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 27th October 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Judge dismisses MySchool.com lawsuit - MySchool411.com owner gets schooled. It turns out .XYZ wasn’t the only company winning on summary judgment yesterday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. Judge John F. Anderson granted (pdf) Original Web Ventures’ Motion for Summary Judgment in a lawsuit brought by Joseph Carpenter over the domain name MySchool.com. Carpenter operates a site at MySchool411.com. He lost two UDRPs against the domain name MySchool.com, but was undeterred. In February he filed an in rem lawsuit against ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Law Early Access Grosses Over $1 million - Minds + Machines releases Q3 update including early .Law results. The .Law top level domain name is off to a solid start, generating $1.18 million of orders during the first week of the Early Access Program combined with .abogado (Spanish for attorney). Similar to other registry’s Early Access phases, the phase was structured like a dutch auction in which prices started high and dropped over time. This was Minds + Machines’ first foray into Early Access. To date, there have been over 3,135 applications ... read more ...
Mon 26th October 2015
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Dicker hires lawyer, asks people to mislay adverse posts - People asked to remove posts as part of deal to get money back. Adam Dicker has hired a lawyer to handle claims made by people who say he owes them money. Attorney Joel Reinhardt of Gowlings sent a letter Friday afternoon to a number of people that posted complaints about Dicker on NamePros. The letter states: The post, made by username “Shane Bellone” is replete with highly damaging false, defamatory and malicious statements. The statements include that our client Mr. Dicker is “a predator” ... read more ...
 
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Breaking: Judge dismisses Verisign's lawsuit opposite .XYZ - 10 month ordeal is over after judge grants summary judgment. That jury trial taking place in Virginia next week…won’t take place after all. Judge Claude M. Hilton has granted XYZ.com’s motion for summary judgement (pdf). The judge will issue a memorandum opinion shortly. Verisign had filed a false advertising suit against .XYZ and its founder Daniel Negari in December. Verisign was upset that Negari was disparaging .com and claiming that .XYZ was the next .com. At the center of Verisign’s ... read more ...
 
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Warning: domain name phishing email blast going on right now - Emails try to get you to download file. A Domain Name Wire reader has received 4 phishing/malware attempts within the past hour, and web searches show that the scam is widespread. Here’s a copy of one of the phishing emails: From: Date: Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 5:04 PM Subject: Domain [redacted] Suspension Notice Dear Sir/Madam, The following domain names have been suspended for violation of the DYNADOT LLC Abuse Policy: Domain Name: [domain redacted] Registrar: DYNADOT LLC Registrant Name: [name ... read more ...
 
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This week: .SRL, .Studio, .Live and a $2,675/year IDN - A new corporate identifier domain and a very expensive IDN debut this week. Four top level domain names make their general availability debuts this week. InterNetX launches .SRL, a corporate identifier for “Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada”, on Tuesday. SRL is similar to Limited Liability Companies in many Spanish and Italian speaking countries. This is the second corporate identifier domain released by InterNetX. It previously released .LTDA (similar to LLC in Brazil), which now has about ... read more ...
 
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Verisign v. XYZ set for jury hearing subsequent week - Verisign’s false advertising case about .xyz top level domain name is scheduled for jury trial next week. [Update: the judge has granted summary judgment to XYZ.] .Com registry Verisign is scheduled to present its case against .XYZ next week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. Verisign filed a false advertising suit against .XYZ and its founder Daniel Negari in December. At the center of Verisign’s argument is that .XYZ gave away free .xyz domain names and then used these “inflated” ... read more ...
 
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"Ultra Premium" Domain Names with Ryan Colby – DNW Podcast #56 - The value of one word .com domain names. What’s happening to the value of great one word .com domain names? Today’s guest, Ryan Colby, helps connect buyers and sellers of these valuable domain names for Outcome Brokerage. He discusses how the market is changing and what startups are looking for these days when it comes to buying domain names. Also: .Com is growing, WI.com saved and Australian expired domain name bidding scandal. Subscribe via iTunes to listen to the Domain Name Wire podcast on ... read more ...
 
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The .Brand Challenge to .Com - “Ancillary” .com domain name purchases might be jeopardized when companies start using .brand domain names. On last week’s Verisign investor conference call, an analyst asked the company what effect .brand domain names might have on .com. Verisign CEO James Bidzos said that, even if a company adopts a .brand domain name, they won’t abandon .com. His point was that if a company like Google starts using .Google instead of Google.com (my example), it’s not going to let Google.com expire in ... read more ...
Fri 23rd October 2015
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JinSe.com for $30k and other lapsed domain name sales - A weekly roundup of expired domain name sales. 59 bidders saw a golden opportunity when JinSe.com expired, yet it was the enthusiasm of just 2 of them that lifted it above $10.1k to finish 3 times higher at $30.2k. That made this piece of Chinese Pinyin NameJet’s top expired domain auction during the past week. Oh, in case you haven’t guessed already, jīn sè (金色) = “golden”. It also happens to be the name of a Korean actress. Think about this … Had 1 out of the 2 high bidders ... read more ...
 
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California Car Dealers Head to Court over Domain Names - Ford dealer claims rival is stealing its web traffic. Two neighboring car dealers in California are heading to court over cybersquatting claims. El Centro, California Ford dealer El Centro Motors alleges (pdf) that Rogers Rogers, a Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge dealer on the same road less than a half mile away, is cybersquatting its brands and diverting web traffic. El Centro Motors registered ElCentroMotors.com in 2001. Rogers Rogers registered ElCentroMotor.com (singular) and ElCentroFord.com last year. ... read more ...
Thu 22nd October 2015
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Verisign considers Early Access for "IDN .Coms" - Popular model for landrush phase of new TLDs might find its way to Verisign. Verisign is considering some sort of “Early Access” period when it launches IDN .com transliterations, company executives explained today on the company’s 3rd quarter conference call. In response to an analyst’s question, CEO James Bidzos said the rollouts will begin with the mandated sunrise period. After that, the company might have “Early Access” opportunities for those that want to “get in the door early”, ... read more ...
 
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Verisign: 9.2 million new .com and .net registrations final quarter - Verisign drives new registrations, grows overall base in .com and .net. Verisign reported earnings this afternoon, and disclosed that it handled 9.2 million new .com and .net registrations in Q3. The number of new registrations per quarter is typically in the 8-9 million range. On its investor conference call today, Verisign executives said the growth was driven internationally, particularly in Asia (including China and India). The company expects the pace of activity in the 3rd quarter to slow sequentially ... read more ...
 
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How to not remove your shirt investing in domain names for China - Video explains what makes domains good — and bad — for the Chinese market. Allegravita, a consultancy for doing business in China that has worked with a number of domain name companies, has published three info-packed sessions from the DomainFest Asia conference held in September. The company has packaged them together as a “Boot Camp” on the Chinese domain name market, and one video in particular is worth watching for any domainer thinking about investing in domains that might appeal to ... read more ...
 
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Media Options' WI.com domain name save in UDRP - Complainant offered to buy the domain name for $400.00. Media Options has successfully defended a UDRP against its domain name WI.com, but the panel declined to find complainant Brian Fera of Germany guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. Domain name brokerage Media Options originally brokered the domain name on behalf of Masterlock. The company found a buyer toward the end of 2014 for $375,000. Media Options financed the deal, holding the domain name until the buyer made all payments. The buyer ... read more ...
Wed 21st October 2015
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These 19 companies bought aftermarket domain names final week - From bitcoin to car care to family entertainment, here are some of the end users that bought domain names last week. Sedo handled 624 domain name transactions last week for a total of $1.7 million, a bit more than usual. While the list includes a number of four letter domains, it’s a lot fewer than two weeks ago. Among the end users snapping up domain names: a city in Ontario buying the name of one of its landmarks, a Chinese astronomical group buying its acronym and an Australian bitcoin company ... read more ...
 
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Does something siphon about This.Sucks? - Vox Populi helped This.sucks get off the ground. Is there more to it than that? Site design brought to you by Vox Populi.A couple weeks ago, a new company popped up on the scene called This.Sucks. The business model is remarkably similar to one that .Sucks registry Vox Populi hoped would be created, offering .sucks domain names to users at a reduced annual price (many for free) in return for using a specialized platform. It’s so similar, in fact, that some have questioned if Vox Populi is behind ... read more ...
 
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Company bringing multi-level selling to domain names - Trademark filing reveals plans for RealDomains. Do multi-level marketing and domain names mix? A California company has filed an intent-to-use trademark application for “RealDomains”, and the description of services is interesting. Multilevel marketing services, namely, providing marketing and income opportunities to others through the monetization of domain names and brand, logo, and trademark development and through the development of marketing organizations… Education services namely, online ... read more ...
Tue 20th October 2015
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Verizon wins initial .Porn domain name dispute - Verizon.porn, for all of your telecom porn needs. Verizon has won a cybersquatting dispute with the registrant of Verizon.porn, the first such dispute to be resolved since the .Porn domain name became available in June. A New York real estate agent registered the domain name on June 4, the day both .Porn and .Adult were offered for sale by registrars. Verizon apparently did not take advantage of being able to register domain names matching its trademark before the domains became available to the ... read more ...
 
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Afilias is Likely "One and Done" with 101Domain Acquisition - Company doesn’t expect to acquire other domain name registrars any time soon. Last Friday, domain name registrar 101Domain disclosed that it had been acquired by domain name registry Afilias. It’s Afilias’ first acquisition of a domain name registrar. An Afilias spokesperson told Domain Name Wire that the company does not plan to acquire any other registrars in the near future, so don’t expect a big roll up from the company. Although it is the company’s first acquisition, Afilias already ... read more ...
Mon 19th October 2015
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5 Expired Domain Tips with Jonathan Tenenbaum – DNW Podcast #55 - Learn how to buy the best expiring domain names. Want to master the expired domain name game? NameJet GM Jonathan Tenenbaum discusses how NameJet acquires expired domain names, and provides 5 tips to crush it with NameJet. Also: ICANN gets tipsy in Dublin, Afilias acquires 101Domain and University of Cambridge gets schooled about trademarks. Subscribe via iTunes to listen to the Domain Name Wire podcast on your iPhone or iPad, or click play below or download to begin listening. (Listen to previous ... read more ...
 
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This week's new TLDs: .Law, .Abogado - Two restricted legal top level domain names become available today. Minds + Machines releases the highly-anticipated .law and .abogado (Spanish for lawyer) domain names today. There’s no room for speculation in these domain names unless you are a lawyer. You have to be a licensed lawyer to register the domain names. The domains aren’t cheap, either. At NamesCon last year, Minds + Machines CEO Antony Van Couvering said the wholesale price of .law domains would be about $150. It’s possible that’s ... read more ...
 
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Australian domain marketplace adult in arms over Netfleet behest scandal - Australia gets its own type of “Halvarez”. The Australian domain community is still reeling from a controversy that emerged in late September. Haven’t heard? Then you’re not an Aussie. But if private bids are shared to attract competing bidders, then that matters everywhere. The Context In order to understand this upside-down story, let’s visit the “Land Down Under”. You’ll want to pack this background info: Australia’s ccTLD is .AU – most commonly registered as .COM.AU. Outside ... read more ...
Fri 16th October 2015
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Expired Domain Report: Total Number Domination! - Numeric domains take the lead in this week’s Expired Domain Report. A few days ago, while reviewing the month of September, I measured China’s contribution to high-end sales at NameJet. (Hint: It wasn’t small.) And in my previous weekly article, I discussed the ongoing appetite for 6-digit .COMs and other numerical domains that “traders are obsessed with” these days. Well, folks, the market is gluttonous. This past week, between NameJet and SnapNames, numerics took up three out ... read more ...
 
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Sedo GreatDomains auction launches with 2 and 3 minute .coms - One domain name has a $425,000 bid already, but hasn’t met its reserve. If you want to have a successful domain name auction these days, stuff it full of two and three character .com domain names. Sedo just started its monthly GreatDomains auction, and short domains are attracting all of the attention. At the top of the list is EZ.com, which has two bids up to $425,000 and a reserve range between $500,000 and $1 million. Two three character domains have already hit their reserves: DCR.com is at ... read more ...