Monthly Archives: October 2011

Mon 31st October 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Look.com Sold By Banks.com - Banks.com has just announced that they have sold the domain Look.com The buyer appears to be Quidsi, Inc. of Jersey City New Jersey. It was just earlier this month that we wrote about the domain name Look.com going up for sale. The purchase price was not disclosed. The domain was up in a Sedo.com auction earlier this year with a reserve range of $500K-$999K but did not sell. Here is the press release: “Banks.com, Inc. (NYSE Amex: BNX), operator of leading financial services focused online media ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Godaddy Likes The E-PARASITE Bill & TechDirt.com Rips Them - Over the weekend, Christine Jones general counsel and corporate secretary of GoDaddy.com wrote a piece that appeared in Politico.com in support of the E-Parasite Bill. In the piece Ms. Jones write in part: “”It’s a welcome step in the right direction, and we at GoDaddy.com applaud the leadership in the House Judiciary Committee, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet and the Senate Judiciary Committee, for taking decisive, bicameral and bipartisan ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sora.com Sells For $21K on NameJet.com - The domain name Sora.com sold yesterday on NameJet.com for a whopping $21,300. The domain was a dropped domain that was most recently owned by St. Onge, Ruff and Associates, Inc. of York PA. There were 4 bidders in the auction which bid $10,000 or more for the domain In a few other sales 1851.com sold for $2,300 hawaiifun.com  $2,251 Nailschool.com sold for $1,777 Fcp.org $1,412   Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Amazon Lands Z.cn As A Shortener In China Which Reminds Us They Haven’t Launched Their .Co Domains - Amazon announced today its changing its brand name it uses in China from Joyo Amazon to Amazon China. Amazon also announced that it has obtained the domain name Z.cn, which is re-directing to Amazon’s Chinese official website at Amazon.cn. According to the one story I found on the domain, there was no discussion of how Amazon obtained the domain or how much they paid for it. The domain name Z.Cn is currently registered to “Wang Hanhua” so its not clear they even own the domain at this point Speaking ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
.XXX Domain Nets $13 Million from Sunrise - A big haul for .xxx domain names. ICM Registry, backer of the new .xxx top level domain name, has pulled in about $13 million from its trademark/existing domain sunrise period. The company received nearly 80,000 applications during the sunrise period that ended today. The wholesale cost was $162 per application, which equals about $13 million. Oh, and that’s without considering that multiple applications for the same domain will result in an auction. The typical ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
What’s The Worst Idea for a New TLD? - Some bad and ugly top level domain name ideas. I’ve written about a number of company’s and city’s plans to apply for new top level domain names. There are also lists of proposed domains out there. Some of these potential top level domain names have some hope, but others just seem doomed from the start. I was reminded of this today when I saw a trademark application for .url. So now I ask you, dear readers, to weigh in on what you think the worst proposed new ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domain Names and a World Series - This is one of those posts where I write about something that has nothing to do with domain names but make a lame effort at tying it to the industry… I grew up in St. Louis and am a lifelong Cardinals fan. So last Friday I could hardly work. My hands were still shaking from the night before and what was perhaps the most exciting World Series game ever played, as well as excitement for Friday’s game 7. But rewind a couple months. This year I gave up on the Cardinals. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
IBM, Match.com Make Domain Purchases - Special edition of the end user domain sales report. Here’s a special Monday morning edition of the end user domain sales post. This will cover some recent Sedo sales as well as non-reported sales. On the non-reported side, I have a big company to report: IBM has purchased SmarterCity.com and SmarterCities.com from Justin Godfrey of Domain Investment Services for $15,000. Godfrey also sold MallPlaza.com sold to MallPlaza.cl for $10,000 through Afternic. Here are ... read more ...
Sat 29th October 2011
Written by The Domains in EN
Klout: How The $40 Million Dollar Company, Bought the Domain Name Klout.com For $5,000 Cash - TechCrunch.com just covered the story of how the tech company Klout obtained the domain name Klout.com for $5,000 cash. And when they say cash, they mean cash in an envelope. According to CrunchBase, Klout has received $40 million in funding so far. Prior to obtaining the .com domain, the company used Klout.net for it’s site. Click here to read the entire story.     Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Warner Bros Registers Sherlock Holmes 3 Domain Names - Warner Bros registers domain names for third Sherlock Holmes movie. Even before Sherlock Holmes 2 hits the theaters Warner Bros is already gearing up for the third installment. The company just registered the domain names SherlockHolmesThree.com and SherlockHolmesPart3.com. Multiple online sources say that Warner Bros has hired Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce to write the movie. Unfortunately for Warner Bros one key domain name has already been registered by another ... read more ...
Fri 28th October 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Solo.com Sells on Sedo.com For $133,000 - The domain name Solo.com just sold for $133,000 on Sedo.com The domain name originally registered in 1994 has been under privacy for years. Back when it was not under privacy the  W7 Media Inc was the registered owner of the domain back in 2007 according to DomainTools.com According to their site: “W7 Media invests heavily in intellectual property, namely domain names and provides a number of IP related services to its corporate clients.” They are located in Blaine, WA So they could be the seller The ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Ads On Parked Pages Using A Google Feed Are A No Go On GoGo - GoGo is the carrier, the ISP if you will,  if your on a plane and on the I, nternet. Checking it out today I noticed that in typing in some of our domains that are parked with InternetTraffic.com today on a flight, while the pages resolve no ads are showing. The area where the ads normally show is blank although the header and footer of the page appear as does the inquiry link. I check a few domain parked at other companies but using a Google feed, nd they also didn’t serve up any ads. However ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
.XXX Sunrise Extended To Monday - According to an email just received from Moniker the deadline to Submit Sunrise .XXX domain name applications has been extended until Noon EST Monday October 31st. The Sunrise period was originally suppose to close today. Here is the message we got from ICM registry: “”Due to unprecedented demand in the last week and following several requests from major registrars for more processing time for their backlogs, ICM Registry has extended the Sunrise A and Sunrise B registration periods for an additional ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Final Chance to Protect Against .XXX Domain Names [Updated] - Opportunity to block .xxx domain name registrations ends today. Update: ICM Registry has extended sunrise period to Monday, October 31, 2011 at 16:00 UTC (Noon ET). Companies that don’t want their trademark attached to a .xxx domain name have until the end of the day to take action. The sunrise period for the .xxx domain name concludes today. The sunrise period offers an opportunity to two groups: adult entertainment firms that wish to register domains related ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bret Fausett Starts New TLD Consultancy, Sets Up Shop Down Street from ICANN - Admiralty Way has a new domain name resident. An attorney with a long history in the domain name world has started a consulting firm to help new top level domain name applicants. Bret Fausett, who was most recently Of Counsel at Alvarado Smith, has started Internet Pro APC (www.Internet.pro). The firm’s address is on Admiralty Way in Marina del Ray, California. If that address looks familiar it’s because it’s the same street as ICANN’s headquarters. Although ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Gets Baidu Domain Name - GoogleBaidu.com: no merger, just an interesting domain dispute. Baidu might beat Google in China, but Google just got a hold of a little bit of Baidu. Google was just awarded the domain name GoogleBaidu.com in an arbitration case before National Arbitration Forum. You can understand why Google was irked by the domain name. It resolves to a page that looks like Google’s home page but is in Chinese and has a combination logo of Google and Baidu: The GoogleBaidu.com ... read more ...
Thu 27th October 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Verisign Reports Earnings: Revenue Up 14%; 112 Million Domain Registrations & Over $1.2 Billion In The Bank - After the market closed today Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) reported earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2011. VeriSign, Inc. reported revenue of $197 million for the third quarter of 2011, up 4% from the prior quarter and up 14% from the same quarter in 2010. As you can see below the quarter closed with over 112 Million domains registered and Verisign having over $1.2 Billion in the bank:   Verisign reported net income of $59 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.36 for the third quarter ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
PROTECT IP Becomes The “E-PARASITE” Bill In The House & As Bad As The Senate Bill Was This Is Much Worse - Yesterday Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced HR 3261, the ‘‘Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act of 2011’’, also known as the “E-PARASITE Act. Its the house version of the PROTECT IP Bill which is even more stringent, provides great penalties on a wider range of people than the quite harsh PROTECT IP bill. As the names of both bills indicate its all about IP protection and driving by the RIAA, ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sold Just 10 Days Ago On NameJet.com For $3,700, The Domain Name Switch.Net Is Hit With A UDRP - On October 18th the domain name Switch.net sold on NameJet.com for $3,655. Two days later on October 20th a UDRP was filed on the domain. The Complainant is listed only as “Switch”. Reviewing the US Trademark database I see a trademark on the term Switch by “Switch Lighting Design” of Ohio and another by “Switch LLC DBA switch LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY MASSACHUSETTS” Guess we will have to see who filed the complaint on this very generic term. As for the owner of the domain, prior to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Switches to Estimated Earnings for Domain parking - Sedo to start showing estimated parking revenue; audited numbers displayed in about 48 hours. On November 1 Sedo will change its domain parking statistics to an estimated earnings system. This means they will display estimate earnings at first and then actual earnings from Google in 2 business days. This means your reported earnings might change. Here’s a message Sedo just sent out: 1) Adjusted earnings: This change means that the “Earnings” statistic shown ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Some Groups Simply Shouldn’t Apply for New TLDs - New TLDs aren’t for everyone. Get over it. I hear a lot of gripes about new top level domain names and the cost of applying for and running them. Frankly, $185,000 in application fees may seem ridiculous. Especially when a third of that is going to be earmarked for legal issues. What if your TLD doesn’t create any legal issues. Add to that the cost of running the registry and marketing domains and any serious applicant (other than .brand) needs to earmark millions ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Goes After More Survey Sites - Google continues assault on domain names monetized through survey sites. Google has filed a UDRP case against the owner of three Gmail typos that forward to “survey” sites. The three domains — gmaill.com, gmal.com, and gmiail.com — all lead to a page on VideoRewardsNow.com that have a logo oddly similar to Gmail’s logo: Once users complete the three question “survey” they are invited to select a prize such as an iPad. But in order to get that prize ... read more ...
Wed 26th October 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
UTT.com Sells On NameJet.com For $8,600, CWW.com Sells For $9,100, TTT.net sells For $6K & More - Its been a while since we checked in on NameJet.com. Over the last few days there have been some notable sales on the platfor, Severl LLL domains have sold including UTT.com which sold for $8,600, CWW.com which sold for $9,100 and TTT.net which sold for $6,001. A few other domains over the last week include:   Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
3,500 New gTLD’s? - According to a story on CircleId.com, entitled “what will be the Magic number for the new gTLD Applications?,  the number might be as high as 3,500. I personally have had conversations with repected people in the space that thought there would be 1,500-2,000 applications filed. The significance of the number of application is that is going to bear a direct relationship to when a second round might be opened. ICANN has previously said it would not delegate more than 1,000 new gTLD strings in any ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google Publishes Requests From Governments To Remove Material & The US Wants Police Brutality Videos Off - Google has just published on its blog, a summary of the requests it received from Governments around the world to remove content from Google or one or more of its operated sites like YouTube.com The report is for the period from January 1, 2011-June 30, 2011. As for the US: “” We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove. Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal ... read more ...