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 6th July 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
WhyPark Continues to Diversify Revenue Streams with 2 New Apps - Company adds new apps to system including one that pays on a cost-per-action basis. Domain name content system WhyPark has released two new Domain Apps, one designed to boost traffic and the other to boost traffic while generating non-PPC revenue. The Photo Gallery Domain App displays photo galleries on your WhyPark sites based on a keyword. The Publications Domain App lets you offer visitors free publications including white papers, free magazine subscriptions, case ... read more ...
 
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Company Behind Diapers.com and Soap.com Launches Wag.com - Another category-generic domain name site from Quidsi. Amazon.com-owned Quidsi, which has a habit of launching category stores on category specific generic domain names, has launched a pet store at Wag.com. Over the past few days I’ve been trying to figure out what Amazon was up to as it registered dozens of domain names related to pets that included “Wag” in the name. My guess was a new Amazon-branded product line, but I didn’t think to check the whois record ... read more ...
 
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Only $750k To Raise Awareness of New TLDs? Seriously? - Raising awareness about new TLDs on a microscopic budget. If you’re about to usher in what Peter Dengate Thrush calls “the biggest change I think we have seen on the Internet”, how much would you spend to raise awareness of a limited application window to take advantage of that change? Let’s also say applicants have to pay $185,000 and you expect $100 million in application fees. Surely you’d plan to spend a good chunk of change on advertising. Or not. As ... read more ...
 
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DNForum Now Easier to Access on a Road - Forum releases mobile apps for quicker and better access away from the desktop. Earlier this week DNForum released apps for iPhone and iPad devices. A couple weeks ago it released an app for Android users. The app makes it easier to read and respond to posts and check personal messages from your mobile device. Apps for all platforms are priced around $5. Screenshots of the app from the Android market show that it is based on a mobile version of forum software vBulletin. Although ... read more ...
 
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French Company Wants to Cancel Adwords Trademark, Hit with UDRP - French company files to cancel one of Google’s trademarks, gets hit with UDRP over .mobi domain name. Google has filed a UDRP against the owner of a French trademark for “adwords” over his domain name ad-words.mobi. The domain owner, Francotel, LLC, has a French trademark for “adwords”, but Google has some as well. Francotel has also filed for cancellation of Google’s European Union trademark for “Adwords”, although it appears the company has filed ... read more ...
 
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VeriSign Releases Domain Traffic Treasure Trove to a Public - VeriSign has released VERISIGN® DomainScoreâ„¢ to the public. The beta tool allows anyone to enter an unregistered domain name and get an idea of how much traffic the domain gets. DomainScore uses NXD data — basically visit requests to non existent domain names — to calculate a score ranging from 1-10. The higher the score the higher the traffic to the domain. The score is for the last full week, the last 30 days, and last 60 days. Based on my experience ... read more ...
Tue 5th July 2011
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In Case You Missed It, Friday Was Not a Slow News Day in a Domain Industry - Biggest domain name company transaction ever announced just before the U.S. holiday. The Friday before a holiday weekend is usually a slow news day. But I heard some whispers Friday that Go Daddy was going to make a big announcement, hence my tweet around noon. Indeed, a few hours later Go Daddy announced that it took an investment from KKR, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures. I talked with GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons Friday evening. Since most of my ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top Domain Name Wire News Stories of Jun 2011 - Top stories from the domain name world last month. I’m running a little behind with the holiday weekend. Here’s a look back at the past month in the domain industry. These were the top 5 stories on Domain Name Wire based on views. Go Daddy To Sell .XXX Domain Names – ICM Registry got a big win when GoDaddy agreed to sell its .xxx domain names. Warner Bros Registers Hangover 3 Domain Names – because you can never have enough bachelor parties. Breaking: Salesforce.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Nominet Considers 1 Year .UK Registrations - Registry for UK domain names considering variable registration periods. Nominet is considering offering .uk domain names for periods other than two years, including shorter one year registrations. According to the registry, around 90% of domain name registrations in major top level domain names are for only one year. The group proposes several options, including one that would not offer one year registrations but would add five and ten year options to the mix. In ... read more ...
 
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Lead Gen Company Reply! Sued for Trademark Infringement - Air conditioning company sues over Adwords search terms and logo use. Online lead generation company Reply! Inc has been sued by air conditioning company Carrier for alleged trademark infringement (pdf). Reply generates and sells leads to various businesses, including air conditioning contractors. It buys ads on Google and other search engines, including for the term “Carrier”: When users click on the Adwords ad, they land at a page with the Carrier logo offering ... read more ...
 
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More TLD Trademarks: .Law, .Kom, .Tom, .Construction, .Hub - The “ticking time bomb” in new TLDs continues with no work from ICANN. New top level domain name trademark “frontrunning” continues as 9 more trademarks have been filed related to new TLDs. USM CHINA/HONG KONG LTD filed applications for .Hub, .Tom, Kom, and .Kom. The Kom trademark applications are troubling given VeriSign’s plans to apply for transliterations of .com. And .Tom? Sounds a lot like .com. Thomas A Brackey of Beverly Hills filed three separate ... read more ...
 
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Domain Names End Users Bought This Week - 8 examples of end users buying generic domains for their businesses. As I did with last week’s sales report, I’m taking a look at some of Afternic’s sales to end users for the week. Laser Spine Institute bought GoodbyeBackPain.com for $2,880. Goodbye back pain, but also a “good buy”. JS Tour and Travel, which specializes in tours to the Caribbean, Hawaii and Mexico bought cancunfishing.com for $2,588. Andover, Massachusetts jewelry and watch store Royal ... read more ...
Fri 1st July 2011
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Sedo Ups Commission Rates - Typical sales will see a 5% fee increase. Sedo has increased its commission rate on most transactions occurring directly on its site. The typical sale on Sedo.com will now carry a 15% commission, up from 10%. The commission is still 10% if the domain is parked at Sedo and it is sells through a fixed price. Sales on Sedo’s MLS system carry a 20% fee. These commissions seem directly in line with Sedo’s biggest competitor, Afternic, with a couple differences. Afternic’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DirecTV Wins First Ever .So Domain Arbitration - DirecTV wins Directv.so. .So what? DirecTV has won what may be the first ever .so domain name arbitration case. The case over DirecTV.so was filed with World Intellectual Property Forum by Fairwinds Partners, the group behind Coalition for Domain Name Abuse. I’m not sure winning this domain name was worth the filing fee. .So “commercialized” itself earlier this year to little fanfare. TheDomains reported that traditionally great keyword domains like books.so ... read more ...
 
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Breaking: Go Daddy Takes Investment from KKR, Silver Lake, and TCV - Go Daddy takes investment but doesn’t sell out. Read my interview with Bob Parsons about the sale here. Bob Parsons didn’t end up selling the company after all. But Go Daddy just announced it has entered into a partnership with KKR, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures in which the three will make an investment in the company. There had been rumors that KKR and Silver Lake were in talks to acquire the company for over $2 billion. It’s interesting that ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bob Parsons Explains Go Daddy – KKR Deal to Domain Name Wire - Investment makes 36 millionaires, will help company expand overseas and acquire complementary businesses. I just got off the phone with GoDaddy.com founder Bob Parsons, who explained the deal his company just struck with KKR, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Contrary to reports in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, this was not an outright acquisition. Parsons remains the single largest shareholder in the company in what he terms a “partnership”. Before ... read more ...
Thu 30th June 2011
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It’s Time for a National Discussion on Sales Tax - Amazon cans its California affiliates. California loses, affiliates lose. It’s time for a bigger discussion. Yesterday a couple California readers forwarded a message from Amazon.com saying that, should their governor sign in to law a new so-called “affiliate tax”, their participation in the Amazon Associated program would be terminated. Hours later they received a message saying the bill was signed and they’ve been kicked out of the program. I’ve written ... read more ...
 
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Amazon: Kindle Beats Nook - Amazon registers domain name flouting recent Consumer Reports rankings. Earlier this month Consumer Reports released updated eBook reader ratings, declaring “Nook beats Kindle“. That certainly didn’t go well with Jeff Bezos. So the company just registered the domain name KindleBeatsNook.com. When it comes to domain names, perhaps Consumer Reports should give Amazon a higher rating than Barnes Noble. After all, no one (yet) has registered NookBeatsKindle.com. ... read more ...
 
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Lazy Panelist Alert: This Should Have Been Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - WIPO panelist doesn’t bother to consider a sure-fire reverse domain name hijacking claim. I realize UDRP panelists aren’t paid much to handle cases, but there must be a minimum standard here. Why the frustration? Take a look at the recently decided case for Cite.com. The owner of the domain name registered it in 1997 and started a business called Cité Consulting. The complainant Systemware, Inc. didn’t start using the term “CITE” in commerce until 2011. ... read more ...
 
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Finally a Good UDRP Finds Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - Australian company uses UDRP in bad faith. I’m kind of upset lately over panels not finding reverse domain name hijacking, so let me applaud the three person panel in a case over Futuris.com. The panel found Australia-based Futuris Automotive Interiors guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. Even more shocking: Andrew Christie was a member of the panel. Futuris Automotive Interiors certainly has trademarks for Futuris, but for the automotive industry. The issue ... read more ...
 
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Domaining.com’s CAX.com to Start Rewarding Bidders - Early bidders will earn cash back. Francois Carrillo, the guy behind Domaining.com, is getting ready to launch a new cash back program for bidding on his CAX.com domain marketplace. The program will reward both the initial bidder in an auction and the second highest bidder with 2% of the sales price. For example, if you are the first bidder and three people bid in an auction but you don’t win, you’ll get 2% of the sales price. If you’re the first bidder in an ... read more ...
Wed 29th June 2011
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Domainers Will Love This UDRP Decision - Panelist respects the limited scope of UDRP. The UDRP, a quick and inexpensive dispute resolution policy for cybersquatting, is limited in scope. But over time some panelists have tried to make it more of a court, bending the lines to find in favor of complainants even when it’s not a clear-cut case of cybersquatting. Which is why I find William R. Towns’ decision in a recent case so refreshing. Ticket Software LLC, which operates a site at TicketNetwork.com, ... read more ...
 
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Neustar Offers $10k a Year .Brand Domain Names - A dormant .brand domain for $10,000 a year (plus ICANN fees). Domain name registry Neustar has created a new package for companies wishing to get their own .brand top level domain names. Called the “Brand Assurance Package” (pdf), it’s a bare bones solution that seems to be geared to companies that may want to get a .brand but have no idea if they’ll ever do anything with it. For $10,000 a year, Neustar guarantees companies will “meet ICANN specifications ... read more ...
 
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Short Application Period Spurs Artificial Demand for .Brand TLDs - Three month window means lots of companies will apply for .brand under pressure. It may have been Google that made in mainstream. It’s the idea of a closed beta. Remember clamoring for a Gmail invite? Or perhaps begging for an invite to Google Wave, which you had no idea what the heck it was? Now Google+? A similar thing is going on with new top level domain names, especially for .brand domain names. But this time it’s time based, like saying if you don’t ... read more ...
 
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Owner of Somedia.com Forced to Spend Thousands Defending Domain Name - UDRP was a waste of time and money. Here’s another example of a UDRP case that should have never been filed. A social media marketing firm that apparently just came into existence (or at least started using its brand) in 2010 filed a case against the owner of a domain registered in 2001. Somedia Solutions, Inc., represented by Kurt D. Olender of OlenderFeldman LLP, filed the case against the owner of Somedia.com. The complainant uses the domain name SomediaSolutions.com. ... read more ...