Monthly Archives: December 2010

Sat 25th December 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Squawk Box Squawks About Bank of America Domain Names - Plenty of attention to recent Bank of America domain name registrations. Over the past few days the mainstream media has picked up on a story I first wrote about regarding Bank of America. The company defensively registered over 300 domain names that included many derogatory terms attached to its executives’ names. Most of the domain names included an executive’s name followed by “sucks” or blows”. I was quoted in a Financial Times article as well as ... read more ...
Fri 24th December 2010
Written by The Domains in EN
US Internet Christmas Sales Are Up 15.4% to $36 Billion & Now Account For 10% Of All Retail Sales - According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, that tracks sales at 72,000 retailers U.S. Internet sales rose 15.4%, to $36.4 billion, between Oct. 31 and Dec. 23. Sales over the Internet now account for about 10% of all retail sales, excluding purchases of automobiles and gas. That’s pretty impressive but there is a ton of room to grow. Image when online retail sales hit 50% of total retail sales. Its not a question of if but of when. Back to the report: “Today eCommerce accounts for a much larger ... read more ...
Thu 23rd December 2010
Written by The Domains in EN
ePark.com Sells for $30K on NameJet.com - The auction for the domain name ePark.com ended yesterday on Namejet with a bid of $30,600. While the domain has a nice ring to it, I think it priced at full retail at $30K Speaking of full retail, FindAbook.com got a price of $8,610. Ferdinand.com pulled in $6K but not sure what you do with that one either. OrganicEggs.com sold for $5K but I’m not sure such a thing exists, I know of free range eggs but not sure about organic. Mercenaries.com pulled in $4,100 but not sure what exactly one would ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
TechCrunch Covers Chef Patrick & His Acquisition of ScienceFiction.com - This morning TechCrunch covered the acquisition and launch of the domain name ScienceFiction.com by “Domain name investor and blogger Patrick Ruddell (aka Chef Patrick)” In an article entitled “ScienceFiction.com Aims To Become The “TechCrunch Of Sci-Fi”” According to the story Chef Patrick  bought the domain name off of Domain Capital for $175K after someone defaulted in their loan. “”The goal of ScienceFiction.com is to offer top quality news, reviews and interviews about the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Comparing Instant Transfer, Reg Path Domain Sales Services - New sales channels are opening up for domainers thanks to efforts by Afternic, GoDaddy, and Sedo. Over the past week Afternic turned up two new partners in its Afternic DLS Premium program and Sedo extended the beta of its SedoMLS program to large domain holders. Each new partner that gets integrated into these systems means more domain sales. Afternic has found that, with each new registrar partner it adds, sales go up — it’s not just the same number of sales ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top 10 Most Searched Domainers of 2010 - 10 names in domains that got lots of search action this year. It’s that time of year when you start seeing “top 10 of the year” lists, so let’s get things started. This list is the top 10 people associated with the domain name industry (not necessarily domain investors) in terms of the number of searches driving visitors to Domain Name Wire so far in 2010. Each person’s name sent at least 100 visitors to DNW. 1. John Berryhill – I think many of the searchers ... read more ...
Wed 22nd December 2010
Written by The Domains in EN
Mashable.com 6 Predictions For Digital Advertising in 2011 - Mashable.com just published its “6 Predictions For Digital Adverting in 2011 and is well worth a read. I’m can’t go into details (you will have to read the story for that) but here are the six predictions: Local Advertising Becomes Relevant Again With Location Silicon Valley Will Be the Next Madison Avenue Influencers Will Be the Celebrities of the Social Web Small Will Be the New Big for Social Networks Brands Will Become More Like Media Companies Facebook “Likes” Will Be Important for ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
TechDirt.com: “Homeland Security Affidavit To Seize Domains Riddled With Technical & Legal Errors” - TechDirt.com spent some time reviewing the Homeland Security Affidavit they used to get the judge to sign off on to seize the 80+ domain names as few weeks ago and concludes: “It’s is “riddled With Technical Legal Errors” Ouch. This comes after TechDirt.com reviewed a partial affidavit of Homeland Security, a few days ago in an article entitled “Homeland Security Knows Little About the Internet or the Law”, and came away less than impressed: “”Even going beyond the fact that (the ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Foreclosures.com Owner Is Going Through A Foreclosure of Her Own: Her Own House - According to the SacramentoBee, the owner of the domain name Foreclosures.com is going through a foreclosure of her own. Her own House. According to the Sacbee.com the “co-founder and face of Foreclosures.com, is herself going through foreclosure on her Fair Oaks home”. “Records show McGee went into default on her $1.6 million loan in June and a notice of Trustee’s sale filed earlier this month shows McGee and her husband Timothy McGee owe $1.7 million on the property.” “The home is ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
MarketShare.com Sells for $150K and Leads Afternic.com on A $700K Week - MarketShare.com lead the way with a $148,500 domain sale at Afternic.com this week. In all Afternic.com sold almost $700K in domain names in a the week before the big holiday. Other notiable sales off the list include LandingPages.com at $20K, eWindows.com at $4K (I hope the buyer is careful) and sportsfans.org for $2K Here are all the reportable .com sales $2k and over and all reportable non-com’s, $1k and over. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Network Solutions and Register.com Slot .Co Second - Big registrars pushing .co as next best thing to .com. Last month Go Daddy created quite a buzz by briefly changed its default domain name search parameter to .co. Although Go Daddy and its competitors continue to offer .com first, two large retail domain registrars are making a significant push to get customers to register .co. Both Network Solutions and Register.com are promoting .com as a second choice to .co, with Network Solutions even promoting .co above other ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Resin.com: Another UDRP That Shouldn’t Have Been Filed - Company files claim for domain name registered 12 years before it started using the “trademark”. Here’s another case of a domain name owner having to respond to an egregious UDRP complaint. Paper Denim Cloth, LLC filed a complaint against VertMarkets, Inc. to get the generic domain name Resin.com. The complainant admitted that it just started using the mark “Resin” in 2010 and that VertMarkets registered the domain all the way back in 1998, but still filed ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Minnesota Company Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - 3DCafe, Inc. found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. A three person National Arbitration Forum panel has called out 3DCafe, Inc. for attempted reverse domain name hijacking in a case over 3DCafe.com. The complainant argued that it had rights from its “predecessor in interest” for the term 3DCafe dating back to 1991. But the domain name owner, with the help of attorney Ari Goldberger, poked holes in the complainant’s arguments. The panel determined that ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Surprise: Domain Registrant Not Responsible for Registrars’ Parked Page - UDRP panelist uses some common sense. UDRP complainants frequently point to the content of registrar holding pages as evidence that a domain name registrant registered the domain name in bad faith. It’s a convenient argument that takes advantage of most panelists’ misunderstanding of parked domain names vs. holding pages. Consider a recent case where Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company argued that the registrant of FiremansFundBlog.com registered the domain ... read more ...
Tue 21st December 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
FCC To Vote On Net Neutrality Today Protects Land Lines But Puts Wireless in The Hands of The Carriers - The FCC is voting today on passage of Net Neutrality rules and like anything in Washington the proposal is getting both support and some opposition. The basic premise behind net neutrality is that all sites should have equal and open access to the net. The flip side is a situation where sites could pay to get better access so for example they would load faster for users to the detriment of non-paying sites It seems like the rules the FCC is voting on today gives “land line” Internet users Net ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Afternic Sells MarketShare.com for $148,500 - Marketshare.com gets some serious market share. Afternic has brokered the sale of MarketShare.com for $148,500. It appears the seller was a software company, but the buyer is using whois privacy to protect their identity. While by far the highest reported sale coming out of Afternic this week, the company had some other solid five figure sales including: americanpro.com $25,800.00 LandingPages.com $20,000.00 expresshotels.com $16,800.00 biomics.com $14,500.00 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Sells Over $1 Million in One Week, Including LawFirm.com for $233k - Brokerage closes six figure domain name transaction. Sedo sold over $1 million in domain names over the past week, including closing a transaction for LawFirm.com at $233,501. Another interesting sale is TreasureMap.com at $25,000. Here’s a complete look at Sedo’s publicly available sales of $5,000 or more over the past week: .COMs lawfirm.com 233501 USD treasuremap.com 25000 USD gaana.com 21000 USD addresssearch.com 19000 USD arithmetic.com 16612 USD possum.com 13500 USD rental-cars.com 12550 USD 062.com 11562 USD aie.com 11099 EUR yesorno.com 11000 USD bioeffect.com 9000 USD lagniappe.com 9000 USD worldluxuryhotels.com 7500 EUR valueformoney.com 7500 USD 0f.com 7199 USD appaddict.com 6790 USD hr360.com 6500 USD linkpublicity.com 6200 USD solarfonds.com 5969 EUR techstore.com 5700 USD smos.com 5555 USD kinderplezier.com 5000 EUR monstersquad.com 5000 USD ccTLDS mexiko.de 32130 EUR horseracing.co.za 20000 USD auctions.co 15000 USD charms.de 10000 EUR bambus.pl 8400 EUR ellos.de 7500 EUR villa.es 7500 EUR send.me 7350 USD private-zusatzversicherung.de 7140 EUR try.me 7100 USD refer.me 6105 USD employ.me 6099 USD freesolar.co.uk 5500 USD list.me 5005 USD bracelets.fr 5000 EUR soap.tw 5000 EUR tovaglie.it 4500 EUR cuisiner.fr 4050 EUR zusammen-feiern.de 4000 EUR Other ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
VeriSign Registry Changes Logo and Web Address - VeriSign finds a new image and home on the web. The company that manages dot.com has a new dot.com. VeriSign — the .com and .net domain name registry — has changed its web address to VeriSignInc.com and changed its logo as a result of selling off its security division to Symantec earlier this year. I discovered VeriSign’s logo change plans earlier this month when the company filed six trademark applications for its new stylized “v”. The new logo has a ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Adam Strong Buys NameBio.com - Domain sales database switches hands. Domain investor Adam Strong has purchased the NameBio.com web site, a searchable repository of domain name sales. NameBio was the second notable site of its kind after DNSalePrice.com. Both sites aggregate information about various public domain name sales and present them in an easy-to-filter database. The original owner of NameBio made some great search interface upgrades back in 2008 to the site. He then sold the site earlier ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Time Capsule From 10 Years Ago - A walk down memory lane in the tech world. Last weekend I was looking for some financial documents when I came upon a stash of old credit card receipts and stock trade confirmations from 1999-2001. In the process of sending some of these old documents through the shredder I took a walk down memory lane. There were credit card charges for GoTo.com, which I started using perhaps 6 months after the original pay-per-click search engine launched. The very credit cards ... read more ...
Mon 20th December 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google.TV Hits The Pause Button - According to several reports out today, Google.TV is not ready for prime. Google has asked some manufactures that were getting ready to  unveil new Internet-ready TVs at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month to delay the rollout. It appears according to those reports that Google is having software issues. There is also the issue of programming, with all the major networks so far saying there are not going to allow their programs on Google.TV. Here are a few stories you can ready ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Schilling’s Name Admin & Berryhill Win Another UDRP This Time Beating Visa On: Premiercard.net Giving Domainers A Christmas Present - In a WIPO decision out this morning Frank Schilling and Name Administration represented as usual by John Berryhill, won another UDRP this time on the domain name Premiercard.net beating back a challenge from Visa. In doing so it got a decision full of good language that can be cited by domainers in other cases. (we have highlighted those below). But 1st for the facts as found by the panel: “”The Complainant is Visa Europe Limited  which owns the trademark registrations in France for the PREMIER ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Hundreds Of Domains That We “Backordered” At Snap Are Now Coming In As Buy It Now Domains, What’s Going On? - Over the weekend we received several hundred of emails from SnapNames.com telling us that domains we had backordered were now available on a “buy it now” basis. The emails all have the same text to them: “””Good news! (.com) has become available for immediate purchase at SnapNames. Please note that this is not an auction, but is offered on a first come, first serve basis at a fixed ‘Buy It Now’ price. (.com) Please click on the domain name above to go to SnapNames to purchase the domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Here’s What Your Afternic Premium Listings Look Like - Hi Adam, That’s what it is supposed to be. Found the terms for Register, under, “Premium:” “At the time of transfer of the Premium Domain Name into your account, we will add one year to the existing registration period. Any subsequent renewals of the Premium Domain Name will be charged at the then-current renewal fee.” That sounds like what one would expect. Under, “Fees, Service Term, Renewals,” though, you agree: “Register.com reserves the right to change fees, surcharges, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Companies Have Filed 51 .Co Disputes and Haven’t Lost Yet - Benefit of the doubt given to complainants in .co cases. Companies have filed 51 UDRPs against .co domain names since the relaunch of .co into an international domain name extension over the summer. They haven’t lost yet. Complainants are 25-0 in cases that have been decided, and further settled seven cases prior to having them heard by World Intellectual Property Organization panelists. In most cases the domain at issue is an exact match to a famous brand such ... read more ...