Monthly Archives: April 2010

Thu 22nd April 2010
Written by The Domains in EN
Will The First Site To Make It Big Off a iPad Be An Adult Site?: PinkVisualPad.com - Despite Apple’s  well known disdain against porn, the first site that might ride the iPad’s waive to fame and fortune maybe a porn site. On the day that the iPad hit the stores, PinkVisualPad.com, launched. PinkVisualPad.com, is according to the company, the first iPad optimized adult site on the Web. The President of Pink Visual, Allison Vivas, said she registered the domain name the same day Steve Jobs officially unveiled the device and, more importantly, the name iPad, on January 27 and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Tel Price Drop – $2.99 during eNom - eNom offers promotional pricing on domain. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines for the .tel top level domain name, your patience may have been rewarded: eNom is now offering the domains for only $2.99 per year under promotional pricing. .tel domain names don’t function like normal top level domains. Instead, it’s sort of like a business card on the web. You can upload content such as your contact information, links to other web sites, etc. on the domains. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Cardinals Best Off-Season Pick Up Was Domain Name - Checking in on MLB domain names. Major League Baseball is back, and that means I’m spending lots of time getting the latest scores and highlights online. While watching the Cardinals play on TV, I noticed they made a nice off-season pick up that I wasn’t aware of: Cardinals.com. Previously, you had to type in StlCardinals.com to get to the team’s web site. But in October last year Major League Baseball acquired the Cardinals.com domain name. So I’ll save ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
My Picks for Domain Name Wire Auction - Highlighting some of the domains in the DNW auction. Is it possible to remain unbiased when you’re writing about an auction you organized and domain names you own? Doubtful. So I won’t even try. But I did want to highlight some of the domains in the Domain Name Wire auction, ending Tuesday. So, in case it’s not perfectly clear, many of the domains below are mine. For the other domains, I don’t get any sort of cut. This post covers just some of the domains ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Arbitrator Blasts CitizenHawk for Boilerplate UDRP Filing - Panelist calls out mass UDRP filer for automated case submission. Just how does CitizenHawk file so many UDRP cases? It appears to use an automated UDRP generator or template to quickly file cases. And a panelist with National Arbitration Forum is calling B.S. The case in question is on behalf of CitizenHawk client LetsTalk.com. The company tried to get LetzTalk.com, arguing that it differs by only one letter from its LetsTalk.com mark. But the complaint contained ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Afternic Offers Free Membership in April - Company offers free membership through the end of April. AfternicDLS is offering free sellers memberships — but the offer ends April 30. Afternic usually charges $19.95 to become a seller on its platform, and $1.00 for a buyer-only membership. Its chief competitor Sedo doesn’t charge for accounts. However, given Afternic’s historic focus on sales instead of domain parking, the fee makes sense. The seller fee limits the amount of users who merely flood the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Going to Colombia in December - ICANN chooses another controversial location for ICANN meeting. Continuing a theme of holding ICANN meetings in places that members of the Intellectual Property Constituency are too afraid to go, ICANN’s board has approved holding its December meeting in Cartagena, Colombia. As I discussed last month, I’m sure that ICANN didn’t take this decision lightly. It pulled off a successful meeting in Mexico City without much pushback. But its last meeting in Nairobi ... read more ...
Wed 21st April 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Slots.com Auction Set For Next Week - According to OnlineCasinoNews.com, the auction for Slots.com will be held one week from today on April 28th. “”It has been confirmed that one of the most eagerly awaited domain name auctions will take place next Wednesday 28th April 2010. The Slots.com domain is on offer with those groups interested in getting hold of what could be a potentially very lucrative name having until this Friday to register their interest.” According to the earlier press release on this auction to participate ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Yahoo Earnings Up, But Revenues Down - Yahoo reported earnings after the market closed today. Yahoo! said its first-quarter profit was more than double that of a year ago. Yahoo earned 22 cents per share, better than the 9 cents analysts had anticipated. However Q1 search advertising revenue down was down 14%. “We stabilized our search share and we believe it will tend up in Q2,” Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz said in a conference call with analysts on Tuesday. Yahoo’s revenue per search increased 2% from 4Q, but were down ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Judge Denies DOM Partners Motion to Dismiss Bankruptcy Case - Bankruptcy case to proceed for now. A judge assigned to the bankruptcy case of Sex.com owner Escom, LLC has denied creditor and shareholder DOM Partners’ request to dismiss the case. Three companies run by Mike Mann filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Escom the day before Sex.com was to be offered in a high profile auction in New York City. Mann argued that the best way to realize the maximum value from the sale of Sex.com was to hold an orderly bankruptcy ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
$4 Million Spent Lobbying Congress on Domain Names - Companies spend $4 million influencing Capitol Hill. Domain name companies and other companies with an interest in domain name matters spent about $4 million dollars lobbying Congress last year. Using public records filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, Domain Name Wire has tallied total spending for 2009 by a number of companies. (See spending in the first half of 2009 here.) VeriSign led the pack, spending $2.4 million to influence matters related to Domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oasis.com: Another Creative Agency Tries to Grab Generic Domain Name - What’s up with online creative agencies? On the one hand, it’s great to see that creative agencies are starting to “get” the importance of having a good, easy-to-remember domain name. There was Media Rain, a Utah digital creative agency that tried to get the domain name Rain.com. Now we can also add Oasis Technology Partners, Inc to the list. The Boston company tried to snag the domain name Oasis.com through UDRP. It too has failed. Oasis Technology ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BargainDomains Switches to Auction Format, Catchy.com Gets Catchy - Two domain sales sites get upgrades. BargainDomains.com, a site from Francois Carrillo of Domaining.com that offers domain names at a significant discount from their appraised value, is switching to an auction format. Previously, domain names were offered at a fixed price for 30 days. Little information about the auctions is available at this time, but submissions are open at the BargainDomains web site. Another domain sales site from Carrillo — Catchy.com — ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Barbara Kingsolver Wins Domain Fight, Loser Not Happy - Loser in arbitration case makes his case — publicly. Author Barbara Kingsolver has won a case at National Arbitration Forum for the domain name Kingsolver.com. The soon-to-be-former owner of the domain name is none too pleased. He has posted a tirade about the case at Kingsolver.com (warning: explicit), which will exist until his registrar has to hand the domain name over to Kingsolver on April 29. Kingsolver’s agent forgot to renew the domain name and it was ... read more ...
Tue 20th April 2010
Written by The Domains in EN
SFGate.com: “Demand Media Will Be The First $1 Billion Tech IPO Since Google” - In a post today in SFgate.com, authored by Lou Kerner, of the Business Insider, he predicts that Demand Media will be the 1st $1 Billion dollar Tech IPO since Google. Here are Mr. Kerner’s arguments for Demand: Demand’s. ehow.com is the 44th most trafficked site according to Alexa (I show it being #141)…. which gets most of its content from over 10,000 “qualified” contributors that Demand pays very modest fees ($5, $10, $30 plus potential revenue share) to produce the content.” “”The ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Yahoo Acquires Me.Me - Sedo.com announced today that brokered the sale of  the domain name Me.Me to Yahoo!. The domain name was previously owned by the .Me Registry. Yahoo! has acquired the domain name to enhance the brand of its social networking site, meme.yahoo.com, which allows users to connect and share their common interests. “Thanks to Sedo’s services and the consultation of Sedo broker, Jeff Gabriel, we were able to obtain the Me.Me domain name, which is an essential component of our online branding strategy,” ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
SnapNames.com To Hold A .Me “Catch Phrase” Auction: Auction.Me, Trade.Me, See.Me Change.Me, Use.Me + More - SnapNames.com will be holding an online auction of .ME Catch Phrase Domains starting on May 4th and ending on May 11th. To date the catch phrases have done much better in the resale market than the personal names. Earlier this month the sale of Call.me for 20,000 Euro’s ($27k) was announced. Of course Date.me still holds the record at $70K. Some of the domain to be included in this auction include: Auction.Me Avatar.Me Baby.Me Believe.Me Bug.Me Change.Me Check.Me Clone.Me Cool.Me Design.Me Get.Me Good.Me Guide.Me Hold.Me Hot.Me Improve.Me Inform.Me Let.Me LookAt.Me Map.Me Mini.Me Phone.Me See.Me Server.Me Set.Me Sport.Me Talk.Me Trade.Me Use.Me Vip.Me Google+Michael ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
“I’m Not One of Those Evil Typo Dudes” Says The Guys Sued By Microsoft for $2.4 Million - Here’s the case of a non-domainer that has been sued by some of the biggest companies in the world for registering variations of their trademarks and seems not to be a bit bothered by the whole thing. Meet, Alf Temme, the owner of a California company that sells an exercise machine for $14,615. In March, Microsoft filed a lawsuit against him and his son Lars over 24 domain names, such as ho0tmail.com and hot5mail.com, that redirect to his company’s Web site, fastexercise.com. Microsoft’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Board to Review UDRP Provider Relationship on Thursday - “And an actual contract?” That raises a very sticky problem with WIPO. WIPO is a treaty organization which is ordinarily immune from most legal actions. Signing a contract would necessarily expose them to suit under that contract, and that is not going to happen. Of course there is no ICANN requirement that WIPO be a UDRP provider either. Under ordinary principles of governance, we do not usually vest the policy making and adjudication functions in the same body (and certainly ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Investors Settle Embezzlement Case With Sovereign Bank - Phone.com, LLC and Escom, LLC settle case against Sovereign Bank for $300,000. What do Phone.com, Consultants.com, and Relationship.com have in common? Yes, they are valuable internet real estate. But they are also at the center of an alleged $500,000 heist during 2007-2008. And, like any case involving domains and theft, Sex.com was also involved. The Players In February 2007, Internet Real Estate Group hired Christopher Britt for bookkeeping and controller activities. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domain News from Around a Web - Domain news worth reading. Here are a few domain name news items that caught my attention in the past 24 hours. Hallmark to buy Crayon.com? Fusible, which does a good job tracking big name domain buyers, thinks that Hallmark might be the lone bidder for the domain name Crayon.com. The domain name is on auction right now at Sedo with a $50,000 bid. I’m going to second Fusible here, because I noticed that Hallmark bought Crayolas.com from Sedo earlier this month ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ScotiaBank Loses Case for Caribana Festival Domain Name - Title sponsor for Carnival event in Toronto loses case to get Caribana.com domain name. Bank of Nova Scotia, the title sponsor for Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival called “Caribana”, has lost a dispute to gain ownership of the domain name Caribana.com. Bank of Nova Scotia — aka ScotiaBank — filed the complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to get the domain name from Working Word Co-operative, which publishes Word Magazine. Working Word ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Launches Google Places 6 Days After Winning GooglePlaces.com Domain - Google won GooglePlaces.com domain 6 days ago. Did Google wait to rebrand its Local Business Center to Google Places until it had won rights to the domain name GooglePlaces.com? On March 2 the company filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum to get the domain name GooglePlaces.com through Uniform domain-name Dispute Resolution Policy. The domain was owned by “Network Service” in California, with a registered owner named only “Anthonny”. The National ... read more ...
Mon 19th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
For GeoDomain Expo, The Sponsors Tell a Story - GeoDomain Expo attracts a different type of crowd. For the past few years I’ve enjoyed my trip to GeoDomain Expo, an annual gathering of owners of city.com and similar geographic domain names. It’s a different sort of conference that attracts a different crowd than most domain conferences I attend. You can tell that by looking at the sponsor list. Few of the companies are directly involved in the domain business. From Local.com to ARES to Booking.com, the show ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Shipping Company Loses Challenge for NOL.com Domain Name - Domain name with Fortune 500 history involved in domain dispute. Shipping company Neptune Orient Lines Limited has lost a UDRP challenge against the owner of the domain name NOL.com. The domain’s owner, cnwonder.com or Wu Guiqiang, said he didn’t register the domain name with the shipping company’s NOL trademark in mind. He also used the domain name for a service called “Names Online”, or NOL for short. The panelist accepted that the domain name wasn’t ... read more ...