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 20th July 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Promotes Domain Names to Small Businesses - Google evangelizes web sites for small businesses. Remember all those getonline.com domain names Google registered last month? Now we know what they’re for, and it’s good news for domain name owners. Google is going state-to-state, city-to-city to help small businesses get online. They’ve teamed up with Intuit to offer a web site builder, domain name, web hosting, and Google Places listing free for a year. Right now they’re in Austin holding in-person workshops ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
National Football League Fights Over Super Bowl Web Site - NFL wants to take over Super Bowl web site. The National Football League’s lawyers may be busy trying to settle the lockout, but its lawyers have time to play games with domain names, too. The NFL just filed a domain name dispute with World Intellectual Property Organization over the domain name SuperBowlConcierge.com. The domain name is owned by Houston, Texas based EE Nation, which offers a number of travel services. SuperBowlConcierge.com is focused primarily ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Power Tools Company Loses IXO.com Complaint - Three letter domain name saved by National Arbitration Forum. Here’s a follow up to a domain name dispute I wrote about last month regarding a three letter domain name. A National Arbitration Forum panel has denied the complaint for IXO.com brought by Robert Bosch GmbH, which has a line of power tools called IXO. The decision is in German, so I’m relying on Google’s translator here. But essentially the panel ruled: 1. The owner has a legitimate interest in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Alexander from Intrust Domains Sure Does Get Around - Yes, they must be North America’s largest spammers. Intrust Domains [intrustdomains] was aquired by epik.com (CEO Rob Monster) and the spam operation is continuing under the GoName.com brand.. The spam emails now usually come from alex@______.com in various formats with changing quotes in the message various sender addresses in an attempt to defeat the spam filters. This is a recent example… Notification for Availability of Similar Domain: We thought we would let you know that debt_______.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Buyer of Rick Schwartz’ Property.com and Properties.com Domain Names Revealed - Condo.com, Houses.com and now Property.com and Properties.com. The new owner of Property.com and Properties.com is very familiar with online real estate sites: it already owns Condo.com, Condos.com, and Houses.com. The buyer — which owns US Condo Exchange, LLC — was revealed today in a press release. While the release says the sales price is confidential, Rick Schwartz tweeted several weeks ago that the combined price was $4 million plus equity. Schwartz bought ... read more ...
Tue 19th July 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Latest Moniker Auction Tops $7.2 Million in Sales, Data.com Sales Price Around $4.5 Million - Although auction was boring, sales results are positive. Many people called Moniker’s Barcelona domain name auction a failure. It’s easy to see why. After all, the auction didn’t end up taking place in Barcelona thanks to technical problems. Then when the auction took place online, only 5 domains sold. But for Oversee.net, this was anything but a failure. As I pointed out a month ago, the total sales from this auction could be Moniker’s best auction since ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Peter Dengate Thrush Discusses His New Role with Top Level Domain Holdings - Peter Dengate Thrush and Antony Van Couvering discuss future of TLDH. Yesterday former ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush announced he was joining Top Level Domain Holdings (parent company of Minds + Machines) as Executive Chairman. I just got off the phone with Dengate Thrush, who explained why he chose Top Level Domain Holdings. “It was a no brainer for me,” said Dengate Thrush about choosing to work with TLDH. He thinks TLDH is most equipped to face the next ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Holdings Grabs $2.9 Million Investment, Releases Improved Domain Builder - Domain name company lands outside investment and releases upgraded domain development platform. Domain name development company Domain Holdings has raised $2.9 million in funding. The company was founded by domainer Chad Folkening, who was later joined by Advertising.com co-founder John Ferber. The company also released a complete rewrite of its Rapid Domain Builder, now called DomainPower. It helps domain name owners create SEO friendly web sites. The $2.9 million ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Microsoft Adds More Domains to Sedo - Company adds typo, .co, and other domains up for sale. Microsoft has added more domain names for sale on domain name brokerage site Sedo. Abdu Tarabichi, who spotted the initial batch of Microsoft domains listed for sale, noticed that Microsoft added 18 domain names to its list of domains. These are only the domains it lists on its sales landing pages; it’s possible the company has more listed in its account. Newly added domains include the generic typo HighDefintitionVideo.com, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Samsung Buys Chaton.com and Other End User Sales This Week - Samsung among biggest names buying domain names on the secondary market this week. Afternic tallied over $650,000 in “announceable” domain sales over the past week. Here are some of the more interesting end user purchases: Samsung bought Chaton.com for $17,000. I’m a bit confused as to what this is for, but Google unveils some possibilities. EuroBuilding Hotels Group bought HotelEuro.com for $9,388. Online survey panelist company uSamp bought TheWhiteBoard.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Up Next, Trademark Applications for .Auto, .Tax, and .Food - More trademarks filed for new top level domain names. ICANN won’t consider top level domain-specific trademarks when new TLD applications are evaluated. The U.S. Patent and Trademark office won’t even grant them. But that’s not stopping people from paying a few hundred dollars per class to file trademark applications. The latest three come courtesy of the same guys who filed three applications for .store earlier this month. The applications are for .auto, .tax, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Those Zuccarini Domains on NameJet? They Sold for $302k in April. - Buyer in April auction turns to NameJet to sell domain names. So why are these John Zuccarini domain names suddenly showing up on NameJet? Whomever picked them up at auction in April is trying to make a quick flip. The auction on April 8 attracted three bidders. After 45 minutes, one bidder walked away with the entire lot of domain names for a grand total of $302,000 according to court records. One of the bidders was DS Holdings, LLC (which bought the a cybersquatting ... read more ...
Mon 18th July 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Buying “Off Market” Real Estate Like Buying Domain Names - Prospecting for off-market real estate is similar to prospecting for domain names. I’ve been looking to buy our build a new house and have noticed striking similarities to the process of buying domain names. The areas of town I’m interested in buying a lot have very little inventory. There are a few lot listings in the MLS, but most are “off market”. The process of inquiring about these off market lots is similar to buying a domain name: 1. The owner of the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Former ICANN Chairman Joins Minds + Machines - Peter Dengate Thrush joins publicly traded company poised to profit from new top level domain names. That was quick. Less than a month after pushing through a vote approving the new top level domain name program at his last meeting as ICANN Chairman, Peter Dengate Thrush has joined a company applying for new top level domain names. Dengate Thrush will join Top Level Domain Holdings (parent company of Minds + Machines) as Executive Chairman. His compensation package ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Court: Above.com May Be Responsible for Customers’ Domain Names - Judge sides with Verizon, settlement in doubt. A federal district judge has dealt a blow to Above.com in a lawsuit brought against it by Verizon. Chief United States District Judge Audrey Collins has denied Above.com’s motion to dismiss charges of contributory cybersquatting. Above.com and the other defendants have accepted responsibility for registering and monetizing typos of Verizon’s brand names, but argued they shouldn’t be responsible for domain names ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Baby Battle: Babies411.com Beats Baby411.com - Say that three times fast. The publishers of the Baby 411, Toddler 411, and Expecting 411 series of books have tried and failed to get the domain name Babies411.com through arbitration. Alan and Denise Fields d/b/a Windsor Peak Press have sold over 300,000 copies of their popular Baby 411 book and maintain a web site at Baby411.com. The book was originally published in 2003. In 2009 an Austin woman started a site at Babies411.com. Naturally, it was about baby ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
With Lock Up Period Ending, Demand Media Shares Hover during $11 - With one week to go, Demand Media shares hit fresh lows. Next week ends a 180 day lock up period in which many Demand Media option holders can finally sell their shares in the company. Unfortunately for them, shares are now trading at only $11. That’s well below its $17 opening price for its debut in January, when the share price promptly shot up to $23.50. The stock peaked at $27.38 before beginning its precipitous fall. That doesn’t mean you need to feel ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Google Buys G.Co - Google gets in on the one letter .co craze. .Co Internet has found a home for another one letter .co domain name: Google. The internet giant has purchased rights to g.co, joining an all-star cast of companies picking up one letter .co domains: Twitter: t.co Overstock: o.co Go Daddy: x.co Amazon.com: A.Co, Z.Co and K.Co Google plans to use g.co as a URL shortener. .Co Internet has received a lot of press around the big companies that have registered its one letter ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Owner Can Keep ChrisFarley.com (For Now) - Company that says it has rights to the Chris Farley name loses domain name dispute. A company claiming to own the intellectual property rights to the late comedian Chris Farley’s likeness has bombed in an effort to get the domain name ChrisFarley.com. Make Him Smile, Inc., claims that Chris Farley’s family granted it intellectual property rights to Chris Farley’s name upon his death. It filed a complaint with Nation Arbitration Forum to get the corresponding ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
900,000 .XXX Domain Names? You Make The Call. - How many .xxx domain names will be registered in the first year? ICM Registry says it has received nearly 900,000 “expressions of interest” for its .xxx top level domain name. It has also extended the sunrise period for trademark holders, apparently due to demand. Anyone could submit an expression of interest in a .xxx domain name and some of them are for the same domain name, so no one has paid the $70+ per domain for these yet. But that will soon change. It’s ... read more ...
Sun 17th July 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Arbitration for Twitter Typo Twiter.com Terminated, Then Refiled - Massive Twitter.com typo case terminated, then refiled. An arbitration case at World Intellectual Property forum over the domain name Twiter.com has been terminated, only for the company to file a second case. Cases are typically terminated when the domain owner agrees to hand the domain name over to the complainant. In this case it appears the case may have been terminated and then refiled after the domain name registrar disclosed the owner of the domain name. The ... read more ...
Fri 15th July 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Amazon May Be Working on MyHabit.com Apps - Company registers domain names for apps related to its new MyHabit.com store. Amazon.com’s new MyHabit store seems to be doing well since its launch a couple months ago based on how quickly some of its limited-time sales sell out. Now the company appears to be working on MyHabit apps for your iPhone and perhaps Android devices: The company just registered MyHabitApp.com, MyHabitforiPhone.com, and MyHabitMobileApp.com according to whois records. The company has ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Warner Bros Wants HappyFeet2.com Domain Name For Its Upcoming Sequel - Company files for arbitration to get domain name. Warner Bros is planning a sequel to its 2006 hit Happy Feet, and this time around it wants a good domain name for its movie web site. The company has filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum against the owner of the HappyFeet2.com domain name. Domain arbitration cases usually take 1-2 months, so they should have the domain name in time for the November theatrical release. The domain name was actually originally ... read more ...
Thu 14th July 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Minds+Machines and Right Of The Dot Hook Up - Two new TLD consulting companies enter into referral agreement. New top level domains consultancy and registry provider Minds+Machines has entered into a relationship with new TLD sales consulting group Right Of The Dot. Right Of The Dot was founded by Moniker founder Monte Cahn and Michael Berkens (of TheDomains.com) to help new TLD applicants make the best use of their premium second level domain names and sales to domain investors. There’s not a whole lot of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Demand Media Loses Another UDRP - Company hit with third UDRP loss of the year despite offer to transfer domain name at no charge. Demand Media has another UDRP loss, despite its best efforts to close the case without a decision. The case was filed by Universal American Corp for the domain name todaysoption.com. If you follow UDRP cases closely, this might look familiar. The complainant won a UDRP for the exact same domain name in 2009. But it managed to let the domain name expire after gaining control ... read more ...