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 6th September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Amazon Buys Typo of WeatherBug Web Site. Is AWS.com Next? - Company may be acquiring three letter domain name for its web services offering. Amazon.com has registered wwwaws.com, a common typo of aws.com. AWS is the acronym for the company’s popular Amazon Web Services platform. It’s unusual for a company to register a typo of a domain name it doesn’t own, and it makes me wonder if the company is working on acquiring the AWS.com domain name to redirect to aws.amazon.com. AWS.com is registered to AWS Convergence Technologies, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo Upset About X-Rated Flickr Sites - Company files complaint over sites that use its Flickr brand. Yahoo has turned to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to help it shut down two X-rated sites that use Flickr in their domain names. The company filed the complaint with WIPO over the domain names nastyflickr.com and nudeflickr.com, each of which lead to a web site containing adult photos. They each contain a logo that looks similar to the Flickr blue and red logo as well. They are owned ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ready to Scream? After 14 Years, Guy Loses Screams.com in UDRP - Haunted house owner must transfer domain name to competitor. The owner of screams.com has lost his domain name thanks to a ruling by a National Arbitration Forum panelist. The owner of Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, Texas registered Screams.com all the way back in 1997. The complainant has operated the Screams Halloween Theme Park, located in nearby Waxahachie, Texas, since 1996. Even though “screams” is generic, I can certainly understand how the ... read more ...
Sun 4th September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
StumbleUpon Buys Stumblers.com for $6,000 - Hot social site buys domain name for the moniker of its users. Social sharing site StumbleUpon has purchased the domain name Stumblers.com for $6,000. StubleUpon users are called “stumblers”. The sale was on Afternic’s sales list from the past week, although at the time it wasn’t clear who bought the domain name since it was registered to brand protection company MarkMonitor. The seller was Baton Rouge, Louisiana based NameSeek.com. As of right now the domain ... read more ...
Fri 2nd September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Pssst… “Got Milk?” is a Trademark - Don’t mess around with the Got Milk slogan. Got Milk? This slogan has become such a cultural mainstay that we see variations of it all the time. But what many people don’t realize is that it’s trademarked. California Milk Processor Board has multiple trademarks to the slogan and related slogans. That’s a lesson that one punk rock band learned the hard way. The band called “GotMilk” needs to find a new name. The California Milk Processor Board just won ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
A Warning if You Use TrafficClub NameServers - Legacy nameservers no longer generating revenue for parking customers. Oversee.net shut down Moniker’s traffic monetization solution TrafficClub shortly after buying the company. TrafficClub accounts were transitioned to DomainSponsor and the trafficclub.com nameservers continued to work. But that changed back in March, apparently without notice as far as I can tell. Although the trafficclub.com nameservers continue to function and resolve to DomainSponsor parked ... read more ...
Thu 1st September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
How to Blog While You’re on Vacation - How to keep your blog active when you’re on the road. I’ve been traveling a lot over the past month, some for pleasure and some for work. As a blogger this adds a bit of stress. My readers expect me to provide relevant and consistent domain name industry coverage. A week away from the blog would kill its momentum. While traveling sometimes means being away from the internet or not having time to blog as much, there are ways to keep the momentum going while you’re ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Instra Joins New TLD Services Field, Adds Competition to .Brand Services - New TLD consultant won’t charge application consulting fees to .brand owners that use its other services. Instra is the latest company to court potential new top level domain name applicants with a services and registry suite. The company, which owns a domain name registrar that caters to brand holders, is putting continued price pressure on services offered to .brand applicants. Instra will offer free application consulting to .brand applicants that manage their ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Garry Chernoff Sells MoneyLender.com for $75,000 - Chernoff strikes again with MoneyLender.com. There are a number of people who are looking for money lenders these days. But not domainer Garry Chernoff. He just sold MoneyLender.com for a nice $75,000. The domain name has been transferred to a new owner who is using whois privacy to protect its identity. Chernoff, who’s wonderful story with domain names is chronicled in David Kesmodel’s The Domain Game book, frequently sells domain names in this price range. Some ... read more ...
Wed 31st August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
10 End User Domain Name Sales Over a Past Week - Another week, another set of end user domain name sales. As I do weekly, here’s a look at a sample of end user sales through the Afternic platform… A client of brand management company MarkMonitor bought Stumblers.com for $6,000. Could the buyer be StumbleUpon? Accessories company Sprigs, which uses the domain name sprigsville.com, bought sprigs.com for $8,000. The owner of Offsitesolutions.biz upgraded to Offsitesolutions.com for $6,000. Austin, TX-based uShip.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Thoughtful Analysis on a Current State of a New TLD Program - New TLD program not exactly progressing at warp speed after approval. This is one of those blog posts where I essentially refer you to another blogger’s post. Kevin Murphy of DomainIncite published a story this morning titled “Should new gTLDs be delayed?” It’s a thoughtful piece that, as a fellow blogger, I know took some time to put together. And it’s really good. Kevin isn’t saying new TLDs should be delayed, but he gives a good run down of the current ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top Domain Name Wire Stories of Aug 2011 - Top 5 domain name news stories for the past month. August is coming to a close and I’m thankful. Why? It’s been so damn hot here in Texas that I’m counting down the days until fall. We also had some hot news in the domain industry this month. Here are the top stories attracting views on Domain Name Wire in August. 1. Canadian Court Rules Domain Names Are Property – ruling in Tucows suit lends credence to the legal idea of domain names as property. 2. Google ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign: 5.2 Million More Domain Names - Base of registered domain names continues to grow. VeriSign released its quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief today, reporting that the total base of domain names increased by 5.2 million last quarter to 215 million. Registrations have grown by more than 16.9 million since the second quarter of 2010. The total base of .com and .net domain names passed 110 million. There were 8.1 million new .com and .net registrations during the quarter. VeriSign manages the registry ... read more ...
Tue 30th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Use Google Reader for a Quick Stats Shot of Your Blog - Reader collates stats about your blog in an easy-to-consume format. Google didn’t own FeedBurner when I started Domain Name Wire, and I also didn’t want to trust my RSS feed to a third party. That means I syndicate using plain old RSS. Fortunately, some major RSS readers including Google Reader now show you how many subscribers your blog has. Bloggers can see their full stats on the Google Webmaster console, but anyone can view the total number of subscribers ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Walgreens Needs Pain Killers After UDRP Decision - Panelist rules against drugstore. Drug store chain Walgreen might need some Advil after reading a recent decision handed down by National Arbitration Forum. A single member panel ruled that Indian company Walgreens Realty International can keep the domain names walgreenstravels.com and walgreensholidays.com. At the time Walgreen filed the complaint there were merely parked pages at the domain names. The respondent created simple web sites on the domains after receiving ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TiVo Loses Trademark Case to Guy Named TiVo - TiVo, meet TiVo. DVR company TiVo certainly has a trademark to the term “TiVo”, but it may have found its match: a band member who goes by the nickname “Tivo”. Rocker Majan Fernandez Primitivo goes by the stage name “Tivo” for his acts, taking the last four letters of his last name. He registered Tivo.es to promote himself. That didn’t sit well with the DVR maker, who filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain ... read more ...
Mon 29th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Why Domains Are “The Worst Investment I’ve Ever Gotten Into” - It depends on if you’re investing or gambling. I was reading a blog post on The Hill this morning about a guy trying to sell Romney-Perry2012.com and Perry-Romney2012.com for $50,000. You read stories about this all the time as people try to bankroll on current events. But here’s what I found interesting: He has bought other domains in the past, but without much luck. “I have lost a bundle actually, and they’re the worst investment I’ve ever gotten into,” ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Hurricane Domain Name Registrations Spike - Hundreds of domain names registered as Hurricane Irene approached the east coast. Whenever there’s a notable natural disaster or event, some people try to cash in with domain names. With Hurricane Irene making waves in the news (sorry) over the weekend, people started snapping up related domain names. TasteReports.com shows 196 domain names including the keyword “hurricane” were registered last Friday and Saturday alone. To be sure, not all of them had to ... read more ...
Fri 26th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Inks Deal with Andretti Family - Domain registrar gets in bed with another Indy deal. Just a day after Danica Patrick announced her move to NASCAR full time, GoDaddy has announced a new IndyCar sponsorship. The domain name registrar has inked a deal with all three Andretti’s — Mario, Michael and Marco Andretti — as spokespeople for the company. It will also sponsor one of the Andretti Autosport IndyCar entries. The deal begins next year and goes through the 2013 season. The three drivers will ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
French Company Files UDRP Against Google’s AdWords.com - Company that was subject to Google UDRP fights back. French company Francotel, LLC has filed a UDRP complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the domain name Adwords.com, Domain Name Wire has learned. The case is not yet posted on WIPO’s web site. Francotel has a French trademark for “Adwords”. It filed to cancel Google’s European Union trademark for “Adwords” earlier this year but lost the case. Google filed a UDRP against ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oversee.net Pays $1,500 To Filer of SnapNames Class Action Lawsuit - Class representative gets a small check. Oversee.net has paid $1,500 to Stewart Resmer, the “class representative” for a lawsuit filed against Oversee.net in the wake of the halvarez shill bidding scandal. Resmer originally filed suit against Oversee in U.S. District Court Central District of California. But the judge tossed the case out because the amount of money concerned was under $5 million. As a result, Resmer’s lawyers refiled in The Superior Court of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Judge Dismisses Many of Monte Cahn’s Claims Against Oversee.net - Judge sides with Oversee.net’s Motion to Dismiss. Oversee.net got a big win today in a lawsuit filed by former employee Monte Cahn. The judge granted Oversee.net’s Motion to Dismiss (pdf) five claims ranging from Intentional and Negligent Misrepresentation to Unfair Competition. Oversee.net has argued that the case is merely a breach of contract case. When it filed the motion to dismiss, its lawyers wrote that the case “is nothing more than an alleged breach ... read more ...
Thu 25th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
City of Mumbai Says It Hasn’t Authorized .Mumbai - Letter of approval issued in error according to Mumbai’s IT department. A few months after Minds + Machines announced it was working with India TL Domain Pvt Ltd for the .Mumbai top level domain name, a city official is saying that ICANN should not allocate the .mumbai domain name. The letter from Y.S. Mahangade, Deputy Director (IT) of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), requests that ICANN “Not allocate any domain ending with .mumbai (dot Mumbai) ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Moniker Privacy Services Named in Lawsuit Against Top Porn Site - More proof that providing whois proxy services isn’t free. Remember when a Miami blog suggested that Moniker provided child porn? Now Moniker is named in another porn lawsuit (pdf), and it appears the lawyers filing the case are confused. But it’s another example of why I say providing whois privacy isn’t free. Adult movie producer Fraserside, a division of publicly traded company Private Media Group Inc., sued “Moniker Privacy Services, dba DrTuber.com” ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Files Patents for Domain Appraisals and Domain Spinning - Four patent applications provide method of domain name valuation and domain suggestions. Domain name registrar GoDaddy has filed four patent applications related to domain name appraisals and spinning. The applications list Paul Nicks, who is Director of Product Development for GoDaddy’s auction service, as inventor. They were filed in February 2010 and just published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today. The domain name appraisal portion (pdf) of the patents ... read more ...