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.

Mon 6th February 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy says it saw record Super Bowl Sunday sales - Two GoDaddy.com Super Bowl commercials drive new sales record. The results are in… Regardless of what you thought of GoDaddy.com’s two Super Bowl commercials yesterday, they appear to have had the intended result for the world’s largest domain registrar. According to the company, yesterday saw its highest sales ever for a Super Bowl Sunday. This is the company’s eight consecutive year advertising in the Super Bowl. The company also says that .co saw a tenfold ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Best Buy promotes “phone freedom” in Super Bowl, though not new domain name - Company protected brand with domain purchase but doesn’t use it yet. Best Buy’s Super Bowl commercial yesterday promotes what Best Buy calls “Phone Freedom”, although it doesn’t call it that by name in the ad. But it helps explain why the company paid $2,588 to buy PhoneFreedom.com last month. I received an email promotion from the company today that touts phone freedom: At the bottom of the email is a link to BestBuy.com/phonefreedom. Paying such a small ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy’s BYOB: Build Your Online Business - Company plans to start promoting a different kind of BYOB. It looks like GoDaddy.com will start promoting BYOB, but it has nothing to do with beer. The company filed two trademark applications at the end of last month. The company filed application 85527616 for BYOB and application 85527612 for BYOB Build Your Online Business. Here’s what the applications have to say about the intended use: C 035. US 100 101 102. G S: Providing on-line information, namely, help-articles ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
What domains American Airlines and others bought final week - American Airlines, The Nature Conservancy, New York Life, and other end user domain buys. I tried to do last week’s end user domain sales report during DOMAINfest, but some whois servers didn’t like my mobile connection. So it’s a bit late, but hopefully just as useful. Let’s start off with sales from Afternic. American Airlines bought the name of its Chairman, TomHorton.com, for $1,000. This was a smart move given that the company is about to battle its ... read more ...
Sun 5th February 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy and .Co take core theatre with Super Bowl Commercials - Over 100 million will watch GoDaddy Super Bowl commercials tonight. The world’s largest registrar along with the .co top level domain will get a lot of attention today. That’s because GoDaddy will air two Super Bowl ads today, including one about the .co domain name. The first half commercial stars lingerie model Natalia Velez getting the body paint treatment from Jillian Michaels and Danica Patrick to promote .co. Velez was unveiled in person at DOMAINfest last ... read more ...
Thu 2nd February 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Tucows launches Ting mobile phone service - Tucows branches out, enters mobile phone business. Tucows, which owns one of the world’s largest domain registrars, officially launched mobile phone service Ting today. In a press release, Tucows CEO Elliot Noss said: “What people are forced to put up with from mobile service providers just doesn’t make sense. It’s too complicated, too opaque, too adversarial, too expensive and frankly too inhuman.” Ting offers simplified phone plans where you can purchase ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
How Twitter was named and bought Twitter.com for $7,500 - Biz Stone discusses the naming of his company. Today at DOMAINfest in Santa Monica, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone talked about how they named the company and bought the domain for $7,500. Stone and his co-founders wanted a name that showed “urgency”. They came up with Jitter, but thought that sounded negative. One of his partners was paging through a dictionary and found Twitter. Since Stone’s wife worked with animals, he immediately liked the name and knew its ... read more ...
 
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Occupy.com domain name sells - Domain has new owner but identity is unknown. Occupy.com, which was pitched for sale to the Occupy Movement last year, has sold. It’s not clear who purchased the domain name since its whois record is protected by whois privacy. But the buyer definitely wants to capitalize on the movement. It started a logo design contest on 99designs that states: This logo will live on occupy.com and @occupy on twitter. It will go on billboards, on TV, in magazines, on sidewalks, ... read more ...
Wed 1st February 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
KeyDrive acquires Moniker and SnapNames - Oversee.net sells off domain marketplace, expiring domain, and registrar companies. [Update: read this follow up story to understand what this means for customers.] KeyDrive, which owns domain name registrar Key-Systems as well as NameDrive, has acquired SnapNames and Moniker from Oversee.net. Combined, KeyDrive says it is now the sixth largest ICANN accredited registrar. Rumors about the acquisition have been swirling around DOMAINfest this week. KeyDrive has now ... read more ...
 
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James Brown estate doesn’t “feel good” after domain dispute - Godfather of Soul’s domain name can stay with management company. The estate of James Brown has lost a domain arbitration case for the domain name JamesBrown.com. The domain is owned by LAC Management, Inc., which manages “RJ The James Brown Band”. LAC argued that James Brown gave at least his tacit consent for it to register the domain name. In its pleadings, the estate even admitted that Brown may have consented to the domain registration while he was ... read more ...
Tue 31st January 2012
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 ...
 
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 ...
 
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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 ...
Mon 30th January 2012
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 ...
 
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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
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 ...
Sun 29th January 2012
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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 DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DOMAINfest “Dine with an expert” slots stuffing adult quickly - Opportunity to dine with DOMAINfest speakers quickly disappearing. Want some quality time with Brook Schaaf, John Morris, Lisa Box, Jay Weintraub, or Paul Nicks during DOMAINfest next week? Your easiest opportunity is no longer available. These are among the people who already have full tables for their “Dine with an Expert” session during the conference. Although I’m sure there will be other opportunities to chat with these experts, there are still a number ... 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 ...
 
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
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 ...
Thu 26th January 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows business can now list domains in AfternicDLS Premium - Potential inventory boon for Afternic. Customers of Tucows can now list their domains for sale on AfternicDLS at the Premium level, Afternic announced this morning. This means customers can list their domains with “buy now” prices and they can be sold through AfternicDLS’ instant transfer process. Tucows had previously offered the ability to buy domains from AfternicDLS on its platform, which includes OpenSRS and Hover. But they couldn’t sell their domains ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo clarifies inventory levels and a cost comparison with Afternic - Sedo publishes fact sheet about its promotion and pricing levels. I have to admit I’ve been a bit confused by the various listing levels now offered at Sedo, especially when it comes to the SedoMLS system. Sedo has published a new fact sheet that compares the levels, and it makes more sense to me now. Here’s the basic gist. There are three levels: Sedo, SedoMLS Basic, and SedoMLS Premium. If you list your domains on Sedo, regardless of the options you choose the ... read more ...
 
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WIPO gives Twitter renouned typo Twittr.com - Twitter gets typo of its Twitter.com domain name. A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has awarded Twitter the domain name Twittr.com in a uniform domain name dispute resolution policy (UDRP) proceeding. Twittr.com was originally registered before Twitter’s “first use in commerce” date on its trademark for “Twitter”. Although Twitter says it actually started the service prior to this first use date, it was a moot point in this case because the ... read more ...
 
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GoDaddy .Co Super Bowl blurb indication Natalia Velez to attend DOMAINfest - Colombian model to attend dinner party on February 1. DOMAINfest organizers have just announced that Columbian model Natalia Velez, who stars along with Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels in a GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial this year, will attend the conference taking place in Santa Monica next week. Velez will be in person at the Petersen Automotive Museum for the conference’s SuperCars dinner party sponsored by .Co on February 1. Velez was recently unveiled as ... read more ...