Monthly Archives: March 2011

Tue 29th March 2011
Written by The Domains in EN
WSJ: Amazon To Roll Out “Media Locker” Tomorrow - According to the Wall Street Journal,  Amazon.com is rolling out what they are calling a Media Locker service as early as tomorrow. The Amazon product will allow people to store music and video online and access it from various digital devices. “The online retailer appears to be racing Apple Inc. and Google Inc., both of which are also working on similar offerings, known as “locker” or “cloud” services.” “Such services create an online music or video collection identical to the one ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Court to Auction John Zuccarini Domain Names Apr 8 - @Josh Mr. Zuccarini accepted a plea deal in that criminal prosecution, which is not related to the civil judgment in the Office Depot case resulting in this auction. Mr. Zuccarini served his time for that conviction. There are specific laws about guns, so “argument by analogy” when it comes to ongoing restrictions is not the point in relation to these domain names. You can be convicted of hitting someone with a hammer, serve your time, and you are not forever barred from owning ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
[Updated] Latonas.com Throws In Towel, No Reserve Rick Latona Auction on Sedo - Last minute auction has a bunch of good domains with no reserve. [Update: Rick Latona has just blogged, saying he’s throwing in the towel on Latonas.com auction platform.] Sedo has just started a seven day auction of domain names owned by Rick Latona. All domains are listed at no reserve. Some of the great domains in this auction include: ISU.com KansasCity.net DayTraders.net Destin.net iNotebook.com HeavyweightBoxer.com iStockBrokers.com ISU.com is already up ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Court Awards DigiMedia $100,000 for Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - Domain investor and developer scores penalty against company that attempted reverse domain name hijacking. A judge has awarded Scott Day’s DigiMedia.com LP $103,717.66 stemming from a finding of reverse domain name hijacking against GoForIt Entertainment (pdf). GoForIt made an interesting claim against DigiMedia back in 2006. It filed a cyberpiracy lawsuit over a number of domain names, ranging from WebDesign.com to Recipes.com to Org.com. GoForIt’s argument? ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New TLD Watch: .Now - Company files to protect .Now. A Denmark company has filed two trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark office for a .now top level domain name. A company called Global Top Level Aps filed applications for .Now and DOTNOW on March 24. It also filed for European Community protection last December. Global Top Level Aps is not the first applicant for a .now service mark, although previous applicants didn’t have top level domain names in mind. St. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Three More Ways to Cash in On New Top Level Domains - Three user-submitted ways to make money from new top level domain names. Yesterday I provided twelve examples of ways you can make money from the launch of new top level domain names. I received some comments with additional ideas and want to share them. 1. Michael Berkens noted that you can invest in some of the publicly traded companies that will profit from new TLDs. He mentioned Neustar and VeriSign (both are registries), Demand Media (owns domain registrar ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sylvan Learning Sues Franchisee Gripe Site - Company says former franchisee created site to defame it. Tutoring and SAT test prep franchisor Sylvan Learning has sued the domain name SylvanFranchiseIssues.com for violating the anti-cybersquatting act. The company alleges (pdf) the site was set up by a former franchisee in which it is involved in litigation. Finding the alleged owner of the site was no small feat. The suit details Sylvan Learning’s attempts to track down the owner, starting with an inquiry ... read more ...
Mon 28th March 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Mashable.com: “A New Era For Internet Domains: Why .XXX is Just The Beginning” - Mashable.com just published a post entitled “A New Era for Internet Domains: Why .XXX is just the Beginning.” The story was written by Ben Crawford who is the CEO of Central Nic and was featured on CNBC last week Speaking about new gTLD’s Crawford said in part: “In the future, locally focused websites will use their city TLD, websites on specific cultures will use their community TLD, and businesses will use their industry TLD or their own .brands. “New and more secure distribution methods ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The .Co Aftermarket Heats Up On Sedo - Over the last few days there has been quite a few sales of .Co domain names. Here are the one’s I spotted: Mp3.co 3,600 Euro’s ($5,500) Minijuegos.co  2,450 Euro’s (4K USD) Prestamos.co 2,300 Euro ($3,900 USD) Watersports.co  $3K Judo.co $1,600 Axe.co $1,600 Fiction.Co sold for $750 on Sedo as well No huge money sales but if you registered any of these domains for $30 its not a horrible return for an investment of less than one year Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Shield.com Sells for $190,000 - Domain broker handles six figure sale with Austin company. An Austin company has sold the domain name Shield.com through domain name broker Sedo for $190,000. The previous whois record for Shield.com shows a north Austin address that appears to be registered to a web hosting or web design company. An earlier whois record from DomainTools shows that the domain was registered to Shield Networks, and Austin communications company. The domain name was originally registered ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
EzineArticles.com Traffic Dropped 10% to 35% Thanks to Google Changes - User-submitted content site takes a big search engine hit but is still a behemoth. EzineArticles.com definitely lost traffic after Google’s recent algorithm change to go after low quality content. But today the company quantified it. In a blog post today strangely titled “Some Niches Seeing Increased Traffic“, the company reported a 10%-35% drop in traffic since the changes. It’s a wide range, but I suspect it’s fluctuating. The site is apparently seeing ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Domain Parking Revenue Down, Sales Up - Domain parking and brokerage company reports mixed results. Last week I reported on Sedo Holding’s revenue drop in 2010 thanks to losing a keep affiliate client. The company’s full annual report (large pdf) fills in the details on its domain business. -Sales were down from 46.6 EUR in 2009 to EUR 43.1M in 2010 -Domain parking was down 11.5% compared to 2009 -Domain sales increased by 12.1% -Registered members increased by 20% to 1.2 million -Number of domains ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
How to Get Rich in a New TLD Gold Rush (Part Two) - Six more ways to profit form new top level domain names. This is the second in a two part post about ways you can make money from new top level domain names. See part one here. 7. Become a trademark lawyer Startup Cost: Expensive OK, this is really only an opportunity for existing intellectual property lawyers. If you play in the space you might want to hold your hat out as a domain name lawyer specializing in trademark protection. There will be plenty of business ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sorry, You Can’t Boycott a Top Level Domain Name - Some adult operators want to boycott .xxx. Yeah, good luck with that. I understand why some adult web site owners are upset about .xxx. But trying to boycott the new top level domain name is a ridiculous idea. Before its rally at the ICANN meeting in San Francisco the Free Speech Coalition said it would try to organize a boycott should .xxx pass. At the time I wrote: If .xxx gets the green light anyway, Free Speech Coalition is calling for a boycott of .xxx. That ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
12 Ways to Get Rich in a New TLD Gold Rush (Part 1) - Get your creative juices going. A lot of people in the domain name industry are opposed to new top level domain names. But their eventual approval is inevitable. Rather than focusing on what’s wrong with a massive introduction of new top level domain names, it’s time to switch gears and figure out how you can profit from it. This is the first of a two part series of ways you can profit from the introduction of new top level domain names. It’s certainly not ... read more ...
Sun 27th March 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
EU Might Place Restrictions On Trademark Keyword Advertising - According to the New York Times an adviser to the highest European Union court recommended Thursday that some restrictions be placed on the rights of advertisers to use the names of rivals as keywords to generate sponsored links on Internet search engines.” The New York quotes Kirsten Gilbert, a partner at Marks Clerk Solicitors in London who said: “With this opinion, Google’s customers may well reconsider how extensively they want to use a competitor’s mark as an AdWord,” “The opinion ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Norwest-Backed Startup Buys BlueJeans.com for $150,000 - Blue Jeans Network pays six figures for ideal domain name. Last week I wrote about how a startup with $41M in backing from venture capital heavyweights Sequoia and Bain Capital bought Color.com for $350,000. Now comes news from old school domain investor Garry Chernoff of a similar purchase by a VC-backed startup. Chernoff sold BlueJeans.com to Blue Jeans Network for $150,000. The company provides cloud-based communications services and is backed by Norwest Venture ... read more ...
Sat 26th March 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The Free Speech Coalition Launches “Just Say No To .XXX” Boycott Campaign; Why It Won’t Work - According to AVN.com,  The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced yesterday that it is launching an anti—.XXX campaign  urging  adult online businesses not to register  into any .XXX sTLD. Diane Duke, FSC Executive Director, said in calling for all online adult business to boycott .XXX: “Collectively, adult businesses understand that ICM’s .XXX is bad for the adult entertainment industry,” “FSC is launching this campaign, thus continuing its effort to rid the industry of this hazard. ... read more ...
Fri 25th March 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Disco.com, Bought At DomainFest For $255K Is Owned By Google & Launched As A “Group Texting ” Site - The domain name Disco.com sold at Domainfest, New York in September of last year for $255,000. Disco.com was ranked by DnJournal.com as the 31st highest domain sale of 2010. The domain name is now owned by Google and has been launched as a Group Texting site. “”Group Texting on Any Phone Now that’s groovy!”” says the sign up form. And yes there is an App for that. And its free and available on iTunes Google and Apple haven’t been the best of friends and its interesting to see Google displaying ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Violet.com Sells For $65K on Sedo.com - The domain name Violet.com just sold for $65,000 on Sedo.com The domain currently forwards to a site called pinstripegifts.com. It seems like a good web 2.0 domain. Congrats to the buyer and seller     Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Trademark Office Again Rejects AOL’s Attempt To Trademark Ad.com - In yet another finding by the USPTO dated march 21st 2011, AOL.com application to trademark Ad.com was rejected. “In the present case, the proposed mark is generic because it consists of the generic term ‘AD” combined with the top level domain (TLD), “.com”, which is perceived by the public to indicate an Internet address. The compound term AD.COM is thus generic of the applicant’s services.  Therefore, the mark AD.COM is unregistrable on the Supplemental Register or on the Principal ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Is This A Good Way To Sell Domains? “This Domain Is Not For Sale (unless we know us) - I came across an quite different domain for sale banner on top of the parked page for MoneyBrokers.com the other day. As you can see below the top of the page has a banner that says, THIS DOMAIN IS NOT FOR SALE (unless you know us). If you click the link on “unless you know us” it takes you to domainbuyingservices.com, which is a domain under privacy at Moniker.com. So do you think this is a better way to see domains than the traditional “this domain may be for sale” type of link or banner?       Google+Michael ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DOMAINfest Goes to Barcelona - Show returns to home of first ever DOMAINfest. DomainSponsor’s DOMAINfest conference has announced dates for its June conference in Barcelona, the site of the first ever DOMAINfest conference back in 2006. The event will take place June 7-9, 2011 at the Pullman Barcelona Skipper hotel in Barcelona, Spain. The agenda looks similar to last year’s event in Prague. The first day will include several presentations and a Moniker auction while the second day will be ... read more ...
Thu 24th March 2011
Written by The Domains in EN
HireAHitman.Net Taken Down After Someone Pays Someone $19K For A Hit & Is Now A Landing Page - According to Cnet.com,  HireaHitman.net was a site where you could do just exactly that,  Hire a guy to whack someone (and the government thought Craigslist was bad). So according to the story  Marissa Mark of Jersey City, N.J. was arrested yesterday  accused of hiring a hitman to kill someone using the site Hireahitman.net. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “the site was created by Essam Ahmed Eid, a former poker dealer at the Bellagio in Las Vegas”. Also according ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Apple Starts Enforcing Its “App Store” Trademark Against Amazon & Adult App Site Even Though Microsoft Is Appealing The Trademark - Apple seems to have gone on the offensive to defend it App Store trademark, although the mark has not been approved and actually has a pending objection from Microsoft. According to Bloomberg.com,  Apple Inc. filed suit against Amazon.com, “saying the online retailer is using Apple’s “App Store” trademark to sell software applications for mobile devices.” The case is Apple Inc. v. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), 11-1327, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. “Apple, ... read more ...