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 24th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
ICANN Slashes Meeting Sponsorship Prices Up to 50% - Non-profit reverses course and lowers price to sponsor meetings. Currying favor with the ICANN crowd just got a lot cheaper. Well, at least compared to last week. In advance of its meeting in San Francisco next month, ICANN doubled the cost of many of its sponsorship packages. It also added a new level at $500,000. But now it’s pulling a Wal-Mart and rolling back prices. The non-profit announced tonight that it is reducing the costs on lower level packages ... read more ...
Wed 23rd February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Survey: DOMAINfest Best Domain Industry Conference - DOMAINfest takes top honors again. DOMAINfest is the best domain name conference, according to survey respondents in the Sixth Annual Domain Name Wire Survey. 42% of those that have attended a domain conference said DOMAINfest is best. 39% said TRAFFIC was best. Of the people who answered this question, more had attended a TRAFFIC conference than DOMAINfest. 67% of those that have attended a DOMAINfest show say it’s the best conference and 50% of those who have ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sex.com Investors Settle Their Differences - Investor in sex.com domain name’s former owner drops objection. After a deal was struck to sell Sex.com for $13 million last fall, investor Nuthin’ But Net filed a motion to set aside some of the proceeds because it disputed who should get them. Nuthin’ But Net accused investor Mike Mann of “self-dealing”. I estimate that about $2 million of the sale proceeds were set aside. But after some back-and-forth, it appears that the parties have come to an agreement. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
7S.com Owner Can Keep Domain Name Despite Andrew Christie’s Opinion - Activist UDRP panelist at it again in 7s.com case. If you ever need to point a finger at UDRP panelists that are trying to pervert the entire system, one of those should be Andrew Christie. I awarded Christie a “Domain Dunce” award in 2009 for his attempts to change the plain language and thousands of cases of precedent of UDRP. He did it by circularly referencing his own cases. Now Christie is at it again in the case of 7s.com. The owner of the domain name ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Cricket Mobile Phone Company Sues to Get Cricket.com Domain Name - Large wireless company sues in effort to get Cricket.com domain name. Cricket Communications filed a lawsuit on Friday in U.S. District Court – Southern District of California in an effort to get the domain name Cricket.com (pdf). Cricket uses MyCricket.com as its primary domain name. Cricket Communications filed a UDRP case against domain name owner Global Cricket Ventures in December. Cricket Communications decided to file the lawsuit after Global Cricket Ventures ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domain Investor Buys $280 Charity Cookie - Domain name cookie sells for $280. Domain name investor Justin Godfrey of DIS Inc./MiniSite.com was the winning bidder in the eBay auction for the Tucows/Open SRS commemorative cookie. Last April I bought the cookie — which was made to commemorate Tucows hitting the 10 million domains milestone — in another charity auction. But it was time to turn the cookie into more money for charity, so I put it back up on eBay last week. Bidding quickly escalated and the price ... read more ...
Tue 22nd February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Root Orange Releases New Geo Targeting Service - Service enables web sites to target content based on visitor’s location. Root Orange, which launched a geo-splitting domain name service a year ago, announced a private beta for a new geo-splitting technology today. GeoSkipper makes it easier for web site owners to target messaging, pricing, and other content based on the visitor’s location. One of GeoSkipper’s first clients is Chicago.com. Chicago.com will use the service to display a real estate search box ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Policies Are Biggest Issue Facing Domain Industry in 2011 - ICANN policy decisions cast cloud over domain name industry. A non-scientific survey of over 1,500 people in the domain name industry suggests that ICANN policy decisions represent the biggest issue facing their businesses in 2011. 30% of survey respondents cited ICANN decisions such as those affecting new TLDs and IDNs as the biggest issue facing the industry in 2011. The question was asked as part of the Sixth Annual Domain Name Wire Survey. Domain investors are ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Survey: Schwartz and Parsons Have Most Influence on Domain Name Industry - Survey says Rick Schwartz has most influence on domain name industry. Each year on the Domain Name Wire annual survey I ask an open ended question: Which person has the most influence on the domain industry? This is a fill-in-the-blank question, which means fewer people answer the question. But they have to give it some thought, too. This year Rick Schwartz received the most responses with 62. A lot of domain investors also believe Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons exerts ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Hedge Fund Investor and Forex.com Owner Wins Domain Name Dispute - Man behind Forex.com and ForeignExchange.com successfully defends domain name challenge. It’s not often that you see two heavyweights battling it out in a UDRP proceeding. But a recently decided case for ScoutInvestments.com involved a $1.65 billion financial services firm against a successful investor and entrepreneur. UMB Financial Corporation of Kansas City has a number of trademark registrations for “Scout” related to investment services. It brought the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Auction for World’s Most Expensive Sugar Cookie Ends Wednesday - Charity auction with a domain name twist ends on Wednesday. It’s rare. It’s valuable. It’s truly a sugar cookie like none other. A charity auction for a cookie commemorating Tucows/OpenSRS 10 million domains milestone ends Wednesday. At the time I’m writing the auction has been viewed 777 times and is up to $260. Just how rare is this cookie? Only 180 were produced. According to OpenSRS‘ Ben Lucier, there are perhaps only 15 of these cookies still in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Pac12.com Owner Sues Pac-10 Conference Over Domain Name - Lawsuit filed over Pac12.com domain name. The owner of the Pac12.com domain name has sued the Pacific-10 collegiate athletic conference in an effort to keep his domain name. Austin Linford filed the suit (pdf) after the PAC-10 filed a UDRP complaint (pdf) with World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain name Pac12.com. Linford is asking for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement. Although it originally appeared that the domain name changed hands ... read more ...
Mon 21st February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Here Come a .Brand Top Level Domain Names - .Brand domain names are on their way, but how they’re used is still an open question. One of the specific uses of new top level domain names that has always confused me is the .brand domain name, such as .nike. I’ve often asked how someone would actually visit .nike and received very loose answers. So when I saw that CentralNic launched a new service called DotBrand Solutions, I jumped on the opportunity to talk to CEO Ben Crawford. So just how will people visit ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Whisper.me Sells for $17,500 - Another .me domain name sells for big bucks. Go Daddy Auctions has handled the sale of Whisper.me for $17,5000. I must admit that I continue to be taken aback by sales of .me domain names. Sure, some of them are catchy. But whisper.me doesn’t have the same ring as love.me or call.me. And even if with the cuteness factor, some of the prices paid for these has just caught me by surprise. Surely the ones that don’t take advantage of the play on ‘.me’ will see ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Rules Proposed for Expired Domain Names - Recommendations would make existing best practices of major domain name registrars a requirement. The Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) Policy Development Process Working Group has made 14 recommendations for the handling of expired domain names. The recommendations are part of the group’s proposed final report and may be used as part of the Policy Development Process. Among the recommendations: requiring domain name registrars to change the DNS on an ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The Moody Blues Fight for MoodyBlues.com - Aging rock group wants .com equivalent of existing domain name. English rock group The Moody Blues have asked a World Intellectual Property Forum panel to give it the domain name MoodyBlues.com. The group’s official web site is MoodyBlues.co.uk. It has sold over 70 million albums worldwide since forming in the 1960s. Some of the aging group’s more popular songs are Nights in White Satin and Ride my See-Saw. MoodyBlues.com was registered way back in 1999, which ... read more ...
Sat 19th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Major Domain Parking Shift? NameDrive Adding Site Links and Site Reviews. - Google to start syndicating more ad data to parking companies. In one what could prove to be a major move for Google Adsense for Domains partners, NameDrive will begin showing site links and site reviews with some of its parked page links. These options have already been offered to Google Adwords advertisers on Google.com for a while. Here’s an example of an ad including additional “site links”: And an example that includes a site review: You’ve probably ... read more ...
Fri 18th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Zuccarini Files Another Lawsuit, This Time Adding ICANN to a List - Zuccarini sues three companies for negligence. John Zuccarini has filed another lawsuit (pdf) stemming from the sale of 14 domain names on NameJet. In this case he counts Network Solutions, NameJet, and now ICANN as defendants. Zuccarini owes the IRS and creditors $550,000, some of which involves a cybersquatting judgment against him. A court-appointed receiver was holding some of his domain names to satisfy these debts, but he accidentally let some of them expire. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Will New TLDs Get Approved Apr 21? - Next opportunity for Board approval comes in April. We now know that ICANN’s Board will not vote on approving the new top level domain name applicant guidebook at its March meeting in San Francisco. But will the delay be just one month? ICANN’s Board of Directors will meet again on April 21 for a “Special Meeting of the ICANN Board of Directors”. Given that ICANN will have its bylaws-defined consultation with the Governmental Advisory Committee during its ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
LionsDen.com Owner Wins Domain Dispute - WIPO panel rules in favor of domain name owner. The owner of LionsDen.com since 1995 can keep his domain name, a World Intellectual Property Organization UDRP panel has decided. Mile, Inc., which owns The Lion’s Den retail brand of adult entertainment products, filed the complaint arguing that the domain name infringed on its rights. The company faced an uphill battle since the domain name is generic and was registered some 15 years before it filed the complaint. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Is Bit.ly Toast if Libya Shuts Down a Internet? - It’s possible. One of my tweeps just sent me a link to an article questioning what would happen to .ly domain names if Libya decided to “shut down” the internet. It’s a very good question. One of the most popular URL shortening services, bit.ly, uses Libya’s .ly domain name. We can rewind a bit and note that this isn’t the first time this question has been asked, and look at what happened in Egypt for the answer. First things first, it doesn’t take ... read more ...
Thu 17th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Nixes Jordan Meeting - Jordan meeting will be moved over security concerns. On Tuesday I wrote about how ICANN was heading to another hot spot in June for a meeting in Jordan. Now comes word via DomainIncite that ICANN is going to switch locations. Kevin Murphy reports that ICANN vice president of policy development support David Olive sent an email to members of the Generic Names Supporting Organization earlier today informing them of the change to an as-yet-unnamed location. Jordan is ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bidding Picks Up during Moniker Extended Auction - Moniker auction picks up steam and other domain name auction updates. Bidding has started to pick up at Moniker’s extended auction. The auction is a continuation of the company’s DOMAINfest Global auction held in Santa Monica earlier this month. Lots will begin closing at 12:15 PM PST today. At the time of writing 20 domain names have received bids ranging from $300 to $9,060. The top bid is for ePower.com. Only one auction is seeing competition at this point ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Survey: DNForum Still Top Domain Name Forum - Survey takers rank domain name forums. Once again DNForum is the highest rated domain name forum. That’s according to over 1,500 people who took the 6th Annual Domain Name Wire Survey. 48% selected DNForum as the top forum for discussing domain names, up from 37% last year. NamePros came in a distant second place with 21%, followed by the private Domain Boardroom at 14%. A few regional and/or niche domain forums also picked up votes: Poland’s DI.pl received 6% ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
.Co Registrations Up 35x on Super Bowl Sunday - .Co Internet CEO says .co off to good start but hard work lies ahead. In a blog post titled “The State of the .CO Domain“, .Co Internet CEO Juan Calle released some numbers about the effects of the company’s Super Bowl commercial tie-in with Go Daddy. Calle says that sales on Super Bowl Sunday were 35 times as much as a typical Sunday. Traffic to the company’s Opportunity.co and COinternet.co web sites was up 100x. Of course we don’t know the base for typical ... read more ...