Monthly Archives: February 2011

Wed 23rd February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
.Me To Star At Webfest Along With Founders of About.me and Word Press - The .ME Registry  announced today that Montenegro will host the opening of the 2011 WebFest, Eastern Europe’s largest Internet conference. “Webfest.me runs September 22th-24th in Budva, Montenegro “World recognized speakers and experts from the region and discussions will be conducted about the use of the Internet on global and regional level, the content and business opportunities.” “The annual festival and conference is the region’s effort at raising public awareness about ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Afternic Changes Up Its Reporting Rules & Proves Sales are Sometimes Just a Numbers Game - I hear a lot of domainers asking why they don’t get the sales volume that others so publicly do. Frankly sometimes its just a numbers game. If you own 1,000 quality domain names your not going to get the sales volume of those with 100,000 quality domains or those with 1,000,000 domains. At some point total sales does become a numbers game reflecting the amount of domains owned and/or submitted to a sales platform. After I reviewed this weeks Afternic.com sales list, well that just proves the point. Up ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domain Investor Buys $280 Charity Cookie - Domain name cookie sells for $280. Domain name investor Justin Godfrey of DIS Inc./MiniSite.com was the winning bidder in the eBay auction for the Tucows/Open SRS commemorative cookie. Last April I bought the cookie — which was made to commemorate Tucows hitting the 10 million domains milestone — in another charity auction. But it was time to turn the cookie into more money for charity, so I put it back up on eBay last week. Bidding quickly escalated and the price ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Cricket Mobile Phone Company Sues to Get Cricket.com Domain Name - Large wireless company sues in effort to get Cricket.com domain name. Cricket Communications filed a lawsuit on Friday in U.S. District Court – Southern District of California in an effort to get the domain name Cricket.com (pdf). Cricket uses MyCricket.com as its primary domain name. Cricket Communications filed a UDRP case against domain name owner Global Cricket Ventures in December. Cricket Communications decided to file the lawsuit after Global Cricket Ventures ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
7S.com Owner Can Keep Domain Name Despite Andrew Christie’s Opinion - Activist UDRP panelist at it again in 7s.com case. If you ever need to point a finger at UDRP panelists that are trying to pervert the entire system, one of those should be Andrew Christie. I awarded Christie a “Domain Dunce” award in 2009 for his attempts to change the plain language and thousands of cases of precedent of UDRP. He did it by circularly referencing his own cases. Now Christie is at it again in the case of 7s.com. The owner of the domain name ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sex.com Investors Settle Their Differences - Investor in sex.com domain name’s former owner drops objection. After a deal was struck to sell Sex.com for $13 million last fall, investor Nuthin’ But Net filed a motion to set aside some of the proceeds because it disputed who should get them. Nuthin’ But Net accused investor Mike Mann of “self-dealing”. I estimate that about $2 million of the sale proceeds were set aside. But after some back-and-forth, it appears that the parties have come to an agreement. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Survey: DOMAINfest Best Domain Industry Conference - DOMAINfest takes top honors again. DOMAINfest is the best domain name conference, according to survey respondents in the Sixth Annual Domain Name Wire Survey. 42% of those that have attended a domain conference said DOMAINfest is best. 39% said TRAFFIC was best. Of the people who answered this question, more had attended a TRAFFIC conference than DOMAINfest. 67% of those that have attended a DOMAINfest show say it’s the best conference and 50% of those who have ... read more ...
Tue 22nd February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Pac12.com Owner Sues Pac-10 Conference Over Domain Name - Lawsuit filed over Pac12.com domain name. The owner of the Pac12.com domain name has sued the Pacific-10 collegiate athletic conference in an effort to keep his domain name. Austin Linford filed the suit (pdf) after the PAC-10 filed a UDRP complaint (pdf) with World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain name Pac12.com. Linford is asking for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement. Although it originally appeared that the domain name changed hands ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Auction for World’s Most Expensive Sugar Cookie Ends Wednesday - Charity auction with a domain name twist ends on Wednesday. It’s rare. It’s valuable. It’s truly a sugar cookie like none other. A charity auction for a cookie commemorating Tucows/OpenSRS 10 million domains milestone ends Wednesday. At the time I’m writing the auction has been viewed 777 times and is up to $260. Just how rare is this cookie? Only 180 were produced. According to OpenSRS‘ Ben Lucier, there are perhaps only 15 of these cookies still in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Hedge Fund Investor and Forex.com Owner Wins Domain Name Dispute - Man behind Forex.com and ForeignExchange.com successfully defends domain name challenge. It’s not often that you see two heavyweights battling it out in a UDRP proceeding. But a recently decided case for ScoutInvestments.com involved a $1.65 billion financial services firm against a successful investor and entrepreneur. UMB Financial Corporation of Kansas City has a number of trademark registrations for “Scout” related to investment services. It brought the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Survey: Schwartz and Parsons Have Most Influence on Domain Name Industry - Survey says Rick Schwartz has most influence on domain name industry. Each year on the Domain Name Wire annual survey I ask an open ended question: Which person has the most influence on the domain industry? This is a fill-in-the-blank question, which means fewer people answer the question. But they have to give it some thought, too. This year Rick Schwartz received the most responses with 62. A lot of domain investors also believe Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons exerts ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Policies Are Biggest Issue Facing Domain Industry in 2011 - ICANN policy decisions cast cloud over domain name industry. A non-scientific survey of over 1,500 people in the domain name industry suggests that ICANN policy decisions represent the biggest issue facing their businesses in 2011. 30% of survey respondents cited ICANN decisions such as those affecting new TLDs and IDNs as the biggest issue facing the industry in 2011. The question was asked as part of the Sixth Annual Domain Name Wire Survey. Domain investors are ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Root Orange Releases New Geo Targeting Service - Service enables web sites to target content based on visitor’s location. Root Orange, which launched a geo-splitting domain name service a year ago, announced a private beta for a new geo-splitting technology today. GeoSkipper makes it easier for web site owners to target messaging, pricing, and other content based on the visitor’s location. One of GeoSkipper’s first clients is Chicago.com. Chicago.com will use the service to display a real estate search box ... read more ...
Mon 21st February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
ICANN Working Group Issues Recommendations Regarding Domain Hijacking - The working ICANN working group published its recommendations on the proposal that would allow domain owners to claw back domains for up to six months in the case of theft of a domain. Some worried that this provision would be used to undo a transaction by a seller that got a higher offer on a domain after a sale was made public or by someone who just changed their mind after a sale: “”The GNSO Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) Part B Policy Development Process Working Group was tasked ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
House Rep. Promises Hearings On New gTLD’s: “We Want To Ask Them Why It Is Necessary & Important To Do That” - During his remarks this weekend on C-Span Rep. Bob Goodlatte, who is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property,  he promised a that the House would be holding a hearing on ICANN’s plan on expand the number of top level domains otherwise known as new gTLD’s. “We are also going to hold a hearing on ICANN’s plan to dramatically expand the number of domain extensions, which could immensely complicate the ability of  people from protecting their Intellectual  Property ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Chairman Of The IP Committee of a U.S. House Comes Out Swinging Against Leahy Bill - Over the weekend there was some good news out of Washington when Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va said about the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act: “We don’t want to be Egypt,” “Nor do we, when you talk about cybersecurity, a broader issue that goes beyond theft, that goes to the functioning of the internet itself, we don’t want to give government so much power that they have a kill switch, or something like that.” Rep Goodlatte said “he and his colleagues need to be ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The Moody Blues Fight for MoodyBlues.com - Aging rock group wants .com equivalent of existing domain name. English rock group The Moody Blues have asked a World Intellectual Property Forum panel to give it the domain name MoodyBlues.com. The group’s official web site is MoodyBlues.co.uk. It has sold over 70 million albums worldwide since forming in the 1960s. Some of the aging group’s more popular songs are Nights in White Satin and Ride my See-Saw. MoodyBlues.com was registered way back in 1999, which ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Rules Proposed for Expired Domain Names - Recommendations would make existing best practices of major domain name registrars a requirement. The Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) Policy Development Process Working Group has made 14 recommendations for the handling of expired domain names. The recommendations are part of the group’s proposed final report and may be used as part of the Policy Development Process. Among the recommendations: requiring domain name registrars to change the DNS on an ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Whisper.me Sells for $17,500 - Another .me domain name sells for big bucks. Go Daddy Auctions has handled the sale of Whisper.me for $17,5000. I must admit that I continue to be taken aback by sales of .me domain names. Sure, some of them are catchy. But whisper.me doesn’t have the same ring as love.me or call.me. And even if with the cuteness factor, some of the prices paid for these has just caught me by surprise. Surely the ones that don’t take advantage of the play on ‘.me’ will see ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Here Come a .Brand Top Level Domain Names - .Brand domain names are on their way, but how they’re used is still an open question. One of the specific uses of new top level domain names that has always confused me is the .brand domain name, such as .nike. I’ve often asked how someone would actually visit .nike and received very loose answers. So when I saw that CentralNic launched a new service called DotBrand Solutions, I jumped on the opportunity to talk to CEO Ben Crawford. So just how will people visit ... read more ...
Sun 20th February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google May Kill Off The URL Bar In Chrome: No More Direct Navigation? - According to an article Conceivablytech.com, domain owners worst nightmare might occur if Google as the article suggests,  is considering modifying its Chrome Browser and might kill off the URL bar altogether. According to the article: “Google is working on a “major” overhaul of its Chrome browser… which could eliminate the URL bar altogether.” “The most dramatic modification is something Google calls a “compact navigation” model. The idea is to eliminate the two line navigation ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Effort.com Sells For $17K On NameJet.com & Other One Word Domains Sell For Under $10K - The domain name Effort.com sold yesterday on NameJet.com for $17K.  Its a nice one word .com but don’t think it would have gotten any bids if it was say in the live Domainfest auction with  a starting bid of $20K. Here are some other notable sales including more one word domains: searchengine.org  $8,700 streetfights.com  $8,700 coinmarket.com   $7,100 telescopes.org  $4,800 tricks.net    $4,200 You.info     $3,360 personalproperty.com   $3,350 vqw.com   $2,999 stroller.org   ... read more ...
Sat 19th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Major Domain Parking Shift? NameDrive Adding Site Links and Site Reviews. - Google to start syndicating more ad data to parking companies. In one what could prove to be a major move for Google Adsense for Domains partners, NameDrive will begin showing site links and site reviews with some of its parked page links. These options have already been offered to Google Adwords advertisers on Google.com for a while. Here’s an example of an ad including additional “site links”: And an example that includes a site review: You’ve probably ... read more ...
Fri 18th February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN
After 5 Years An SEO Expert Finally Realizes The Value Of Type In Domain Traffic - In a post just published by Stephen Chapman for ZDnet.com entitled: “Capitalizing on hidden sources of traffic: A tale of pure awesomeness”, hopefully will be an eye opener to all SEO types on the value of  of domain type in traffic. According to his bio, Mr. Chapman has been involved with SEO for over 5 years. In his post, he he tells the story of how he hand registered a  domain name that he saw inside of a comic strip which contained a picture of a computer monitor with a non-existent domain ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Maybe we Was Right & Those Government Domain Seizures Weren’t Such A Good Idea After All - The news is full of stories the last couple of days on how during the the last domain seizure “raid” by Homeland Security 84,000 Innocent website wound up getting shut down. You can read some mainstream coverage on this issue here, here, and  here. However on the domainer side of things I have to give credit to Dotweekly.com who was first to pick up on this story and find out about all of the  unintended consequences of one site being seized which effected now what appears to be 84,000 websites. Much ... read more ...