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.

Fri 26th April 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NCSG hurdles ICANN preference to extend Trademark Clearinghouse rights - Formal Request for Reconsideration challenges trademark owners ability to add 50 derivatives of trademarks to clearinghouse. The GNSO Noncommercial Users Stakeholders Group has submitted a Request for Reconsideration to ICANN’s Board Governance Committee concerning a decision by ICANN to extend trademark protections in new top level domains. The reconsideration request argues that ICANN shouldn’t have added the so-called “Trademark +50″ protection in the Trademark ... read more ...
Thu 25th April 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Video: How to use Watch My Domains Pro - See how to get started with this simple (yet valuable) software program. I’ve mentioned Watch My Domains Pro multiple times over the years. It’s a relatively simple software program that makes it easy to manage your domain portfolio. At a glance you can view expiring domains in your portfolio, see which registrars you’re using for each of your domains, and find out if you have domains parked with defunct parking services. In this video I’ll show you the basics ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Network Solutions files domain remoteness obvious application - Domain name registrar Network Solutions wants to patent various aspects of a domain privacy service, and has filed a patent application for “Private Domain Name Registration” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The application is technically a continuation of an application the company filed in 2004 but later abandoned. The new application was filed May 25, 2012 and just published (pdf) today. But wait, doesn’t Go Daddy already have a patent on this? Sort ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Moms.com sells for $252,000 in Sedo Auction - Moms.com domain name sells for $252,000 in monthly Great Domains auction. The headline domain name in this month’s Great Domains auction at Sedo hit its reserve in extended bidding. Bidding for Moms.com jumped from $175,000 to $249,000 when a bidder placed the latter bid, which was the reserve. It looked like the auction was going to close at that price until another bid was placed in (literally) the last minute. Only two bidders participated once the auction hit ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verisign earnings: adds 1.99 million domains in Q1 - .Com registry Verisign reports first quarter earnings. Verisign reported its first quarter earnings after the bell today. In the first quarter it added a combined 1.99 million domain names in .com and .net. That brings the total to 123.1 million active domain names in the zone for .com and .net — a 5.5 percent increase year over year. This is an improvement over Q4 2012 when it added only 1.25 million names. But a better comparison my by Q1 of 2012, when it added ... read more ...
Wed 24th April 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN will now be means to postpone domain name registrars - [Well, looks like ICANN actually had a similar provision in its 2009 RAA, just in a different section. Sorry about that.] One of the big improvements in the proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) over the 2009 version is the ability for ICANN to suspend registrars. Previously, if a registrar was in breach of contract, ICANN only had the “nuclear option” – to terminate the domain registrar. Many in the ICANN community felt this was why ICANN would ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Charity files UDRP over Frank Schilling’s WalkTheWalk.com domain - Group owns .org version of domain name. The charity that owns WalkTheWalk.org has filed a UDRP against Frank Schilling’s Name Administration Inc. for the domain name WalkTheWalk.com. Walk the Walk Worldwide raises money to raise awareness about breast cancer. It certainly has an attention-grabbing approach: it gets women to walk marathons in bras to raise money. The United Kingdom charity has a couple trademarks for the term, including for a logo and simply “walk ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GAC Advice leads to TLDH withdrawing 4 new TLD applications - Major new TLD applicant says it will withdraw four applications after discussions with governments. Top Level Domain Holdings, a publicly traded pure play applicant for new top level domains (London: TLDH), plans to withdraw four of its top level domain applications after receiving government advice. In a release issued today, the company writes: The GAC strongly advised against four gTLDs, none of which TLDH applied for. Another 513 gTLDs were given some kind of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
USA Today buys domain for new sports site (and 19 other domains) - USA Today among big name domain name end user buyers last week. This week USA Today launched its new sports site For The Win!, which officially resides at FTW.USAToday.com. But they bought the short URL 4TW.com to forward to it. Here are details on that sale and 19 other end user sales at Sedo last week. Building Supplies Online in the UK bought its acronym BSO.co.uk for 2,499 GBP. pair Networks bought yet another domain on the aftermarket. It paid $1,000 for PairBlog.com. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
25 finish user domain sales - Scripps Networks among end user buyers last week. Here are 25 end user domain sales made through Afternic last week. Gibson Research Corporation bought SteveGibson.net for $1,477. The company was founded by Steve Gibson. Vancouver Laptop paid $25,000 for TabletScreen.com. It spent $1,499 for ReplacementScreen.com earlier this year. Global Software in Raleigh, North Carolina paid $2,000 for GlobalSoftwareInc.com. It currently uses GLBsoft.com as its web address. Here’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
One “corporate identifier” TLD applicant bows out - Applicant for six new TLD strings pulls applications. An applicant for a number of corporate identifier top level domains (e.g. .llc, .inc) has withdrawn its applications. Each of the top level domains was applied for by a separate company, but the CEO of all of the companies was listed as Bekim Veseli. Veseli runs an information technology company in Virginia. The withdrawn top level domains include: TLD / Applicant .LLP PLL Registry, LLC .LTD LTD Registry, LLC .Corp ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Hilco to auction Bargain.com, ETM.com, other domains - Bargain.com, ETM.com, and ServiceMerchandise.com headed to auction block. Hilco Streambank announced that it will auction off a number of domain names, including Bargain.com, next month through its online auction platform HilcoIPAuctions.com. Hilco is well known for auctioning of domain names related to defunct brands, but Bargain.com isn’t such a distressed asset. The domain is owned by FYI Direct, the consumer credit company behind FreeScore.com. It has been marketed ... read more ...
Tue 23rd April 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
What a new RAA means for YOU, a domain registrant - Your responsibilities when registering a domain name will soon change. Late yesterday ICANN published the proposed “final” new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for public comment. The update RAA will have an impact on how you register domain names. You must verify your phone number or email address. After you register a domain, transfer it to a new registrar, or transfer ownership of a domain, you will have to confirm your email address or phone number ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Coming this year: a biggest domain registrar phishing conflict ever - New RAA satisfies boneheaded law enforcement request that will lead to more domain theft. The proposed new registration accreditation agreement satisfies a law enforcement requirement of verifying whois information when someone registers a domain name. The requirements can easily be satisfied by people who want to register domains for nefarious purposes. In fact, they’re downright stupid. But more troubling is that it will lead to more phishing of domain registrar ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain settlement cases corner adult somewhat in 2012 - …but trail the growth in domain name registrations. National Arbitration Forum (NAF) has released its official numbers for 2012 UDRP cases. Combined with World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) results, the number of UDRP cases filed last year appears to have edged up slightly. NAF reported a total of 2,060 cases for 2012 last year, which was 22 fewer than in 2011. WIPO earlier reported 2,884 cases, up from 2,764 in 2011. Between the two biggest UDRP ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DomainSkate offers templated UDRP complaints for $399 - Low cost service prepares UDRP filing to submit to National Arbitration Forum. DomainSkate lets anyone create a UDRP complaint. Users would be wise to have the complaint reviewed by an attorney before submitting it.The biggest cost of filing or responding to a UDRP isn’t paying fees to National Arbitration Forum or WIPO. It’s typically the lawyer’s fees that add up to the most. DomainSkate aims to change that by offering a low cost way to compile the necessary ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Internet Giant TenCent bumbles domain dispute - Company drops ball in UDRP submission. It’s possible you’ve never heard of TenCent. I hadn’t heard of it until reading The Economist’s recent spread on the internet in China. But it’s big in China. Huge. With a market cap of $60 billion (U.S.), it’s right up there with Facebook in terms of valuation. Yet TenCent Holdings failed to win the domain name TenCentGames.com in a UDRP, despite the domain holder not responding to the complaint. TenCent successfully ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Salesforce launches Social.com - Almost two years after buying domain, Salesforce launches Social.com. Last week Salesforce started forwarding its Social.com domain to one of its sites, but today it formerly announced its new Social.com service. Social.com offers services to advertise on Facebook and Twitter more effectively. It automates how companies find potential customers and market to them via social media. It’s a good use of an expensive domain name. Moniker brokered the sale of Social.com ... read more ...
Mon 22nd April 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oldest .com starts usurpation advertising - Symbolics lets you buy a “circle” of history. Over the years Symbolics.com has received a lot of press because it was the first ever .com domain name registered. But how do you turn a lot of press into a business model for a domain that, on its own, doesn’t really have a meaning? Domain investor and developer Aron Meystedt, who bought Symbolics.com in 2009, has a plan. Symbolics.com now offers advertising on the domain. You can buy a “circle” on the site ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The new TLD Trademark Clearinghouse is about to get a lot of attention - The TMCH phase of new TLDs is here. Which companies should participate, and how should they approach online brand protection in the coming years? The Trademark Clearinghouse is now open for business and will soon get a lot of mainstream attention.Remember when .xxx came out and law firms across the country advised their clients to defensively register domains? Law firms are now sending notices to their clients about signing up for the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Analyzing a .me domain found in a wild - This domain has a major flaw, and it’s not the top level domain. The other day I was walking down 4th street in San Francisco and did a double take. Is that a .me web site being advertised on a bus stop advertisement? Why yes, it is. And that would certainly make Michael Berkens proud. The advertisement is for Cater2.me, a service that makes it easy for workplaces to cater in lunch. If you’re a .com purist, you hate this domain. But the truth is, most of Cater2.me’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yikes! No consternation this association wanted a improved domain - Company that filed UDRP uses a truly awful domain name. Often times a company files a UDRP because they’re using an inferior domain to the one they want. For example, cases are filed in which the complainant owns a .tv or .net domain and the respondent owns the .com. Of course, the reason the complainant originally registered the other domain was because the .com was already taken. That’s the case with a just-decided case for GameBreaker.com. The domain owner ... read more ...
Sat 20th April 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN selects second URS provider - Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre second to sign up with ICANN for rapid domain suspension system. ICANN has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) to be a provider under Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS). URS is sort quick and less expensive version of UDRP in which a winning complainant does not get control of the infringing domain name but it is taken offline. URS only applies to the new top level ... read more ...
Fri 19th April 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Organizing for Action wasn’t “organized” for the online strategy - Non-profit failed to secure domain names prior to announcing plans. Barrack Obama’s campaigns have been praised for their use of the internet to rally the troops. Which is why a domain name screwup by the non-profit successor to his re-election campaign and Organizing for America is rather surprising. On January 18 First Lady Michelle Obama and Jim Messina announced Organizing for Action, a non-profit community organizer that hopes to rally behind many of Obama’s ... read more ...
Thu 18th April 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ouch: Regions Bank video mea culpa for vouchsafing domain name expire - Head of eBusiness for bank explains that company let domain expire and apologizes to customers. Hopefully this video saves other companies from letting their domain names expire. Over the weekend Regions Bank let its domain name expire, which took its entire web site offline. It quickly renewed the domain name, but any sort of downtime for a bank of this size (1,700 branches) is more than an “uh-oh”. Can you imagine the questions you’d receive from the CEO if ... read more ...