Monthly Archives: March 2010

Wed 31st March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Colombia Faces Uphill Battle to Host ICANN Meeting in December - ICANN still considering options for December meeting. ICANN plans to hold a meeting in Latin America this December, but it hasn’t yet named a location. Colombia is frequently mentioned as a candidate, and the country’s Minister of Information and Communications Technologies has sent a letter to ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom restating his country’s interest in hosting the event. On the surface, Colombia might be a good candidate. It’s getting a lot of press as ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
It’s Apr Fools’ Day Somewhere in a World - Watch out for April Fools’ jokes. Psst. Be careful what you read on the web today and tomorrow. April Fools’ Day is full of bogus stories on the web. Even though it’s still March 31 in North America, many parts of the world have already started April 1. So if you’re reading a domain name article today that seems too crazy to be true, it’s probably made up. Over the years a number of domain name forum and blog posts have taken advantage of peoples’ gullibility. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo Shutting Down Publisher Network, Recommends Chitika - Yahoo admits defeat in syndicated pay-per-click ads. Yahoo is shutting down its Yahoo Publisher Network effective April 30. The program launched in summer 2005 as a challenge to Google’s popular Google Adsense program that lets any size web site publisher syndicate pay-per-click ads on their web site. The program initially received rave reviews as beta participants received high payouts. Over time, the program languished in beta. One common criticism was poor ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Commentless Comment Periods during ICANN - 9 comment periods end tomorrow — but commenting is light. Nine different open comment subjects at ICANN close tomorrow — and four of them don’t have a single comment. Despite comment period overload, I’m surprised to see certain communities not getting involved in the process. For example, two of the subjects that don’t have any comments concern Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). ICANN’s decisions around IDNs will greatly impact those domainers who ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DNW Radio: Brian Null Asks “What’s Your M.O.”? - Brian Null’s latest internet venture builds on past experiences. Brian Null’s latest venture has a great domain name — MO.com. But this isn’t the first time Null has used a valuable domain to build a business. He’s bought and developed a couple category killer domain names in the past. In this episode of Domain Name Wire Radio, Null will explain: -How he bought OfficeSupply.com, built it up, and sold it to iREIT -His “teaching moment” of the value ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Novo Nordisk Loses Domain Name Dispute - Healthcare company loses arbitration for domain name. Healthcare giant Novo Nordisk has lost a dispute over the domain name FlexTouch.com. Novo Nordisk filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain name based on its 2008 and 2009 trademark filings for “FlexTouch”. The current domain owner acquired the domain name after the trademarks were filed. Novo Nordisk argued that the respondent was a “professional domainer” who should ... read more ...
Tue 30th March 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Argentina (.AR) Latest ccTLD To Adopt Identification Requirements - The registry for the .AR ccTLD has passed identification rules for registrants for existing and new domains. All current registrants of .AR domain names must make sure the whois info including its name, address, telephone number fax number is up to date and accurate, and the e-mail address listed on the registration must be valid and working. In addition, registrants must provide either their tax identification code (Código Único de Identificación Tributaria, or CUIT) or their national identity ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows Hits 10 Million Domain Milestone - Domain name registrar is third to meet 10 million domain milestone. Tucows Inc. announced today that it hit a major milestone: 10 million domain names under management. The company credits its OpenSRS reseller network for hitting the milestone. The reseller network includes 10,000 web hosting companies, ISPs, Internet consultants, and other service providers in over 100 countries. At the end of December 2008, the company topped 7 million domain names and surpassed ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Files.com Goes for $725,000, But When Did it Sell? - Another blockbuster sale as Files.com sells for $725,000. Sedo’s latest domain name sales report includes another spectacular sale: Files.com for $725,000. The current owner is Startive Capital Pty Ltd of Australia, but it has been listed as the whois contact for the domain name since December. The prior whois is for Domain Capital. So when did it actually sell? Sedo would not confirm when it sold, citing confidentiality about the details of the deal. Nevertheless, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sex.com Investor: Give Sex.com Domain Name to PETA - Mike Mann plays along with PETA. Sex.com investor Mike Mann is playing along with PETA’s request that it get the Sex.com domain name. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) grabbed some publicity earlier this month when it requested the domain name Sex.com be donated to it instead of auctioned for millions of dollars. As it turns out, one of Sex.com’s investors — Mike Mann — is a long time vegetarian. He says he’ll accept PETA’s request, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UK Company Buys Top10.com from Idealab For $1 Million - Price comparison company buys Top10.com domain name. A UK price comparison company has purchased the domain name Top10.com from Idealab for $1 million in cash and equity. The deal included $200,000 in cash, and Idealab will take a 7% stake in the privately held company. As part of the deal Idealab founder Bill Gross will join the advisory board of the buyer, now named Top10.com Media Ltd. Top10.com Media Ltd. runs mobile phone and broadband comparison sites, which ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Tel to Launch IDNs in 16 Languages in June - .Tel domain names get IDNs in June. Coming soon: Jörn.tel, Júlia.tel, and Bjørn.tel. .Tel registry Telnic is launching registration of .tel Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in 16 languages on June 15. IDNs will be available in Chinese, Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. The company plans to launch more IDNs as other languages are approved ... read more ...
Mon 29th March 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
CreditScore.com Sold For “More Than Toys.com” & Becomes The Top Sale Of 2010 - The domain name CreditScore.com was just purchased by Mighty Net, Inc. which owns CreditReport.com. Although the exact amount of the sale was not disclosed, I was informed by a party to the deal, that the purchase price exceeded the amount that Toys.com sold for last year. Toys.com was sold at a bankruptcy auction for $5.1 Million last year. That would make this domain, the top domain sale for 2010 by far, and one of the most expensive domain names ever sold. (The domain MyCreditScore.com was included ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Kentucky Domain Seizure Case Is Heading Back To The Supreme Court - Gambling911.com, is reporting that the chief judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals approved iMEGA’s request to have its petition to send iMEGA, et al v. Commonwealth immediately back to the state’s Supreme Court. The order, signed early Friday, now allows the Supreme Court to make a decision on the merits regarding the 141 domain names seized by the Commonwealth. On March 18th the Supreme Court of Kentucky reversed the appeals court order throwing out the seizure order saying the parties ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Report: Apple To Reveal Next “Big Thing”: iAd (No It Doesn’t Own The Domain) - According to  Online Media Daily, Apple is preparing to announce its “next big thing”,  a new personalized, mobile advertising system that could well be called the “iAd” The new ad platform, which will be officially unveiled to Madison Avenue on April 7th, has been described as “revolutionary” and “our next big thing” by Apple chief Steve Jobs. It is believed the mobile ad platform has been built on top of Quattro, the mobile advertising developer Apple acquired in January ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
What Is The Worst Domain Name With The Highest Alexa Rank? We Nominate Trololololololololololo.com/ - When someone first sent me the link to the site using the domain Trololololololololololo.com, I thought I might just nominate it for the worst domain of all time. That was until I saw the traffic going to the site. Alexa currently ranks the site as the 37,000 busiest site on the net, but that the average over the last 3 months. Looking at the Alexa rank for one month the site ranks as the 11,000 busiest site on the net, and in the top 5,000 in a number of countries. What is the site for? “The site ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bing! Microsoft Wants Your Bing Domain Names - Microsoft picks up Bing domain names through arbitration. Since launching its new Bing search engine last year, Microsoft has frequently called upon National Arbitration Forum to help it get Bing related domain names registered by cybersquatters. National Arbitration Forum records show that, since December 29, the company has won arbitration cases for at least 40 domain names. The first batch of domains the company won on December 29, 2009 were typical typos, including ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sex.com Dirt: Inside Details of What Went Wrong with Sex.com - New dirt on Sex.com exposed in court filings. Documents filed in a bankruptcy case involving Sex.com owner Escom, LLC, provide intriguing details into who actually owns Sex.com and what went wrong with the company. DOM Partners, a creditor and an investor in Escom, filed the papers in response to an involuntary bankruptcy filing initiated by Mike Mann against Escom to halt the auction of Sex.com. In a motion to dismiss (pdf) the petition for bankruptcy, DOM alleges ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Kraft Wins Philadelphia.es Domain Name - Kraft awarded domain name for cream cheese brand. Kraft, maker of Philadelphia cream cheese, has been awarded the domain name Philadelphia.es by an arbitration panel at World Intellectual Property Organization. Isn’t Philadelphia a generic term, meaning the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? Perhaps. But the domain owner didn’t respond to the allegations in the case. He could have easily responded to the charges, arguing that he planned to set up a tourism ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Renewal Scam Picks Up Speed - An old domain name renewal scam that uses the domain name domainrenewalonline.org appears to be kicking into high gear. I received three scam emails from the company yesterday, each from three different sender names. With subject lines such as “Regarding your domain” and “Information about your domain”, the notices signed by “ISP Renewal” try to get you to submit your credit card information to renew domain names. It appears the scam has been sniffed ... read more ...
Sun 28th March 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
NY Post Rips Godaddy On Its Drop Auction & Its Backorder Program - The New York post today has a story ripping Godaddy.com process of charging customers $18.99 to “backorder” an expired domain and then placing the domain into auction once it “drops”. First we have to note that absolutely nothing new is going on that the NY Post is complaining about. Godaddy for years has had a program were you can backorder any domain,  for which is now $18.99 per domain.  If the domain was not at Godaddy or one of its affiliated registrars it would simply try to get the ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
ICANN Comment Period Closes Today On “Registration Abuse Policies” Report - Your chance to comment to ICANN on the “Initial Report (IR) of the Registration Abuse Policies Working Group (“RAPWG”)  ends today, March 28, 2010 According to ICANN, the Report includes concrete recommendations to address domain name registration abuse in gTLDs for Community consideration and input. Included are recommendations related to: Cybersquatting: recommending the initiation of a Policy Development Process to investigate the current state of the UDRP. Whois access problems: ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Baby Products Company Challenges “Working Mother of 5″ Over Domain Name - Munchkin fights woman who incorporated “Munchkins” in her domain name. Baby products company Munchkin has lost its attempt to get the domain name MamasandMunchkins.com from a “working mother of 5 small children”. Munchkin, which operates at the web site Munchkin.com, argued that Teri VanDerLaan’s domain name “fully incorporates” Munchkin’s trademark. So what happens when a big company goes after a working mother of 5 just trying to make a living? ... read more ...
Sat 27th March 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Minds + Machines Estimates New gTLD’s Won’t Be Opened For Registration Until 1st Q 2012 - A new report by Minds + Machines a company heavily involved in the new gTLD space, just published a report of the its estimated time line for the roll out of the new gTLD’s based on the most current ICANN news. You can download the pdf report here Basically M +M estimates registrations will be live for the first new gTLD’s approved in February 2012. Since their report is based on everything rolling out on schedule, I think this is an excellent indication that we will not see any new gTLD’s ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
The Perfect Marriage Of Online & Offline Business: The Domainer Profile You Have To Read - There are not too many people I have met in the domain business who have managed to put together an online and offline business that is so perfectly integrated, as Braden Pollock, whom I met at the Domainer Mardi Gras show. Braden’s company, Legal Brand Marketing, LLC (LBM) began in 2004 with the launch of 1800DUILAWS.com, as a DUI lead generation site and the matching 800 phone number. All calls to the number are geographically routed to subscribing attorneys which allows each attorney to use ... read more ...