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.

Thu 31st March 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Short and Number-Only .Tel Domain Landrush Timeline Announced - Short and numeric .tel domain names coming this summer. Starting June 1 you’ll be able to get your hands on two character and all number .tel domain names. The domain names will be available on a first-come first-served basis, but at premium pricing during the “landrush” period from June 1 to June 14. .Tel registry Telnic says this is an opportunity for four types of registrants: 1. Companies with 2-letter or all-numeric brands or trademarks 2. Vanity number ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
PETA Plays Into Bob Parson’s Hands Over Elephant Hunting - PETA is closing its Go Daddy account over elephant hunting incident. Poor Bob Parsons. The Go Daddy founder is about to lose a few hundred domain name registrations from its client People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). I’m sure he’s just shaking in his boots. The group is enraged about an elephant hunting video he took in Zimbabwe. The video caught attention after being posted at online petition site Change.org. Nevermind that Parsons posted a similar ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Registries Blast ICANN Over .Jobs Breach Notice - Registries ask for prior communications prior to sending a breach or termination notice. Last month ICANN sent a breach notice to .jobs registry Employ Media. This came as a surprise to Employ Media (for good reason) and probably freaked out some .jobs registrants as well. Employ Media complained that ICANN “publicly defamed” it. Now the Registries Stakeholder Group is asking ICANN to take a different approach going forward. The group sent a statement (pdf) ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Is Cybersquatting Up or Just Enforcement of Cybersquatting? - WIPO’s headline is misleading. Today World Intellectual Property Forum (WIPO) did its annual release of how many UDRP cases it handled last year. It was a record 2,696 cases. That’s a lot of cases, and National Arbitration Forum also saw an increase in cases this year. But I take issue with WIPO’s headline: Cybersquatting Hits Record Level A more accurate headline would be Cybersquatting Enforcement Hits Record Level. It reminds me of when the border patrol ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
PETA Moves Domains from Go Daddy to Register.com - Animal rights group moves domain names to competitor. Making good on its promise, PETA has moved its domains (well at least peta.org) away from Go Daddy. The domain name is now registered at Register.com. This whole elephant shooting video is obviously a hotly debated subject. Some are arguing this is a different type of controversy than Go Daddy’s commercials. I’m not so sure, and we’ll see how this plays out. But I’m reminded of Bob Parsons’ keynote ... read more ...
Wed 30th March 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
From A.com to Z.com, Single Letter .Com Domains Have Been Gamed during a Trademark Office - The incredible game of duping the USPTO to get single letter .com trademarks. Did you know Amazon.com has a registered trademark for A.com? It’s true. A company filed for a trademark on A.com back in 2005, and submitted evidence of its use in commerce by showing a screenshot of a-dotcom.com. The company later assigned the trademark to Amazon.com. This got me thinking — how many other companies have registered for single letter .com with the U.S. Patent and Trademark ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top10.co Explains Its Choice of .Co for New Web Site - Company that made a big .com domain purchase in 2010 launches a new product on .co in 2011. Top10.com Media Ltd is no stranger to domain names. Last year the company forked over $1 million in cash and equity for the domain name Top10.com, which it uses for his communications service comparison engine. When the company decided to launch a list creation and sharing site it chose the domain name Top10.co. I reached out to co-founder Tom Leathes to find out more about ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
AutoInsurance.org Web Site Sells for $440,000 - Auto insurance web site and domain name sells for $440,000. 360 Quote LLC has purchased AutoInsurance.org (the domain name and web site) for $440,000. 360 Quote LLC is run by Joel Ohman, who also runs the DomainSuperstar site. The company has a number of lead generation web sites. The deal was brokered by Media Options‘ Andrew Rosener. AutoInsurance.org has an interesting traffic history according to Compete.com. Unique visitors in recent months have been ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
30 Rock Makes Fun of Slurls Domain Names - Show makes fun of domains that sound different than they really are. We’ve all seen domain names that have double meanings. Some people call them Slurls, and there are enough to fill a book. Think TherapistFinder.com and FredsHatBlocks.com. I was catching up on 30 Rock tonight and was amused that the sitcom made fun of this. The March 17 episode is a spoof of a reality show for Tracy Jordan’s wife. Jenna Maroney takes advantage of the cameras to try to promote ... read more ...
Tue 29th March 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sylvan Learning Sues Franchisee Gripe Site - Company says former franchisee created site to defame it. Tutoring and SAT test prep franchisor Sylvan Learning has sued the domain name SylvanFranchiseIssues.com for violating the anti-cybersquatting act. The company alleges (pdf) the site was set up by a former franchisee in which it is involved in litigation. Finding the alleged owner of the site was no small feat. The suit details Sylvan Learning’s attempts to track down the owner, starting with an inquiry ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Three More Ways to Cash in On New Top Level Domains - Three user-submitted ways to make money from new top level domain names. Yesterday I provided twelve examples of ways you can make money from the launch of new top level domain names. I received some comments with additional ideas and want to share them. 1. Michael Berkens noted that you can invest in some of the publicly traded companies that will profit from new TLDs. He mentioned Neustar and VeriSign (both are registries), Demand Media (owns domain registrar ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New TLD Watch: .Now - Company files to protect .Now. A Denmark company has filed two trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark office for a .now top level domain name. A company called Global Top Level Aps filed applications for .Now and DOTNOW on March 24. It also filed for European Community protection last December. Global Top Level Aps is not the first applicant for a .now service mark, although previous applicants didn’t have top level domain names in mind. St. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Court Awards DigiMedia $100,000 for Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - Domain investor and developer scores penalty against company that attempted reverse domain name hijacking. A judge has awarded Scott Day’s DigiMedia.com LP $103,717.66 stemming from a finding of reverse domain name hijacking against GoForIt Entertainment (pdf). GoForIt made an interesting claim against DigiMedia back in 2006. It filed a cyberpiracy lawsuit over a number of domain names, ranging from WebDesign.com to Recipes.com to Org.com. GoForIt’s argument? ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
[Updated] Latonas.com Throws In Towel, No Reserve Rick Latona Auction on Sedo - Last minute auction has a bunch of good domains with no reserve. [Update: Rick Latona has just blogged, saying he’s throwing in the towel on Latonas.com auction platform.] Sedo has just started a seven day auction of domain names owned by Rick Latona. All domains are listed at no reserve. Some of the great domains in this auction include: ISU.com KansasCity.net DayTraders.net Destin.net iNotebook.com HeavyweightBoxer.com iStockBrokers.com ISU.com is already up ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Court to Auction John Zuccarini Domain Names Apr 8 - @Josh Mr. Zuccarini accepted a plea deal in that criminal prosecution, which is not related to the civil judgment in the Office Depot case resulting in this auction. Mr. Zuccarini served his time for that conviction. There are specific laws about guns, so “argument by analogy” when it comes to ongoing restrictions is not the point in relation to these domain names. You can be convicted of hitting someone with a hammer, serve your time, and you are not forever barred from owning ... read more ...
Mon 28th March 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
12 Ways to Get Rich in a New TLD Gold Rush (Part 1) - Get your creative juices going. A lot of people in the domain name industry are opposed to new top level domain names. But their eventual approval is inevitable. Rather than focusing on what’s wrong with a massive introduction of new top level domain names, it’s time to switch gears and figure out how you can profit from it. This is the first of a two part series of ways you can profit from the introduction of new top level domain names. It’s certainly not ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sorry, You Can’t Boycott a Top Level Domain Name - Some adult operators want to boycott .xxx. Yeah, good luck with that. I understand why some adult web site owners are upset about .xxx. But trying to boycott the new top level domain name is a ridiculous idea. Before its rally at the ICANN meeting in San Francisco the Free Speech Coalition said it would try to organize a boycott should .xxx pass. At the time I wrote: If .xxx gets the green light anyway, Free Speech Coalition is calling for a boycott of .xxx. That ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
How to Get Rich in a New TLD Gold Rush (Part Two) - Six more ways to profit form new top level domain names. This is the second in a two part post about ways you can make money from new top level domain names. See part one here. 7. Become a trademark lawyer Startup Cost: Expensive OK, this is really only an opportunity for existing intellectual property lawyers. If you play in the space you might want to hold your hat out as a domain name lawyer specializing in trademark protection. There will be plenty of business ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Domain Parking Revenue Down, Sales Up - Domain parking and brokerage company reports mixed results. Last week I reported on Sedo Holding’s revenue drop in 2010 thanks to losing a keep affiliate client. The company’s full annual report (large pdf) fills in the details on its domain business. -Sales were down from 46.6 EUR in 2009 to EUR 43.1M in 2010 -Domain parking was down 11.5% compared to 2009 -Domain sales increased by 12.1% -Registered members increased by 20% to 1.2 million -Number of domains ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
EzineArticles.com Traffic Dropped 10% to 35% Thanks to Google Changes - User-submitted content site takes a big search engine hit but is still a behemoth. EzineArticles.com definitely lost traffic after Google’s recent algorithm change to go after low quality content. But today the company quantified it. In a blog post today strangely titled “Some Niches Seeing Increased Traffic“, the company reported a 10%-35% drop in traffic since the changes. It’s a wide range, but I suspect it’s fluctuating. The site is apparently seeing ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Shield.com Sells for $190,000 - Domain broker handles six figure sale with Austin company. An Austin company has sold the domain name Shield.com through domain name broker Sedo for $190,000. The previous whois record for Shield.com shows a north Austin address that appears to be registered to a web hosting or web design company. An earlier whois record from DomainTools shows that the domain was registered to Shield Networks, and Austin communications company. The domain name was originally registered ... read more ...
Sun 27th March 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Norwest-Backed Startup Buys BlueJeans.com for $150,000 - Blue Jeans Network pays six figures for ideal domain name. Last week I wrote about how a startup with $41M in backing from venture capital heavyweights Sequoia and Bain Capital bought Color.com for $350,000. Now comes news from old school domain investor Garry Chernoff of a similar purchase by a VC-backed startup. Chernoff sold BlueJeans.com to Blue Jeans Network for $150,000. The company provides cloud-based communications services and is backed by Norwest Venture ... read more ...
Fri 25th March 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DOMAINfest Goes to Barcelona - Show returns to home of first ever DOMAINfest. DomainSponsor’s DOMAINfest conference has announced dates for its June conference in Barcelona, the site of the first ever DOMAINfest conference back in 2006. The event will take place June 7-9, 2011 at the Pullman Barcelona Skipper hotel in Barcelona, Spain. The agenda looks similar to last year’s event in Prague. The first day will include several presentations and a Moniker auction while the second day will be ... read more ...
Thu 24th March 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Octane360 Domain Monetization Review (One Year Later) - An update to my review of geo domain monetization solution. It’s been over a year since I provided early results from monetizing domain names on Octane360. I titled my review “Octane360 Takes Domain Monetization Beyond PPC“. Although I’m still happy with my results on Octane360, a lot of things have changed since my original review — including the “beyond PPC”. As it turns out, over half of my revenue on the system is coming from PPC now. The big ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sequoia and Bain Capital-Backed Startup Was $350,000 Color.com Buyer - Startup with big funding bought Color.com for $350,000 in December. In December I wrote about a GoDaddy-brokered sale of Color.com for $350,000. We now know the buyer — a hot photo sharing startup with $41 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank before it even launched. Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch describes it as a location-based twitter for photos. Here’s one scenario he describes: Say you walk into a restaurant with twenty ... read more ...