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.

Wed 28th December 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top 10 Domain Name Wire stories of 2011 - What a year in domaining. Here’s a look back. Here’s a look back at the top stories on Domain Name Wire for all of 2011. These are ranked by number of pageviews. 1. Apple gets control over porn domain names – apparently Apple + Porn equals traffic. 2. .XXX launches national TV campaign and www.Buy.xxx – OK, so the top two stories have something to do with porn. Maybe that will change for story number 3. 3. ICANN Approves New .XXX Top Level Domain – guess ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bidding for Righthaven.com domain adult to $1,850 with 10 days to go - Domain already attracted attention with a long way to go. [Update: domain appears to have sold for $3,300]. Domain auctions usually don’t attract much attention until the final hours. But bidding for the domain name RightHaven.com, which is being auctioned off to help settle a legal judgement, is attracting quite a bit of attention. The auction at SnapNames still has close to 10 days to go before it closes, yet it has already attracted nine different bidders and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DOMAINfest bonus ends Saturday - Ticket price increases $100 on January 1. The price of admission to Oversee.net’s DOMAINfest conference next month increases on Sunday. Tickets are currently $1,195 and the price increases to $1,295 Sunday. DOMAINfest kicks off January 31, 2012 at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel Bungalows in Santa Monica, California. Surprisingly, it appears there are still rooms available at the hotel, although it sells out every year for this event. Admission includes three meals ... read more ...
Tue 27th December 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Do people know what SOPA unequivocally is? - You can hate SOPA, but at least take a few minutes to educate yourself about it. Let me start off by saying I’m opposed to Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). My House representative, Lamar Smith, is the sponsor of the bill and he offices just down the road from me. I have submitted comments to him letting him know I’m not in favor of the bill, primarily because of my concern that it suggests the internet belongs to America. But after reading lots of criticism of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How Lamar Smith will respond to your SOPA complaint - The form response Lamar Smith sends to opponents of SOPA. As I mentioned in a previous post, I live in Lamar Smith’s district in Texas. His office is literally a couple miles from mine. Smith is the sponsor of Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). I wrote to him a week ago via his web site expressing how I didn’t like the SOPA bill because it reinforces the idea that America owns the internet. Here’s the form response I received: Dear Mr. Allemann, Thank you for contacting ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
2011 Domain Dunce: ICANN complains about hotel (and afterwards takes it back) - It’s the end of year, and that means it’s time for Domain Name Wire’s annual Domain Dunce awards. Let’s kick things off with a smelly situation. By all accounts the Hotel des Almadies, which housed attendees of ICANN’s meeting at its recent meeting in Dakar, Senegal earlier this year, was far from luxury. Attendees complained of rats, security concerns, air conditioning issues, and non-working showers. That prompted Barbara Ann Clay, ICANN’s Vice President ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Customers use GoDaddy to register anti-SOPA domains - At least some of them were registered after GoDaddy changed its mind. Oh, the irony. A Houston, Texas man registered the domain name SopaBoycott.com on December 20 and promptly started creating a web site about the ills of the Stop Online Piracy Act. But apparently he had not done his research yet for his section on “who supports it”. He registered the domain name at GoDaddy and may even by using GoDaddy’s web hosting services. Yet on December 20, when he registered ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Accepting nominations for 2012 Domain Name Wire Survey - Please help with this year’s domain name survey. I’m pulling together then seventh annual Domain Name Wire survey and need your help. Each year new domain businesses come on the scene, and I want to make sure they’re included in the survey. With that in mind, please comment about new companies in the following sectors: Domain Parking – I already added ParkingPlace, Voodoo, InternetTraffic, and ParkingCrew Escrow – I already added eCop Domain Sales Sites ... read more ...
Mon 26th December 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DailyChanges.com information is widely misunderstood - Don’t look to DailyChanges.com to see how many domains GoDaddy has lost. Ever since GoDaddy faced a boycott of its services over its (since changed) position on SOPA, people have been trying to quantify domain losses for the company. A typical data source is DailyChanges.com, which monitors changes to nameservers. This is a bad source in this case for two reasons: 1. Domain names typically take 5 or more days to transfer, so the full effect won’t be evident for ... read more ...
Fri 23rd December 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Activists win, GoDaddy pulls support of SOPA - GoDaddy changes mind on SOPA. [Update: Read my interview with Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman about his company’s changed stance on SOPA] A growing call for a boycott of GoDaddy over its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has achieved its goal — GoDaddy just announced it no longer supports the bill. GoDaddy general counsel Christine Jones had been steadfast in her support of the bill, and GoDaddy had posted her commentary on the bill on its web site. That ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DNW Interview: GoDaddy CEO Warren Adelman discusses company’s position on SOPA - New GoDaddy CEO explains his company’s reversal of support for SOPA. GoDaddy just pulled its support of Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill designed to protect intellectual property. The reversal came after a call for a boycott of GoDaddy because of its support hit a fevered pitch yesterday. Although GoDaddy has supported SOPA from the beginning, its name was included in a list of supporters that was published this week. Warren Adelman, who became CEO of GoDaddy ... read more ...
Thu 22nd December 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy’s obvious portfolio still growing, though no descent movement yet - Domain registrar continues to apply for patents but hasn’t gone on the offensive yet. Will GoDaddy’s patent strategy change now that it has taken an investment from three private equity giants? It’s an important question for the domain name and web hosting industries because of the size of the company’s patent war chest. A search with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows 65 issued patents for The Go Daddy Group and close to 200 pending. These patents ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
OpenSRS implements 100+ ccTLDs from EPAG acquisition - Tucows’ reseller network now has over 100 additional domains to choose from. One of the key reasons Tucows bought domain name registrar EPAG back in August was to bolster its offering of country code domain names (ccTLD). Today it announced the first phase of its integration of ccTLDs carried by EPAG, adding over 100 new ccTLDs to its OpenSRS reseller platform. It will add more next year. A lot of registrars I talk to tell me they see an immediate registration lift ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Receiver: “ICANN thumbing a nose during a Court”, asks justice to find ICANN in contempt - Them’s fightin’ words! Well this is getting interesting. Earlier this month a Texas court ordered ICANN to stay a UDRP case for FunnyGames.com. ICANN responded by saying that it had no authority to stay a UDRP proceeding and that the court had no jurisdiction to order it to do so. The court disagreed. ICANN subsequently said that it informed World Intellectual Property Organization — the UDRP provider where the case was filed — of the court decision. But it ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
No jury hearing over inducement devise in Monte Cahn v. Oversee.net - Judge says waver to jury trial in employment agreement is valid. The case of Monte Cahn v. Oversee.net, et al is scheduled to go to trial next month. Each side has listed witnesses they might want to bring to the stand, ranging from Jeff Kupietzky to Mike Berkens to NameDrive USA. But they won’t be arguing in front of a jury, at least for claims related to breach of contract of a management incentive plan. The judge in the case has ruled that a jury waver provision ... read more ...
Wed 21st December 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN’s devise for needy new gTLD field is really, unequivocally bad - Want to watch another aspect of the new TLD process explode? I just finished reviewing ICANN’s draft plan to assist “needy” applicants wishing to apply for a new top level domain name. I know the title to this post is lame, but I really can’t come up with anything better to describe this new program. It’s really, really bad. And it will blow up in ICANN’s face. The program is funded to allow 14 applicants for new TLDs to pay $47,000 in evaluation fees ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Check out what domains Bayer, Enterprise, and a congresswoman bought this week - Big buyers get good deals on domain names. Some notable names made domain purchases this week for smart prices. All of these sales were at Afternic unless otherwise noted. Bayer AG bought ResponsibleUse.com for only $895 at Sedo. It’s a good domain for information about prescription drug abuse. Sharp Design, which had been using SharpDesignWebsites.com, shortened its domain to SharpDesign.com for just $2,000. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R – TN) got MarshaBlackburn.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN’s at-large cabinet debating recommendation to stifle new TLD release - Would throttling release of new TLDs benefit the internet? The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), which represents the interests of internet users, is the latest group to consider asking ICANN to do a phased release of its new TLD program. Although there’s still disagreement amongst the group, a third draft of a document titled “Updated ALAC advice on gTLDs” says that there are “deep concern about the possible harmful effect on Internet end-users of a single ... read more ...
Tue 20th December 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Pussycat Dolls to star in GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial - Super Bowl commercials to feature Pussycat Dolls and new .co girl. The latest incarnation of the Pussycat Dolls will star in one of GoDaddy.com’s Super Bowl commercials next year. The group will be featured in a commercial dubbed “The Cloud” that will feature many of Go Daddy’s products with a play on its cloud offerings. “The Cloud” will also feature Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick. Patrick and other Go Daddy girl Jillian Michaels will star in a .co commercial ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Two Congressmen ask Commerce Department for check to new TLDs - Representatives ask for a delay or pilot program launch. Bob Goodlatte, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet, and Howard Berman, Ranking Member, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce asking for a delay to the new top level domain rollout. The pair ask the Department of Commerce to answer five questions before January 5. To summarize: 1. Has the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Texas justice claims office over ICANN and says ICANN can stay a UDRP proceeding - An interesting case from a Texas court. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas has issued a ruling stating that it has jurisdiction over ICANN in a bankruptcy case and that ICANN must stay a UDRP proceeding. The case involves FunnyGames.com, which is in control of a receiver in a bankruptcy case. The receiver says the domain name has been appraised for $400,000. FunnyGames.com was hit with a UDRP last month. The receiver in the case asked ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Hockey Hall-of-famer Doug Gilmour gets DougGilmour.com - Hockey great gets his namesake .com. Former NHL great Doug Gilmour, who was inducted into the hockey hall of fame this year, has won a UDRP proceeding over the domain name DougGilmour.com. I remember watching Gilmour play for the St. Louis Blues in the 1980s. The registrant of the domain name said he was Gilmour “biggest fan” and that he had registered it as a fan site. He also argued that Gilmours likeness belongs to the National Hockey League and not Gilmour, ... read more ...
Mon 19th December 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Holidays are good time to measure understanding on domain auctions - You might just catch a bidding foe sleeping. Is it possible to catch other domainers sleeping? It’s not easy, but the holidays are your best chance. With many domainers either traveling or taking time off to be with family, expired and regular domain auctions ending over the next couple weeks present your best opportunity to not face the usual competition. This is easier said than done. After all, a lot of home grown systems (as well as publicly available ones like ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Vistaprint acquires Webs.com, pulling serve into domain registrar territory - Vistaprint bolsters its small business web site offerings with acquisition. If you think Vistaprint is just about “free” business cards, you are mistaken. It’s actually a big competitor in the small business domain registration and web site business. It offers domain names and web sites on a monthly billing basis. How big is its web site operation? Its nameservers for the product, vpweb.com, host over 333,000 domain names according to DomainTools. Now the company ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Verisign predicts 1,000-1,500 new TLD applications and adult to 2/3 .brand - Web could see a flood of .brand domain names. There are a lot of new top level domain name service providers out there, and each has its own estimates on how many new TLD applications will be submitted next year. Here are the numbers from Verisign: 1,000 to 1,500 applications and 2/3rds of them from brand owners. This isn’t just another wild guess. Verisign runs the .com registry, so you can expect that many potential top level domain applicants have at least talked ... read more ...