Monthly Archives: April 2010

Fri 30th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Introducing a Ultimate Swag Bag Auction Series - An idea for domainers to help charity. After paying $127.50 for a sugar cookie in the name of charity, I had an idea. Couldn’t we auction off some other swag for charity? So I’m going to give it a shot. I’m introducing the “Ultimate Swag Bag Auction Series” on Domain Name Wire. Here’s how it will work. For each auction, a domain name company will put together a nice swag bag. Now I’m not just talking about a handful of chotskies that I could just ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
A UDRP First? Case Filed Against Directory on a Domain Name - As if a flimsy trademark wasn’t enough… It’s bad enough that Romantic Tours, Inc. has convinced three panels to hand over domain names based on its trademark for “Hot Russian Brides”. Now the company has gone too far: it tried to get a domain name based on a directory on the web site. Romantic Tours, Inc. filed the case against the owner of JimsLists.com. The reason? One of the directories on his site is called /hotrussianbrides. Specifically, the company ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oversee Responds to Feedback, Expands Agenda for DOMAINfest Event - Next month’s event just got more interesting. I’ll say this about Oversee.net and its DOMAINfest conferences: it always responds to feedback. The company just announced that it’s beefing up its one day event to be held on May 13 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Some of the rumblings on blogs and message boards when the company first announced its “Power Networking” days was that it seemed more like an excuse to hold an auction. But the new agenda has more ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The Challenges of Creating a Marketplace - Creating a marketplace is tough, but the rewards are high. One of the challenges new companies offering domain name services face is that of creating a market. It’s the age old question of the chicken and the egg. Which comes first, the supply or the demand? To get sellers you need buyers and vice versa. This isn’t limited to domain marketplaces in terms of buying and selling domain names. Starting a parking company. Consider the typical domain name parking ... read more ...
Thu 29th April 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Rosetta Stone Suit Against Google For Selling Trademark Keywords is Thrown Out - A federal judge dismissed a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by  Rosetta Stone Inc against Google back in July 2009, for selling keywords containing its trademark. Rosetta complained that consumers who search for “Rosetta Stone” on Google could click on a “sponsored ad” and visit the site of “a software pirate that purports to be Rosetta, but in reality sells a sub-standard product.” Rosetta, said it had hoped for a full jury trial, and may appeal to a higher court. But for now ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Jeftovic On Circle ID: Domain Names Are Not Investments, They Are “Just Speculation” - In a scathing post on domain names as an investment written by Mark Jeftovic on Circle Id, said: “This is the reality that domainers have to face: Most of the activity in the space that is considered “investing” isn’t.” “”In the domainer space, it’s all about speculation. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But let’s call it for what it is.”” “”I can’t bear to see the word “investing” misused any longer when used in the same sentence as “domains.” As ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Developments in Sex.com Case - More fighting between Sex.com owners. It’s a business relationship gone sour, and it doesn’t look to be getting any better. Here’s a recap in the case of Sex.com owner Escom, LLC, as well as the latest developments in this soap opera. To recap: -First, one of the company’s creditors, DOM Partners, pushed the company’s main asset, Sex.com, into a foreclosure auction. -The day before the auction was to take place, three entities controlled by Mike Mann filed ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN May Seek Contracts with UDRP Providers - No discussion at board meeting, but contractual issue is on the table. What did ICANN discuss about UDRP providers during its board meeting last Thursday? Did it discuss Czech Arbitration Court using “supplemental rules” to change the structure of UDRP, as I predicted? Did it discuss the lack of contracts with UDRP providers? Well, it really didn’t discuss anything. It ran out of time. The “preliminary report” from the meeting states that time constraints ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Com and .Net Base to Top 100 Million This Quarter - VeriSign set to hit major milestone this quarter. Sometime this quarter, VeriSign predicts its total registered base of .com and .net domain names will top the 100 million mark. In its investor conference call last night, VeriSign reported that the base is currently 99.3 million domain names. 2.5 million net new names were added in the first quarter, and the company expects to add 2.0 to 2.3 million names to the base during this quarter. Do the math, and it’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Company Wants to Patent Error-Redirect Pages - Patent application might step on a few toes. It’s one of the most controversial practices undertaken by internet service providers. Now Hostway Corporation wants to patent it. The company has filed a patent application (pdf) for “System and Method for Controlling Non-Existing Domain Traffic”. Non-existing domain traffic is when you type a domain name into your browser that doesn’t exist. Depending on your ISP, you might end up seeing a parked page instead ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Manny Ramirez Asks Arbitrator for His (Domain) Name - Former agent let domain name expire, now Manny Ramirez wants it back. Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Manny Ramirez has filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum in an effort to get the domain name MannyRamirez.com. It appears the domain name was registered in his former agent’s name and expired after he fired that agent. In early 2009 it was registered to Legacy Sports Group, LLC. But Ramirez had fired his agent at Legacy Sports Group in 2008. Robert ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Files Patent App for “Jointly Auctioning Expiring Domain Names” - Registrar files patent applications related to helping owners of expired domains sell them. Domain name registrar Go Daddy has filed two patents describing a system for jointly selling an expiring domain name in conjunction with the current owner of the domain name. United States Patent publications 2010/0106650 and 2010/0106616 describe a system whereby a deal is struck between the owners of expiring domain names and a domain seller to sell the domain names and ... read more ...
Wed 28th April 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Verisign: A New Record, 8.1 Million New Domain Registrations in Q1: Revenue Up 4%, But How Much Did They Leave On The .TV Table - VeriSign Inc. reported earnings after the markets closed. VeriSign’s 1Q profit fell 21% from last year. GAAP net income for the first quarter was $51.4 million or $0.28 per share, compared to $65.0 million or $0.34 per share for the year-ago quarter. Revenue for the first quarter however rose 4% to $264.40 million from $253.56 million in the same quarter last year. First quarter segment revenue for Internet Infrastructure and Identity Services, or the “core” businesses of Naming Services ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Latonas.com .Tv Domain Auction, Starts With Bids At $49 - Latonas.com is holding an .TV domain name Auction with starting bids of  just $49 each. The auction started tonight and ends on May 5th. “Most of these  .TV domains have never before been on the market with standard renewal fees as they were formally premium priced domains before VeriSign released their inventory on 3/18/10.  Therefore, these prime .TV domains are now standard priced to own and in an exclusive, Latonas is offering them to the public in a no reserve auction with only a $49 opening ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Additional Domains Added To This Morning’s RickLatona Live TRAFFIC Auction - RickLatona just sent out a notice adding the following domains to his premier live domain auction from Milan and they are all good domain names: CY.com 20.001 – 100.000 € (CY is the country code for Cyprus) Browns.com 20.001 – 100.000 € xx.org 20.001 – 100.000 € BankForeclosure.com 20.001 – 100.000 € Driveways.com 5001 – 20.000 € EasternEurope.com 5001 – 20.000 € Oncologist.com  5001 – 20.000 € For our picks for this auction click here. To bid on the auction click here Google+Michael ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Our Picks From The RickLatona TRAFFIC Milan Premier Auction - The RickLatona.com Live Premier auction from TRAFFIC Milan kicks off at 10 am EST on April 28th with remote bidding on proxibid.com. One of the problems that I had picking out domains for this auction are that some of the price ranges are quite wide such as the 20,000- 100,000 range. For example a domain like thick.com is listed as having a reserve range starting between 20,000 and 100,000 Euros.  I like the domain at the lower level but less than crazy about it at 100,000, so keep the wide reserve ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Wednesday Night Domain News Bytes - All the domain name news that’s fit to print. Here are few domain name stories and tidbits for your Wednesday evening. …Don’t look now, but Live Current Media’s stock price has broken the dime. On the downside. Shares closed today at $.0915. Ouch. …an oldie-but-goodie from The Onion about .xxx not being approved (in 2006). …VeriSign reported earnings after the bell. It added a record 8.1 million domain names in the first quarter — a record. That’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Who Will Throw Domain Investors Under a Bus? - When will Washington decide to screw domain investors? When the U.S. health care bill passed, one of the provisions that got some attention is a tax on indoor tanning salons. The 10% tax goes into effect in July. When I saw this provision, I realized right away why this particular provision was added. Sure, it raises some money (defrays the cost of the health care bill). And it is somewhat related to health, since tanning can have some negative health consequences. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Providing Whois Privacy Isn’t Free - Running a whois privacy or proxy service costs money. In the recent uproar about Name.com introducing a fee for whois privacy, a number of people have said that such a service costs the provider essentially nothing. Without discussing the merits of Name.com’s new fee and how it communicated it, it’s worth pointing out that whois privacy does cost the registrar money. First, there’s the legal set up fee and structure of an entity to act at the proxy. (There ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New York Times Wins Case Against Typosquatter - Media company wins four typo domain names through arbitration. The New York Times Company has won a National Arbitration Forum case for four domain name typos of its NewYorkTimes.com web address. The company filed the case in March to get the domain names newyourktimes.com, newyortimes.com, neyyorktimes.com, and newyoktimes.com. Although the domain names showed different owners, a previous case brought by Microsoft against the same person tied the identity of all ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The New Domain Auction Paradigm - There are lots of auction opportunities. How can auction houses differentiate themselves? Yesterday’s Domain Name Wire “blogger” auction ended with 32% of domains selling. It was lower than what I had hoped, although there were some good bidding wars at the end. I was also happy that all but one domain that received bids ended up meeting their reserves. There are several things I did right selecting domains for and running the auction, and several things ... read more ...
Tue 27th April 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Our Picks From The RickLatona.com .EU TRAFFIC Auction For Tuesday - The RickLatona.com .EU auction at the TRAFFIC show is scheduled to kick off at 9:45 am EST Tuesday April 27th with remote bidding available on proxibid.com All domain names have a 500 Euro reserve. Here are our favorites from this auction: 3G.eu DanceLessons.eu Decryption.eu Diapers.eu Evictions.eu HalloweenCostumes.eu Hikes.eu Interpreters.eu Privateplane.eu Professional.eu Professionals.eu Progressive.eu Teeth.eu Tennislessons.eu Tuxedos.eu Upholstery.eu WaterFilters.eu Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN COO Doug Brent Stepping Down - Doug Brent announces resignation from ICANN. ICANN Chief Operating Officer Doug Brent has announced he’s stepping down at the end of July for personal reasons. Brent joined ICANN in January 2007 in what was then a new role for the organization, and outlines some of the improvements at ICANN since he joined in a blog post. In explaining his departure, Brent writes: While my engagement in the work of ICANN has made this a difficult decision, the reasons I am leaving ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Hayward Industries Should Have Hired a Domain Attorney - An important lesson in why you need to hire a domain attorney for a domain name case. When a traditional business gets involved in a domain name dispute, it’s normal for them to gravitate toward their usual counsel to handle the case. That’s fine. But the counsel should at least spend a bit of money getting a domain name attorney to help and make sure it’s not making any stupid mistakes. Consider the case of pool company Hayward Industries, which is entangled ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Software.de Sells for $315k, Business.TV Sale Completed - Country codes lead sales lists, but interesting series of “license plate” sales is most curious. Sedo has sold the domain name Software.de for 235,025 EUR, or about $315,000 USD at today’s exchange rates. The domain name is still undergoing transfer so the new owner hasn’t been disclosed. The domain broker also completed the sale of a number of .tv domain names from its recent themed auction. Business.tv leads the way at $100,999. On the .com side, thefirst.com ... read more ...