Monthly Archives: January 2012

Tue 31st January 2012
Written by The Domains in EN
Afternic.com Sells $1.13 Million In Domains - Afternic.com reported $1,131,352 in domain sales for the week ending January 29th. The publicly reportable sales included in the total above came to $692,343 led by moneyandme.com at $20,000 followed by performancegraphics.com at $12,500. Below is the entire list of publicly reportable sales: Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sedo.com Sells $1.68 Million In Domains Led By Sofi.com At 45K - Sedo.com just released its weekly sales list. In all Sedo.com sold 939 domain names totaling over $1.68 million with 34% of them being “buy it now” sales. Sofi.com led all sales at $45K followed by Naturkraft.de selling for around $30K Here are the reportable sales: Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainHack.er in ES and tagged
Google Blogger to begin automatically redirecting users to country-specific URLs - Google is implementing a new system that automatically redirects users to country-specific URLs that match their IP address' location when they're trying to access a Google Blogger site. It's being rolled out slowly and Google says it will the company to "continue promoting free expression and responsible publishing while providing greater flexibility in complying with valid removal requests pursuant to local law," much like Twitter's new censoring tools. For example, this will allow the search ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Lana Del Rey Album Born To Die Hits Number 1 On iTunes In US & 10 Other Countries - Big shout out and congrats to Lana Del Rey, Rob Grant,  and the entire Grant family as “Born To Die”, Lana Del Rey album was released today and is currently number 1 and 2 on the iTunes US album chart. The Deluxe version with bonus material is number 1 on iTunes and the regular album is #2. According to Lana’s Facebook page the album is  “#1 in 11 countries”. Lana has over 500,000 fans on Facebook and 158,000 followers on Twitter.com Lana is scheduled to be on The Late Show with David ... read more ...
 
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
ICANN’s Beckstrom Update On New gTLD Program - I just listened in to a call with the CEO of ICANN Rod Beckstrom, on an update on the new gTLD program  he gave to some bloggers. “For us, No news is good news, things are running smoothly we have not encountered any major technical or service issues.” Beyond that Mr. Beckstrom was unwilling to give any updated numbers in terms of the number of applications submitted or the number of companies that had paid the $5,000 for the spot to file and application. ICANN has previously stated that 25 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
National Car Rental sues over National.com typo – a domain it doesn’t even own - Car rental company demands typo of National.com, a domain it doesn’t even own. Vanguard Trademark Holdings, which owns the National car rental brand, has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit (pdf) against the domain name Natiional.com. The company filed a UDRP against the domain name already. It lost that case in June. On the same day it won a similar case for another typo, Nationnal.com. Part of the reason it lost the Natiional.com case is because the panel ruled it’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Another new TLD focus turn within one year? - ICANN wants to open another new TLD application round early next year. Is this plausible? A lot of companies are applying for dot brand top level domains not because they want to right now, but because they think it might be their only chance. At least for the foreseeable future. But is this the case? The applicant guidebook states: ICANN’s goal is to launch subsequent gTLD application rounds as quickly as possible. The exact timing will be based on experiences ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Last possibility to take 2012 Domain Name Wire survey - 12 hours left to take this year’s domain industry survey. Time is running out to take the seventh annual Domain Name Wire survey. The survey, which asks users to answer questions about domain name registrars, domain parking, and expired domains, concludes January 31. Results will be published in February. Participants from 47 countries have already completed the survey. It takes about five minutes and is anonymous. You may opt to provide your name and email address ... read more ...
Mon 30th January 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
3 Founders Of Demand Media Are Out - According to paidcontent.org, three founders of Demand Media (NYSE: DMD),  Larry Fitzgibbon, Joe Perez, and Steven Kydd are leaving the company. All three had been with the company for seven years. Kristen Moore, VP of corporate communications for Demand confirmed the report of paidContent, who said most of their duties will be passing on to Michael Blend, EVP of Media Marketplace for the company, after a transition period of a couple of weeks. PaidContent.org also listed the 8-K filed for Fitzgibbon ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
WealthInvestors.com Seeking To Bring Domaining To The Masses, Makes Its Pitch At Pitchfest - Wealth Investors, LLC, headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., is trying to bring domain monetization to the general public. Its a concept I have had discsussion with other domainers through the years. What if you can teach John Q. Public about how they can make income from domain names. Those inside the domain world will quickly point out that revenue from domain parking has decreased tremendously over the years, but its still a meaningful amount, especially to most people who could use a little extra ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
ICANN Publishes Draft Final Report On Whois Policy - ICANN has published a DRAFT of final report of the “Whois Policy Review Team’s”,  whose mission was to  “review the extent to which ICANN’s Whois policy and its implementation are effective, meet the legitimate needs of law enforcement, and promote consumer trust.” The Final Draft Report [PDF, 1.04 MB] is opened for public comment until 18 March 2012. “Comprehensive and straightforward, the report lays out systematically what the team found lacking with Whois policy and what they ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Verizon Sues Parked.com & DirectNic For Cybersquatting on Over 600 Domain Names - According to a blog post on paidcontent.org, Verizon has filed suit against Parked.com, the ICANN  accredited registrar Directnic and John Doe defendants for cybersquatting  on more than 600 domain names. The 36 page federal suit was filed on January 27th in the Central District of California, including over 8 pages which just lists the domain names at issue. This is not the first time that Verizon has sued DirectNic. The suit asks $100,000 per domain in statutory damages, the transfer of all domain ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The Only Thing Missing From Domainfest Speakers & Experts are Domainers - With Domainfest getting ready to kick off tonight, the agenda is full of very interesting people and sessions, the only thing missing seems to be any “domainers”. In years past both Domainfest and TRAFFIC had a heavy concentration of panels full of domainers as well as others in the domain industry. As I reviewed the agenda for Domainfest I actually don’t see one “domainer” on the schedule. There are SEO experts, mobile search experts, representatives of companies inside the industry like ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Sedo Adds Godaddy to SedoMLS - According to a press release today Sedo.com, announced it was expanding its SedoMLS service by adding Go Daddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar “Go Daddy wants to help small businesses grow larger, and finding the right domain name is the place to start,” said Paul Nicks, Go Daddy’s Director of Product Development for the Aftermarket. “Giving customers access to many premium domain names, including Sedo’s Buy Now domain names, Go Daddy can ensure our customers get the best domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Shuzi seller loses conflict for Shuzi.com - A Shuzi bracelet is supposed to work miracles, but it doesn’t have powers to “steal” domain names. ShuziQi, which sells “Shuzi” bracelets, has lost a domain dispute over the domain Shuzi.com. The details of the case aren’t as entertaining as what Shuzi is, so I’ll be brief on the case. Basically, the owner of the domain registered it four years before ShuziQi existed, and Shuzi’s English transliteration can mean “digital”. The domain owner registered ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy joins SedoMLS network - Sedo gets a big win with GoDaddy partnership. The world’s largest domain name registrar has joined the SedoMLS network, giving more exposure to domain owners selling their domains through Sedo. Domains that are listed on Sedo with a fixed price will automatically show up when a GoDaddy customer searches for the exact domain name. This will be possible because the domains are listed on GoDaddy auctions, and GoDaddy now shows auction listings when someone searches ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
6 questions to be answered during DOMAINFest this week - A preview of the week ahead in Santa Monica. The largest domain name conference, DOMAINfest, takes place in Santa Monica this week. There’s a lot to look for in the 2012 edition. Here are six questions that will be answered before the end of the week. 1. How will Oversee.net’s new leadership present itself? Oversee.net branded itself largely with former CEO Jeff Kupietzky. Now Oversee.net has new leadership with co-presidents Debra Domeyer and Scott Morrow. Domeyer ... read more ...
Sun 29th January 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BowlingBalls.com domain name sells for $225,000 - Chernoff hits a strike with latest domain sale. Garry Chernoff has completed another big domain name sale, this time selling BowlingBalls.com for $225,000. The buyer knows a thing or two about bowling balls. Nick Melnikoff has bowled in PBA tours and owns Bowlers Paradise, a web site that sells bowling balls and accessories. Chernoff told me the deal was brokered by Andrew Hunovice. I can’t find any notable price comps for domain names about bowling, but this is ... read more ...
Fri 27th January 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
One Of The Top Spanish .Com In The World Just Changed Hands: Viajes.com (Travel) - One of the top Spanish .com in the world just changed hands yesterday. The domain name Viajes.com which is Spanish for Travel has been transferred by Domain investor Christian Chena to World Internet Projects, of Barcelona Spain. Chris is a very successful domain investor especially in Spanish domain names. Ron Jackson, did a cover story on Chris on DnJournal.com a few years ago which you can check out here. We don’t have any details of the deal but we congratulate everyone involved. Google+Michael ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Quick Poll: Which Domain Priced $100K Or More Will Sell At Domainfest.com - The live Domainfest Global domain name auction will be held on February 2nd at noon EST. Online bidding will be available on SnapNames.com As we usually do we are opening up the poll to see which of the domains with a reserve of $100K or more you think will sell. In all there are 21 domain names priced $100K or higher. We will give you three picks but you must make them all at the same time before hitting submit on the poll on the right. For bragging rights you can also make your picks in the comments. You ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
YouBuy.com Sells For $35K On Sedo - The domain name YouBuy.com just sold for $35,000 on Sedo The seller appears to be a a company out of China, Guangzhou You Yang Network Technology Co.,Ltd The buyer is unclear at this time, but I think this is a highly brandable domain and think it was a good buy at $35K Congrats to all   Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Moniker publishes final DOMAINfest auction list - Two more valuable domain names added to auction. Moniker has published the final list of domains for next week’s live domain auction during DOMAINfest, as well as the online auction to follow. Bargain.com and Democracy.com have been added to the auction. Bargain.com’s reserve is north of $750,000 while Democracy.com is available for somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000. Bargain.com is owned by FYI Direct, the company behind credit score monitoring site FreeScore.com. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Amazon.com’s Quidsi about to launch home taste emporium Casa.com - Casa.com is next online store from Amazon.com’s Quidsi unit. Mi casa su casa… Earlier this month I scooped that Quidsi, the company behind Diapers.com, Soap.com, Wag.com, and YoYo.com, was working on a new store called Casa.com. Quidsi has now published a “coming soon” page to Casa.com and launched a Facebook page. The site will offer “everything for your home”, including kitchenware, bedding, home decor, bathroom accessories, etc. Keeping with Quidsi’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
USPTO to Karsten: not so quick with .PING - Trademark office sends office action to PING Golf brand owner. On Wednesday I posted a list of 115 trademark applications that could be related to new top level domains, along with their current status. The USPTO has a policy of not granting trademarks on top level domains, and the number of “speculative” trademark applications has ballooned as ICANN gets ready to expand the TLD universe. I discovered that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was doing a good ... read more ...