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 15th September 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Hershey Gets Twizzled and Loses Twizzler.com Domain Challenge - Panel rules Twizzler.com owner can keep domain name. Hershey, the company that makes the addicting Twizzlers licorice candy, has lost an arbitration case for the domain name Twizzler.com. Raymond Mah registered the domain name in 1999 and said he had plans to create a puzzle game at the site. He pointed to the Oxford dictionary definition of Twizzle, which means “a twisting or spinning movement” as the idea for the name. At one point in 2001 he had a site at ... read more ...
 
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NameMedia: List Once. Sell Everywhere. - NameMedia files trademark application for new slogan. I suppose a company has marketed itself well when you see a trademark application, haven’t yet seen who filed it, yet can guess who filed it. That’s the case with a new service mark application from NameMedia, the company behind BuyDomains and Afternic. Last week the company filed for “List Once. Sell Everywhere.” After seeing the trademark yet before seeing who filed it I thought “I bet this is NameMedia.” ... read more ...
 
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Company Sues Telepathy to Get PLA.com Domain Name - Company got trademark for “PLA”, sues to get domain name. If you have a short list of “nice guys” in the domain name industry, Nat Cohen of Telepathy certainly shows up near the top. A company called Project Leadership Associates Inc. is now trying to sue Telepathy to get the domain name PLA.com. Those are the company’s initials, and it says it has a registered trademark. PLA tried to negotiate with Cohen to buy the domain, and according to PLA’s court ... read more ...
Tue 14th September 2010
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Are we Going to Epik Developers Conference? - Conference starts Wednesday evening in Seattle. Tomorrow I’m headed to Seattle for Epik’s first ever user conference called “Epik Developers Conference“. As a user conference and a first go-round, I expect attendance to be modest but the attendees to be enthusiastic and involved. The conference also includes a number of firsts: -First conference you can buy a pass to by trading in your domain names instead of paying cash -First conference with a domain swap ... read more ...
 
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Go Daddy’s Patent Portfolio Could Be Big Draw in Sale - Company holds patents in e-commerce, domain registration, and internet spaces. I’ve written numerous times about Go Daddy’s patent applications. It seems like each time people chastise the company for filing its patents. But the company’s patent portfolio (and patent applications) could be a big part of the company’s value if it chooses to sell. The company has 24 approved patents under the Go Daddy name, ranging from humdingers such as “Systems and methods ... read more ...
 
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Go Daddy Gets Jillian Michaels as New Go Daddy Girl - Forget talk about selling the company. Here’s more important news from Go Daddy. Is Bob Parsons selling Go Daddy? Who knows. But I’m guessing if he does he’ll have a clause that allows him to continue managing the Go Daddy Girls. The company added to its stable of Go Daddy Girls today, picking up fitness super trainer Jillian Michaels. Michaels is famous for her role on “The Biggest Loser”. In two tweets this morning, Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons wrote: “Jillian ... read more ...
 
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DomainTools Gets Patent for Reverse IP Method - DomainTools granted patent for reverse IP method. DomainTools‘ parent company Euro Convergence, SARL has been granted a patent for “Reverse IP method and system”. U.S. patent number 7,797,410 was invented by company founder Jay Westerdal. The invention is for a “new and improved domain name searching method and system” comprised of the following steps: (1) downloading all zone files, public and/or non-public, associated with one or more host names (2) performing ... read more ...
 
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Forget Cybersquatting. How About App Store Squatting? - Apple limits time you can reserve app name. Here’s an interesting article from Cult of Mac about a different type of squatting: app store squatting. We all know how important it is to have a good domain name. The same goes for your iPhone/iPod/iPad app on iTunes. But did you know you can reserve a name for your iPhone app for ever, blocking other app creators from using it? Well, until now. It used to be that you could pay $99 and reserve your app name. Now ... read more ...
 
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Twitter Bought Twitter.com for $7,500 in 2006 - Twttr got smart in a hurry — and got lucky. Today Robin Wauters wrote about how Twitter bought the domain name Twitter.com for $7,500 in 2006. The company launched with web 2.0 name Twttr, but it was always pronounced Twitter. In this case the company got smart acquired the domain name. It was also lucky that the domain’s owner didn’t hold out for more money. But can you think of all the good startups with web 2.0 spellings that balked at paying such a small ... read more ...
 
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Go Daddy Sells Dirt.com for $100,000 - Domain registrar brokers some expensive dirt. Go Daddy has sold the Dirt.com domain name through its aftermarket service for $100,000. The buyer is using a whois proxy service to protect his identity. The “coming soon” page at Dirt.com hints that the site will be about celebrity gossip. Dirt.com was previously a forum aimed at uncovering corporate malfeasance. Some of its targets (including Walmart) are probably pleased that the site will now be focused on ... read more ...
Mon 13th September 2010
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Man Chastises Disney’s Club Penguin, Gets to Keep Domain Name - Calling Club Penguin’s membership base “minuscule”, domain owner convince arbitration panel to let him keep domain name. Calling Disney’s Club Penguin and its 2.6 million registered users in 2006 a “minuscule and insignificant number”, a Florida man has convinced an arbitrator to let him keep the domain name ClubPenguin.mobi. The domain name’s owner, Pedro Sierra, told a National Arbitration Panel that he registered the domain name to “market images ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Flying.com Owner Buys AircraftForSale.com - Mark Horne adds to collection of top aircraft domain names. Mark Horne, who’s company Flying Online, Inc. has purchased many domains including Flying.com for $1.1 million, has acquired the domain name AircraftForSale.com. The exact price was not disclosed, but Horne told me it was between $50,000 and $150,000. Horne told Domain Name Wire that “aircraft for sale” is the top search term for his space. The domain name also passed his “name recognition test”. The ... read more ...
 
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A Trademark Sunrise for One Character Domain Names? - Plan sends wrong message about trademarks and domain names. Nominet, which oversees the .uk namespace, will begin releasing one and two character third level .uk domain names later this year. The process for releasing the domain names includes two trademark sunrise periods. A sunrise period is smart for the release of most new TLDs, as it gives rights holders the ability to protect their brands. But a sunrise for one and two character domains? That seems silly. ... read more ...
 
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Worst UDRP of 2010? Testosterone.com Awarded to Complainant - All I can say is “wow”. We have a new candidate for worst UDRP decision of 2010: Testosterone.com. National Arbitration Forum panelist Fernando Triana Esq. awarded the domain name to Monsterops, LLC, despite the respondent having registered the generic name three years prior to Monsterops’ using the trademark in commerce. The registrant of the domain name registered it way back in 1995, yet somehow Monsterops was able to snag this generic from him 16 years ... read more ...
Sun 12th September 2010
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Vibram FiveFingers Are Hot and So Are Its Cybersquatters - Barefoot alternative is hot, but company is challenged by counterfeits and cybersquatters. Vibram FiveFingers “shoes” are all the rage these days. The shoes are kind of like gloves for feet with five separate toe compartments. Barefoot running is popular, and FiveFingers are pitched as an even better alternative. Although my podiatrist tells me to skip the hype, Vibram FiveFingers are selling like hot cakes. And that means lots of knock-offs and counterfeits. ... read more ...
Fri 10th September 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Asia Trademark Domain Scam Now Spoofing WIPO - Scam ups the ante by pretending to be World Intellectual Property Organization. The Trademark Domain Name Scam is upping the ante, now pretending to be an email sent from World Intellectual Property Organization. In this scam, an entity that usually says it’s located in Asia says that someone has applied to register a number of domain names that include your “trademark” (really just the second level of one of your domain registrations). You can see an example ... read more ...
 
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ICM Registry Responds to Free Speech Coalition on .XXX - ICM responds to Free Speech Coalition. ICM Registry CEO Stuart Lawley has lashed back at Free Speech Coalition for its latest attempt to delay or kill .xxx. In a letter to ICANN Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate-Thrush, Lawley refutes many of Free Speech Coalition’s (FSC) claims. Lawley says FSC’s claims have long been addressed. He also points out that FSC does not represent the entire adult entertainment industry and is U.S. centric: …while the Free ... read more ...
 
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National Car Rental Fails to Show Rights in National.com Typo - An interesting UDRP case for car rental chain. Vanguard Trademark Holding, which holds the trademarks for National Car Rental, has failed to win the domain name Natonal.com in a UDRP. This is despite: – Natonal.com resolving to a parked page full of ads for car rental – The domain owner not responding to the UDRP So why did Vanguard fail? It based its premise primarily on Natonal.com being confusingly similar to the company’s “National Car Rental” mark. ... read more ...
 
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New York Times Partnering For News Service during News.me - .Me gets another vote of confidence. The New York Times is collaborating with technology incubator Betaworks for a new services at News.me. This comes from a reliable source: a blog at The New York Times… Mr. Zimbalist said that The Times Company, which participated in Betaworks’ most recent round of financing, struck an arrangement where Betaworks would buy a prototype of the app that was created by members of The Times Company’s development labs, and that ... read more ...
 
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WSJ: Go Daddy is Up For Sale - WSJ reports that Go Daddy is up for sale. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that The Go Daddy Group is putting itself up for sale, citing unnamed sources. The Go Daddy Group runs domain name registrar GoDaddy.com. These sources tell WSJ that the company has retained Qatalyst Partners, a firm run by veteran technology banker Frank Quattrone, to shop the company. WSJ’s sources quoted 2009 revenue for the company of between $750 million to $800 million. These ... read more ...
Thu 9th September 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Bed Bugs are In The News. You’d Be Surprised Who Owns BedBugs.com. - Who’s reaping the extra traffic from bed bug mania? On NPR this afternoon I listened to an interview about the resurgence of bed bugs. Over the past few months you’ve probably seen an increase in media attention to bed bugs thanks to some high profile store infestations in New York City. I figured some domainer owned BedBugs.com, and had my money on Schilling. So I was surprised when I typed the domain in and was forwarded to… Hasbro.com? The domain name was ... read more ...
 
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Latona’s Agrees to Auction Zuccarini Names Without TRAFFIC Backing - TRAFFIC is out, but auction house still plans to auction domain names. After TRAFFIC organizers said they wouldn’t let a collection of domains previously registered to John Zuccarini be auctioned at their show, Rick Latona’s auction house has decided to auction the domains on its own, according to a court filing. The domains are part of a cybersquatting judgment originally won by Office Depot but later transferred to DS Holdings. The receiver in the case planned ... read more ...
 
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Domaining.com Launches Traffic Domains Marketplace - Marketplace deals exclusively with domains that receive traffic. Francois Carrillo of Domaining.com has launched a brand new marketplace for selling domains that get traffic. In keeping with Carrillo’s love of great domain names, the marketplace is aptly named TrafficDomains.com. Even more exciting for me is that Carrillo has chosen to use DNW Certified Stats to authenticate traffic stats on the site. One of the big challenges to buying domains with traffic is ... read more ...
 
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Top 100 Brands Secure .Co Domains Through Special Program - .Co trademark program concludes. .Co announced today that 100% of the world’s top 100 brands have secured their .co domain name through the registry’s Specially Protected Marks Program, or “SPM.” SPM provided a way for companies on the Deloitte Brand List to get their .co domains without the traditional expense and time required. Among the companies securing their .co domain through SPM are Facebook, Ferrari, Blackberry, Siemens, Sanyo, Amazon, Honda, ... read more ...
 
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Texas Lottery Hits Jackpot, Wins 3 Domain Names - Texas Lottery wins three domain names in arbitration. The Texas Lottery Commission has won a big prize, taking home three domain names through arbitration — including one that gets over 65,000 visits a month. The group filed the complaint against The Lotto Report for LottoTexas.com, LottoTexas.net, and Megaplier.org. Megaplier is the name of a lotto add-on in the state that lets people multiply their winnings. LottoTexas.com is a big traffic domain, and Compete.com ... read more ...