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 22nd June 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Owner of .Com Domain Sues for .Co Domain Name - Real estate firm sues owner of .co. The owner of a .com domain name has filed a lawsuit (pdf) to get the .co version of their domain name. This is the first such .co federal anticybersquatting lawsuit I’m aware of (although there have been plenty of UDRPs and I don’t think a complainant has lost yet). Real estate company Sibcy Cline filed the in rem lawsuit against SibcyCline.co. The firm registered both SibcyCline.com and Sibcy.com way back in 1995. But someone ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Marchex Wins UDRP for Walkaway.com - Panel points out the perils of descriptive marks. Marchex has successfully defended a UDRP case brought against its domain name Walkaway.com with the help of domain name attorney John Berryhill. Complainant Walkaway Canada Incorporated is the company behind the Hyundai Assurance program. The program allowed new car buyers the opportunity to return their car and walk away from the loan in the event of a certain life event such as a job loss. It was offered during ... read more ...
 
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ICANN Says Its Employee Turnover Isn’t That Bad - HR Director says no problem with turnover at ICANN. Perhaps responding to questions about some high profile departures lately, ICANN Director of Human Resources Steve Antonoff just released an analysis (pdf) of turnover at the non-profit. His bottom line: turnover is less than the typical high tech company and has mostly to do with factors outside of ICANN. In the financial year ending June 2010 the company had 8.73% turnover with 10 departures. Antonoff compares ... read more ...
Tue 21st June 2011
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Esther Dyson Calls B.S. On New Top Level Domain Names - Founding chair of ICANN’s board says new TLDs are a waste of money. On the way into work this morning I heard yet another report about new top level domain names, this time on NPR. The report interviewed Esther Dyson. Among her many experiences was being the founding chairwoman of ICANN. So what did she have to say about new top level domain names? “I think it’s kind of a useless market,” she says, “and if I had $185,000, I’d spend it on something else.” … ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How Much is a .Eu Domain Worth? Find out on Sedo Today - Hundreds of .eu domains being auctioned at no reserve. About 400 .eu domain names are up for grabs on Sedo today, all at no reserve. The auctions end starting at 12 pm EDT. Some of the top keyword domains include Gin.eu, treasure.eu, soda.eu, junk.eu, razor.eu, sociology.eu, labor.eu, repair.eu, dermatology.eu, easter.eu, and horoscopes.eu. There are also many 3 and 4 letter domains. So far the auction looks more like a .ws auction than .eu given the prices — ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
My Picks for a Moniker Extended Auction Ending Wednesday - The good and the bad in auction ending tomorrow. The DOMAINfest Barcelona extended Moniker domain auction on SnapNames with nearly 500 domain names concludes Wednesday. Domains range in price from no reserve to nearly $6.5 million for WorkatHome.com. Intriguingly missing from the auction is Social.com, which received a $2.5 million bid during the live auction. Some of the notable low six figure domains include Invites.com, Frame.com, Skills.com, Dorms.com There are ... read more ...
 
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Sedo Has a Million Dollar Week with Two Six Figure Sales - A big domain sales week thanks to two six figure transactions. Sedo closed over a million dollars worth of domain transactions last week — in .com alone. The biggest sale was the closing of DataCenter.com, which Elliot wrote about a few weeks ago. In second place was Billionaire.com at $215,000, which Michael wrote about yesterday. Both domains’ whois records are protected by privacy services. The top ccTLD sale of the week was Finance.co at $45,000. It’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
$2.6 Million Social.com Sale Could Make Moniker Auction a Big One - Pending sale would give Moniker one of its biggest auctions ever. I’ve been tracking the potential sale of Social.com for a couple weeks now. The domain name was listed in Moniker’s live domain name auction for Barcelona (which actually ended up taking place online only last week). A legitimate $2.5 million dollar bid was placed in the auction, and sources tell me there may have been other interested parties. Then the domain was omitted from the extended auction ... read more ...
Mon 20th June 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domainers: Here’s What You Need to Do Now That New TLDs are Approved - It’s the morning after — what are you going to do? Monday morning local time in Singapore, ICANN’s board of directors approved a resolution that essentially sets in process a timeline for rolling out hundreds of new top level domain names. We’re still a good 18 months away from seeing the first new top level domains online, and that’s barring any heavy handed action by governments or lawsuits by trademark interests. But you can act now to take advantage ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Stock Market Doesn’t React to New TLD Approval - Shares of domain name companies hardly budge. In the grand scheme of things the introduction of new TLDs is trivial. But to domain name companies it’s a big deal. Apparently investors in some of the companies that may be affected either don’t understand it or had already priced approval into the stock prices. Shares of Top Level Domain Holding, a pure-play new TLD company, are down about 4% as of right now. Granted, the company had already told shareholders ... read more ...
 
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Disney Gets Lucky With Cars 2 Domain Name - Company picked up Cars2.com after it expired. I’ve written a number of articles recently about movie studios not aggressively pursuing domain names for their movies. But Disney’s Pixar does own Cars2.com as it prepares to launch the sequel to its hit Cars in theaters this week. Did Disney pay big bucks to acquire the domain name? Nope. It got it after it expired. The domain name was registered way back in 1998. A Virginia man owned the domain name until ... read more ...
 
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Coming Soon: a Web of a Haves and Have Nots - If .brand TLDs work, the incumbents will win. I don’t think opening the floodgates to new top level domain names will have a monumental impact on the web, especially for brands that want to register a .brand domain name. But let’s assume for a moment that it does. Let’s also assume that companies are able to leverage their .brand domain names in a way that gives them a competitive advantage; whether it be against cybersquatting, in search engines, or for marketing. That’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Monkey Says You Can’t Have This Domain Name - Company loses case for MonkeySays.com. A company that sells t-shirts and tote bags emblazoned with the saying “Monkey Says” has lost its attempt to grab the domain name MonkeySays.com through a UDRP case. Monkey-Says, LLC, which owns the domain names monkey-says.com and monkeysays.net tried to upgrade its domain with the help of National Arbitration Forum. But the one person panel denied it. The company clearly knew the owner of MonkeySays.com registered the ... read more ...
Sun 19th June 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
If ICANN Approves New TLDs, Applications Will Begin in January - New TLD application window slated to begin in January 2012. ICANN’s Board of Directors is about to vote on approving the new top level domain name program. One thing that’s clear is that, even if the program is approved, there’s still a lot of work to be done. The resolution being considered includes more discussions on registry-registrar separation, assistance to applicants that don’t have enough money, etc. If it approves the resolution, the timeline ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
ICANN Approves New TLD Program - ICANN board gives green light to new TLD program, but there’s still work to be done. ICANN’s Board of Directors has approved the new top level domain name program to a round of applause in Singapore Monday morning, although there’s a lot of work still to be done. The resolution approving the program provides for more discussion on various parts of the plan to roll out hundreds of new top level domain names. One of the big areas is registry-registrar cross ownership. The ... read more ...
Sat 18th June 2011
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LivingSocial Files Its First Domain Name Complaint - Daily deals company goes after Irish domain name. Groupon competitor LivingSocial has filed its first ever domain name arbitration complaint. But it’s not for a typo of its main LivingSocial.com domain name. Instead, the company is going after the Irish domain name LivingSocial.ie. The company started offering discounts for consumers in Ireland last fall using its main LivingSocial.com domain name. Perhaps LivingSocial is following the same tact as Groupon, ... read more ...
Fri 17th June 2011
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U.S. Antitrust: Halt Registrar-Registry Integration on Existing Top Level Domain Names - Department of Justice recommends disallowing integration on certain existing top level domain names. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has advised ICANN that it should halt its plans to allow some existing top level domain name registries to own registrars. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Lawrence Strickling had asked the Department of Justice to review ICANN’s decision to allow registry-registrar ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
A Quarter Million Hits One Day After Registering a Domain Name? - Is is possible to snag a quarter million hits the day after you register a domain name with no marketing budget? Is it possible to get a quarter million hits from type-ins and referrals the day after you register a domain name? The owner of canucksriot2011.com says that’s how much traffic he’s gotten, according to a report by The Tri-City News. The site posts pictures of people involved in the Vancouver riots after the Canucks hockey team lost to Boston this week ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Says “Get Online, America” - Google registers 100+ domain names related to getting more people online. UPDATE: Here’s what Google is up to. It looks like Google is working on a new campaign to help get more Americans online. Over the past week the company has registered over 100 domain names including various state names and variations of “Get Online”. The domains follow these patterns: AlaskaGetOnline.com GetAlaskaOnline.com GetOnlineAlaska.com The domains seem to cover all 50 states. This ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Three Executives Leave Oversee.net in Realignment - Company changes up ranks at the top. Domain Name Wire has confirmed with Oversee.net spokesperson Mason Cole that four three executives have left Oversee.net as part of a realignment of the company. Jeff Kupietzky is still CEO of the company. Cole declined to comment about whether additional changes were in the works and would not comment on which executives left the company. The executive changes were first reported by Domain Name News this afternoon. Oversee.net ... read more ...
Thu 16th June 2011
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Could Google Be Getting Into a SSL Certificate Business? - Company could dominate by offering in-search seals. Earlier this week Google registered the domain name GoogleCert.com. The company could have many uses for this domain name, but one possibility is SSL certificates. This got me thinking — Google is the perfect player to capitalize on SSL certificates as well as various “trust” seals, which could help the company monetize its organic listings. There’s no shortage of companies offering SSL certificates and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
My Favorite Domain Blogs For… - A few of my favorite blogs and what I learn from them. I read a number of domain blogs and get a different thing out of each one. Here are a few and the value they deliver to me. DomainIncite primarily for policy news and information. Kevin Murphy is a journalist who knows ICANN and internet policy inside and out. When it comes to new gTLDs and the ongoing battle over internet governance, Kevin definitely has you covered. Elliot’s Blog for practical tips for ... read more ...
 
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Go Daddy Wants To Challenge Amazon and RackSpace in a Cloud - Web host and registrar to offer extensive cloud services. GoDaddy is rolling out a new cloud based served called Data Center on Demand, reports GigaOm. The service is squarely aimed at on demand services such as Amazon’s EC2. However, it will be sold more like hosting packages with various tiers of service rather than charging based on hourly use (a la Amazon). Go Daddy is also up front about users needing to have strong technical skills; this isn’t geared to ... read more ...
 
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BMW Files Cybersquatting Lawsuit - Company files federal court case over BMWrewards.com BMW has filed a lawsuit against Illinois company Prime Market Targeting, Inc. and Scott Duff for trademark infringement, false designation of origin, cybersquatting, and unfair competition over the domain name BMWREwards.com. The automaker is asking for the domain name, attorneys fees, $100,000 per anti-cybersquatting rules, and for the defendants to refrain from infringing on the company’s mark in the future. This ... read more ...
Wed 15th June 2011
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Rock Band Queen Lays Claim to WeWillRockYou.com Domain Name - Group wants to get the WeWillRockYou.com domain name. The rock group Queen has filed a case against the owner of WeWillRockYou.com at World Intellectual Property forum, asking an arbitration panel to hand the domain name over. We Will Rock You is one of Queen’s greatest hits. Combined with We Are the Champions, Queen still gets plenty of play time at sports arenas around the world. The song later became the name of a musical that still tours the globe to packed ... read more ...