Author Archives: DomainNameWire

About DomainNameWire

Domain Name Wire is a blog that deals with the domain name sector. The blog covers a range of domain related topics ranging from issues concerning expiring domains, monetization, domain registries and registrars, ICANN, policy, law etc. The blog began in March, 2005, after Mr. Allemann had dropped out of meetings to become involved in domain portfolio company, iREIT. The project began as a hobby to keep him involved in the domaining business, and then became his full-time business.

Tue 21st May 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ETM.com bid to over $15,000 during Hilco auction - ETM.com sees early bidding action, but Bargain.com is the headline domain. ETM.com has attracted three bidders and 12 bids at the Hilco Streambank auction that ends tomorrow. As of now the domain has been bid up to $15,058. So far the more expensive domain names haven’t received any bids, but I’d expect interested parties to wait until closer to the end of the auction on Wednesday. The best name in the auction is Bargain.com, which is being sold along with the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
You decide: that of these should be Domain Name Wire’s new logo? - Help pick the next logo for Domain Name Wire. Click the image to see the full size version.I ran a logo contest on 99Designs and now need to select which logos go on to the final round. I’ve learned a lot with this logo contest, and I’ll share some of my insight later. But for now, I’d like your help. Please take a moment to look at these 13 logo designs and let me know which ones you like best (or hate the most). “They all suck” isn’t quite as helpful, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy gets dual patents for domain appraisal - Paul Nicks’ inventions related to name spinning and appraisals get patent protection. The United States Patent and Trademark Office today issued two patents to GoDaddy related to name spinning and appraisal. U.S. Patent number 8,447,701 is titled “Appraising domain names using comparative data” and 8,447,702 (pdf) is “Domain appraisal algorithm”. The patents have lots of overlapping material. They cover name spinning to create permutations of domain names ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
How your blog posts and blog comments impact a obvious process - If you comment on a post, it might affect the outcome of a patent application. Whenever I post about a recently granted patent, comments inevitably turn to “that invention is nothing new” or “that’s a junk patent”. I’m sure that at some point today there will be comments to that effect on my post about GoDaddy getting two appraisals for domain appraisals. When an inventor applies for a patent, they make a bunch of claims. Some of these claims will surely ... read more ...
 
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XBoxOne.com domain name was purebred in 2002 - XBoxOne.com, the matching domain for Microsoft’s new video game system, was originally registered more than 10 years ago. Microsoft today unveiled its new XBox video game system called XBox One. Microsoft does not own the domain name XBoxOne.com, which currently resolves to a GoDaddy “coming soon” page. [Update: Microsoft now owns the domain.] The domain name was registered in 2002 by Xbox Rodents and was used for a site called XBox1. It then expired in 2011 ... read more ...
Mon 20th May 2013
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Google protects WithGoogle.com third turn domains with second turn domains - Subdomains are great, but beware the typos. Want to calculate the “full value of mobile” for your business? Google has a microsite at FVM.withgoogle.com. It also protected itself by registering FVMwithgoogle.com.Have you ever come across a Google information page that’s a subdomain of WithGoogle.com? If you just go to Withgoogle.com you’ll be forwarded to Google.com. But type in certain third level domains, often referred to as subdomains, of WithGoogle.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Every grill should get one of these websites - A mobile friendly website for restaurants that doesn’t have any of my pet peeves. On Friday I received a press release from GoDaddy about how its website builder had new functionality and specific templates for restaurants. It was Friday afternoon and I generally don’t care much about small business website builders. The combination of these two led me to click the “delete” button. But then I quickly hit “undo”. Wait? Did that say specialized websites ... read more ...
 
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K.im domain name gets $20,000 bid during Sedo - One letter Isle of Man domain may sell for $20,000 at Sedo. The domain name K.im has a $20,000 offer at Sedo, and an “auction” for the domain name ends tomorrow. .IM is the country code top level domain for Isle of Man. According to DNSalePrice, a handful of .im domain names have sold over the years, with the top reported sale being Mobile.im for $7,000 back in 2008. If that’s the case, then this would be the largest public .im sale of all time. That assumes ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verisign questions ICANN’s minute posting policies - Company suggests ICANN is only posting letters that “will advance its positions”. Verisign has sent a letter to ICANN questioning why it isn’t publishing certain correspondence on the ICANN.org web site. ICANN has a section on its web site where it publishes many letters it receives and sends. But Verisign says ICANN hasn’t published three prior letters the company sent regarding the proposed new domain registry agreement. The company says it is aware of other ... read more ...
Fri 17th May 2013
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Donuts offers to attend in private auction for 63 new TLDs - Largest new TLD applicant commits to resolve up to 63 new TLD contention sets through first private auction. Donuts, the company that applied for the most top level domain names, announced today that it will commit to private auctions for 63 of the 307 strings that it applied for in the first auction to be held by Applicant Auction. Private auctions allow new TLD applicants to settle contention sets faster than waiting for ICANN’s “auction of last resort”. They ... read more ...
 
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ICANN expects 646 new TLD applications to be withdrawn - ICANN forecasts 646 applications will be withdrawn, mostly after the initial evaluation period. 66 applications for new top level domain names have been withdrawn as of today. For budgeting purposes, ICANN projects that number will explode to 646 before everything is said and done. The number was disclosed in ICANN’s proposed operating plan and budget for the 2014 financial year, which begins in July 2013. The number is up from a previously budgeted 545 applications ... read more ...
 
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ICANN headcount bursting 50% this mercantile year - Non-profit plans to continue hiring in all departments. ICANN expects to end FY 2013 this June with nearly 50% more employees than it began the year with. That’s according to the non-profit’s FY 2014 draft operating plan, which shows an expected 233 employees by the end of June. It ended June 2012 with 158 employees. That’s nearly 50% growth in just one year. The forecast shows that ICANN expects to hire 47 people in this quarter alone. 19 of those are allocated ... read more ...
Thu 16th May 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How most is a .cm domain value in 2013? - We’ll find out in an auction that ends today. .Cm, the country code for Cameroon, has been on an interesting ride. It previously struck a deal with Kevin Ham to wildcard the DNS and monetize the traffic. Then it sold .cm domains to all comers, brazenly marketing the domain as a typo of .com. That “relaunch”, if you will, was an unmitigated disaster. Bidders on domains that appeared to sell for a lot backed out, and the registry lost a bunch of billing files. I ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Mexican hit lenses UDRPs don’t supplement up - Complainant had a weak case but panelist determines it’s not reverse domain name hijacking. WIPO just handed down decisions for two cases involving domains used for selling contact lenses in Mexico. David Guerra Flores filed the cases against Carlos Perez for pupilentes.com.mx and pupilentes.com. Both cases were resolved by panelist Reynaldo Urtiaga Escobar, who determined that Flores did not prove that Perez lacked rights or legitimate interests in the domain names. However, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy.com Bowl drops .com for 2014 game - In another sign of rebranding, The GoDaddy.com Bowl is now the GoDaddy Bowl. GoDaddy is in the process of rebranding from GoDaddy.com to simply GoDaddy. With the change, the football game formerly known as the GoDaddy.com Bowl will be called merely the GoDaddy Bowl next year, reports AL.com. GoDaddy announced plans to change its brand to a group of new top level domain applicants in March. The company will drop the .com from its branding over the coming year and ... read more ...
 
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Are we dialing behind domain investments as we wait for new TLDs? - Are new TLDs changing the way you approach domain investing? Tucows filed its 10-Q yesterday. In the report, Tucows suggested that domain name investors may be proceeding cautiously with aftermarket domain purchases this year as they wait for new top level domain names: We have two primary buyers for our domain names – domain investors and businesses. While businesses domain sales continue to grow, we have begun to see evidence of domain investors interest slowing ... read more ...
 
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What they’re observant about a GAC’s guarantee advice - Is the GAC right? It depends on who you ask. The ICANN New gTLD Board Committee request for comment on the GAC’s safeguard advice has closed, and the reply period will open soon. Here are some select comments, along with links to the full comments. “Instead of Guidebook advice, the GAC has offered public policy advice and expects the whole New gTLD program to be halted until such advice is considered and adopted.” -Jonathon Nevett, Donuts Inc “The GAC is proposing ... read more ...
Wed 15th May 2013
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ICANN publishes 2012 taxation return - Tax return unveils compensation, legal costs. ICANN just published its FY 2012 tax return online (pdf). The form tax return covers the year ending June 30, 2012. Much of the information, including financials, had previously been published by ICANN on its web site, so there’s not much new there. What may be most interesting is the latest compensation information for ICANN’s high ranking and top paid employees. I count 17 positions earning $200,000 or more in reportable ... read more ...
 
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Some rays of wish during Sedo? - While Sedo’s earnings continue on a downward path, some metrics point to improvements. In a lot of ways, Sedo Holding’s quarterly financial report (pdf) published yesterday was more of the same. The company saw its performance at Sedo weaken, while its affiliate business affilinet grew a bit. But there were also a couple positive metrics for Sedo. The number of domains listed on Sedo increased by 1.7 million and it also increased the number of parked domains on ... read more ...
 
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15 finish user sales adult to $23,000 - iPark.com leads list of Sedo’s end user domain name sales last week. Sedo sold $1.15 million worth of domain names last week, including some good end user sales. There’s a lot of money in NYC parking. Imperial Parking Systems, which bills itself as one of New York City’s largest and oldest parking garage operators, bought iPark.com for $23,000. Perhaps it has something to do with this? PCloud LTD in Bulgaria paid 12,000 EUR for pcloud.com. Norway company Advantec ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
What domains P&G, Univision, and 22 other finish users bought final week - PG in France, Univision, and a Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliate among big name buyers at Afternic last week. Afternic sold just over $1 million in domains last week. The highest sale was FreeBackup.com, which was purchased by a direct response company. Direct response company Fiorentino Media bought FreeBackup.com for $45,000. California grocery store Los Olivos Grocery bought LosOlivosGrocery.com for $1,477. Bio Herbal Tech, seller of pills that it says help you ... read more ...
 
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BuyDomains relaunches site - NameMedia refreshes end user sales web site. BuyDomains, the end user domain name sales site owned by NameMedia, relaunched with a completely new look and feel today. The site places a greater focus than the previous one on explaining why a business should spend money on a domain name. It also emphasizes the ease and safety of buying a domain through BuyDomains and includes a number of testimonials. Domain searching and filtering has also been improved. You may recall ... read more ...
 
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Tucows reports earnings, says domain investors are assessing a impact of new TLDs - Tucows reports earnings, says domain investors are proceeding cautiously on domain buys as they assess the impact of new TLDs. Tucows reported earnings this afternoon, recording its twelfth consecutive quarter of record revenue (year over year). The company generated $30.0 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2013 and reported a slight profit of $0.1 million for the quarter. That compares to a $1.7 million profit in the same quarter last year. Most of ... read more ...
Tue 14th May 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Responsive pattern is another blow to .mobi - Responsive web design is a much more efficient approach to mobile browsing than a separate domain name. I really liked the idea of .mobi before it was launched. It was the only “new” top level domain that made sense to me. The idea of creating a domain solely for mobile devices made a lot of sense because it served a function; it wasn’t just a label of the site’s content like many other top level domains. In many ways .mobi was prescient; mobile browsing was ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Would we like some-more Domain Name Wire enlightening videos? - Are DNW videos valuable content? Last month I posted a handful of instructional videos to Domain Name Wire and YouTube: How to submit an invalid WHOIS complaint How to set up and use two-factor authentication at GoDaddy.com How to learn more about your buyer on Sedo How to use Watch My Domains Pro Spend just 60 seconds and never get a $60 offer on Sedo again Each of the videos got roughly 100-200 views on YouTube. So here’s my question to you: are these videos ... read more ...