Monthly Archives: January 2011

Tue 4th January 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
TechCrunch Interviews Sex.com Buyer: 125k Visits a Day - Robin Wauters tracks down Clover Holdings Limited. TechCrunch writer Robin Wauters has tracked down and interviewed the mystery buyer behind Clover Holdings Limited who paid $13 million for Sex.com last year. But we still don’t know who the buyer is, as he asked TechCrunch to keep his identity secret for now. But he claims the site receives 125,000 visitors a day and should earn seven figures in a year as a parked page. Those numbers seem lofty to me given how ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Lazy Complainants Lose Two Cases to Serial Cybersquatter in One Week - If domain name is registered before a trademark is filed, complainants need to provide good evidence of common law rights. So you’re legal counsel for a company that feels that someone is cybersquatting on your trademark. That someone is “Purple Bucquet” of Panama, which has lost twenty-six UDRP cases since April 2010 to companies as big as Wells Fargo and Intuit. You file a UDRP for the domain name and Purple Bucquet doesn’t even bother responding, yet you ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Ups Personal Brokerage Fee to 15% - Fees increase today, but only for small subset of sales. Today Sedo will increase its fee on personally brokered domain name sales to 15% from 10%. This fee increase only applies to sales that involve a human broker and does not apply to self-serve sales in which buyers and sellers transact on Sedo.com. I had a feeling this change was in the works for a while. Frankly, one of the problems with high touch sales in the domain name industry is that commissions are too ... read more ...
Mon 3rd January 2011
Written by The Domains in EN
Goldman Sachs Invests $450 Million Into Facebook Making Its Valuation $50 Billion - On the 1st business day of 2011, Facebook has a $50 Billion dollar Valuation thanks to an investment of $450 Million dollars by Goldman Sachs. According to mulitple reports, Goldman’s investment of $450 Million was paired with another $50 Million dollar investment by Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment company that already invested $500 Million into Facebook. Therefore this round of financing was $500 Million invested based on at a $50 Billion Valuation. Facebook shares split 5 for 1 ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
In 2010: China Shuts Down 60,000 Sites, 4,500 Criminal Investigations & Sends 1,332 To Jail - China was busy this year combating porn. According to a CNN.com story, China closed 60,000 websites related to porn, opened up almost 2,200 criminal cases against almost 5,000 people for “who violated Chinese law by disseminating pornography via the internet or mobile phones.” In 2010 1,332 people received criminal punishment with 58 jailed for five years or more. The office in charge, “received more than 170,000 tip-offs this year, with 534 people getting rewards totaling $81,964 for providing ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
IRS Begins Enforcing “No Whois Privacy” for Online Tax Return Services - Web sites that process individual tax returns must follow domain name rules. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has begun enforcing new domain name rules for online tax return services. The rules apply to online providers of individual income tax returns that own or operate a Web site through which taxpayer information is collected, transmitted, processed or stored: -Domain name must be registered with a domain name registrar in the United States -Registrar must ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
6th Annual Domain Name Wire Survey is Now Open - Give your opinion about the companies, issues, and people that make up the domain name industry. The 6th Annual Domain Name Wire Survey is now open and waiting for you. The longest running and most respected survey for the business of domain names asks your opinion on many service providers including: -Domain registrars -Parking companies -Escrow services -Sales venues -Domain conferences -Domain forums By taking the survey you let your voice be heard and help determine ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Convoy (.com) Saved from Attack in Hong Kong - Generic domain name registration stays with rightful owner. The domain name Convoy.com has been successfully defended against an attack in a Hong Kong UDRP. The case was brought by Convoy Financial Services, a company incorporated in Hong Kong, against Rainforest Consulting of Tennessee. The respondent was represented by domain name attorney John Berryhill. This dispute is interesting right off the bat because it was decided by Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution ... read more ...
Sun 2nd January 2011
Written by The Domains in EN
Verizon Acquires iPhone Domains Ahead of Early 2011 Launch: Did Verizon Actually Buy The Domains? - According to the blog, 9to5mac.com, Verizon just bought or had transferred to it the domain names iPhoneonVerizon.com and iPhoneforVerizon.com. Verizon has long been rumored to be getting its own version of the iPhone in early 2011, which since launch has only been available in the US at ATT. According to the 9to5 blog, both domains were previously registered at GoDaddy by a Jack Benton.  The domains are currently registered at Mark Monitor. The question now becomes did Verizon how has been as aggressive ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Its Jan 1 & We Are $750,000 In The Hole - We wish you a Happy New Year and now that the clock has hit 1.1.11 its another year and we start it out $750,000 in the hole. We own around 75,000 domains and with a carrying cost of lets just call it an average of $10 a year meaning that we will owe $750,000  in registration fees in 2011. Its a huge nut although some domain portfolio holders have hundreds of thousands or even million or domains, so they woke up this morning to a bill in the millions of dollars. Its no wonder that some domainers ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Microsoft Buys Kinect.com Domain Name - Microsoft gets domain name to go along with popular Kinect product. Microsoft has purchased the domain name Kinect.com, updated whois records show. The company launched its popular motion based Kinect system for Xbox last year, and it was a hot Christmas gift. Last week the company filed a UDRP to get a typo of Kinect.com, wwwKinect.com. At about the same time, both Kevin Murphy and I noted that Microsoft might be trying to acquire Kinect.com. Apparently we ... read more ...
Sat 1st January 2011
Written by The Domains in EN
Happy New Year From Bandit & His Parents - On his 13th January 1st, Bandit Berkens wishes you all A Happy and Healthy New Year. Yes we have no shame. But he is awfully cute. For Judi I we wish you and your family  all the best in 2011. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...