name. The official team site is Astros.com, and the team also owns HoustonAstros.com. But AstrosBaseball.com gets a decent amount of ... read more ...
Tue 15th December 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Move Over Danica; Pamela Anderson Is Newest Domain Name Spokesperson In Commercial For CrazyDomains & (Yes You can Watch It Here) - Following in Godaddy.com footsteps, the domain registrar CrazyDomains.com.au (also the owner of CrazyDomains.com) has hired Pamela Anderson to appear in commercials for its domain registrar services. According to the blog, NextRound.com,  the Australian based ICANN accredited domain registrar’s commercial featuring Pamela Anderson starting airing last week on Australian TV. “The commercial debuted last week and is exponentially sluttier than anything Danica Patrick can produce.” This strategy ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Our Picks From The SnapNames Monthly Showcase Auction Which Closes Today At 3:15 EST - The SnapNames.com monthly showcase auction for December closes today, December 15th,  at 3:15pm EST in accordance with its normal closing rules. We have went through the list and selected what we believe to be the best domains for the money, in the auction. (Disclaimer:   We do not have any domains in this auction nor are we making any commission by posting these selections) The prices represent either the reserve price, or in the case where a domain already has a bid, the minimum next price, ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Do Some Good, Hang Out With Some Playboy Bunnies & Take A Private Tour Of The Mansion For FREE - Ok so here is a very unique chance, that you may only get once in your life. Do some good. Help raise money for the Autism Foundation. And as an extra added benefit (as if you needed one) you get to hang out with some Playboy Bunnies. Yes its one of those rare win-win situations. The Moniker Premium Live Auction at DOMAINfest Global 2010 will include two donated domain which will be auctioned off for the benefit of the Jenny McCarthy’s Generation Rescue Autism Foundation. Jenny’s foundation will ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Comments 15-0 Against Expedited UDRP. So What Will ICANN Do? - Community feedback is pretty clear about Expedited UDRP. ICANN says it takes community feedback into consideration when managing the domain name system. But clearly it’s not a majority rule system. So here’s a clear cut case, involving the Czech Arbitration Court’s proposal to offer an “Expedited UDRP”. Out of 15 commentors, not a single person was in favor of the proposal. Zero. Zip. Nada. All 15 commentors were opposed to it either on principle or ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN May Green Light EOIs for New Top Level Domains in February - Expressions of Interest for new TLDs move forward. The idea for “Expressions of Interest” for new top level domain names cleared a hurdle last week, as ICANN’s board asked staff to push forward on the idea. The unofficial minutes from the ICANN board meeting on December 9 explain what will happen next: Whereas ICANN staff has presented an analysis of the potential benefits of an Expressions of Interest (EOI) process, and has developed a preliminary EOI process ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Go Daddy Revenue Tops $750 Million - A look behind the numbers at the world’s biggest domain name registrar. Bob Parsons has more tosmile about than just theGo Daddy Girls. Yesterday I wrote about Go Daddy’s revenue for 2009, and I extrapolated that the company grossed $600 million this year. That’s an incredible number — but the real number is even higher. In his opening remarks at the Go Daddy holiday party this past weekend, CEO Bob Parsons announced that the company has topped $750 million ... read more ...
Mon 14th December 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
TechCrunch.com Covers Demand Media & Sales Rumors - According to TechCrunch in a post published today, Demand Media, denies that is being shopped around for $1 billion or more.” However TechCrunch acknowledges “Revenue rumors in the $200 million/year range aren’t far off ” Of course Demand owns Enom.com, part of Namejet.com and a huge portfolio of domain names Go check out the article and the comments that are sure to come. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Judge Nixes Moniker’s Motion to Dismiss, Repercussions for Domain Registrars - Judge says defendants are more than just a domain name registrar. United States District Judge Cecilia Altonaga has squashed a motion to dismiss by domain name registrar Moniker in its battle with Transamerica. In a 25 page order (pdf), Altonaga denied Moniker’s motion and renewed a debate about whether domain name registrars can be held liable for their customer’s behavior. The judge was not attempting to judge Transamerica’s allegations, but merely if the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Trademark Protection Firm Uses Trademarks in Its Meta Tags - CitizenHawk gets creative with other company’s trademarks. Just when you thought you’ve seen everything… CitizenHawk, a company that helps trademark owners protect against typosquatters, has some peculiar keywords in its meta tags, including trademarks of one major competitor. Yes, you read that right. Here are CitizenHawk.com’s meta keywords on its home page: cybersquatters, typosquatters, internet traffic, domain squatters, experts in stopping typosquatters, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Buromobel.de (Office Furniture) Sells for $100,000 - German domain name cracks six figures. Büromöbel.de, which means “office furniture” in German, has sold for 69,000 EUR (roughly $100,000 at today’s exchange rate) at Sedo. The sale was the top reported sale for the week from the online brokerage. SPB.com was the second highest domain sale at $65,000. It was purchased by SPB Software, a mobile software company based in New Jersey. Coming in third was Arenal.com, which will likely be used for Arenal in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Extends Buyer Certification to All Auctions - Certification now required for all auctions. Domain brokerage Sedo has extended its buyer certification requirement to bidders in all auctions. Previously, only bidders in special auction events (such as GreatDomains) were required to complete certification requirements. Standard Certification, the lowest level of certification, is easy to obtain. You can provide a credit card, W-9, respond to a text message, or just sign a statement. This will allow you to bid ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Go Daddy Goes Big with $3 Million Holiday Party and Record Donations - Go Daddy throws big party and makes major charitable contributions. Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons certainly lives by the “go big or go home” mantra. As evidence, his company topped last year’s $2 million holiday party with a $3 million party this year. The event was held last Saturday night at Chase Field in Phoenix. Among the notable guests were boxer Muhammad Ali, a friend of Bob Parsons and Shane Tews, VP VeriSign Global Public Policy Govt. Relations. The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Paris’ War on U.S. Domain Owners Coming to a Head - City of Paris can’t hide behind jurisdiction forever. The not-so-pretty side of Paris. For years, the City of Paris (Ville de Paris) has been waging a war on U.S. domain name owners. It has threatened owners of many domains, including Paris.com and Paris.tv, asserting exclusive rights to any domain that includes “Paris” in it. More recently, it filed for domain name arbitration under UDRP against owners of several domain names, including WifiParis.com. The ... read more ...
Sun 13th December 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Have a .CN Domain? You Better Get A Business License In China Or You Might Lose It - According to an article today published in the GlobalTimes in China the “The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said that individuals are effectively barred from registering domain names ending with .cn unless they have a business license to show they’re a bona fide company.” “The announcement came after a report by China Central Television (CCTV) aired criticism of the registration process and linked it to the prevalence of pornographic websites.” “Applicants must submit ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
In & Out Of Domaining, The Great One’s Make Mistakes & That’s OK - Last week the one of  my favorite new blogs,  Fusible.com, wrote a short post on how wrong Rick Schwartz’s prediction was on the sales price of Rio.com. Rick predicted an epic auction ending in a a huge seven figure sale, when in fact the domain sold just above its reserve of $400K, for $450K. So Fusible decided to point out that Rick was wrong. Ok Rick had an opinion, made a prediction and was wrong. So? The greats make mistakes. On Friday, another one of my new favorite bloggers, Aron Meystedt ... read more ...
Sat 12th December 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
“An Interesting View From Outside The Industry”: Hey New Times, Maybe You Should Have Talked To More People Before Writing - Yesterday I read the post about the reporter from the New Times, Craig Agranoff who reported on the South Domainers meeting, concluding: “””Mingling in the crowd, I found that most domainers are either amateurs like me, who sell the occasional $200 or $300 name or are posers who haven’t sold much and have little idea how to really go about it”” Wow All I can say is Mr. Agranoff maybe you should have done a better job in reporting. Maybe you should have met more of the 50 people in attendance. Mixed ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
In The Trademark World You Might Not Be Able To Do Business Under Your Own Name: The Case Of Larry Flynt - An interesting trademark case was on trial this last week in LA. The trial pitted family members against each other. On one side you had Larry Flynt, one of those people that really needs no introduction and his company Larry Flynt Productions, and on the other side two of his nephews who of course also have the last name Flynt, and set up their own production company using the name Flynt Media Corp. Problem is that the younger Flynts were like their uncle wanting to produce and distributing adult ... read more ...
Fri 11th December 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
“Much Worse Than The URS”, The Comment Period On The Fast Track UDRP Closes Tomorrow Friday Dec 11 - On November 11th the Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) proposed a quick, cheap,  fast track UDRP process. The ICA says this proposal “is worse than the URS, and a danger to all current Domain  name portfolios.” “Allowing it to be put in effect via Supplemental Rules would be a scandalous travesty.” By reducing the complaint form to a bare minimum, a very low application fee, and without providing any penalty for losing, this process will encourage parties to “take a shot” to get domains ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How to Create a Print Newsletter to Promote Your Geo Web Site - Going offline to promote your city web site. A couple months ago I sat at a cafe for lunch in Lakeway, Texas. Alone with nothing but myself and a sandwich, I grabbed a couple newsletters off the newsstand. You may have seen similar newsletters before; they’re front and back, filled with mostly useless content and lots of ads. But I was a captive audience with nothing else to read. So I read the newsletter. Then it hit me: why not create a local newsletter, ... read more ...