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.

Tue 2nd February 2016
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain name financier wins domain on NameJet, afterwards wins UDRP - DiamondTrust.com was hit with a UDRP just after selling on NameJet. A domain name investor has successfully defended the domain name DiamondTrust.com in a UDRP filed just after he won the domain name on NameJet. James Kim of South Korea won an auction for DiamondTrust.com for $1,319 at NameJet in October last year. Diamond Trust Consultancy (UK) Limited filed a UDRP against the domain name the following month. Kim said that he registered the domain name for its descriptive value and was unaware of ... read more ...
 
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Bazaarvoice owner rising new association on .World domain name - Startup chooses data.world domain name. Austin entrepreneur Brett Hurt, who founded Bazaarvoice and later took it public, is launching a new startup on a new top level domain name. Hurt announced that he has joined up with a number of former Bazaarvoice execs who later went to HomeAway to found data.world. (HomeAway, another Austin company, was recently acquired by Expedia.) Data.world only has a splash page right now, and Hurt didn’t say what the company will do. Information about the company ... read more ...
 
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Minds + Machines Reports Q4 data - Billings surge in Q4. New top level domain name company Minds + Machines has released some of its Q4 and full year 2015 results ahead of the publication of full results in April. The company generated $4.18 million in billings for domain name registrations in Q4, with $1.52 million of this from premium domain names. These numbers are up significantly from Q3, which had total billings of $1.42 million. Total billings for 2015 hit $7.92 million. Billings are different from revenue because revenue ... read more ...
Mon 1st February 2016
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Which Self-Driving Car Domains will Win? - Is there gold in self-driving car domain names? The technology in this car is going to shake up the entire transportation industry.I’m optimistic about the future and the innovations it will bring. Last week I published a post on UpMoney about trends and technologies that are changing our world. One of these technologies is self-driving cars, which will have a profound effect on society and many industries beyond car manufacturers. I own a handful of driverless car-related domain names, but none ... read more ...
 
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Buying "Distressed" Domain Names – DNW Podcast #69 - How to buy a domain from a company that hit hard times. Companies own a lot of great domain names, but prying them from their hands can be difficult. When companies go through bankruptcy or reorganization, however, there’s a buying opportunity for domain names that have been locked up for years. Today’s guest, Dmitriy Chemlin, discusses how Hilco Streambank helps sell domain names from “distressed” companies, and how you can get in on the action. Also: GMO buys .shop for $41.5 million, Golden ... read more ...
 
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Parking page ads lead to a UDRP loss - What ads show up on a parked page make a big difference. Anyone can own the domain name MyEnterprise.com. Enterprise is a dictionary word, often referring to businesses and large organizations. But the owner of MyEnterprise.com just lost the domain name in a UDRP brought by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.com, and for good reason. It’s worth digging into this a bit to clear two common misconceptions: 1. You can blame PPC algorithms for the keywords displayed on your parked page. 2. You shouldn’t park a ... read more ...
Fri 29th January 2016
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Expired Domain Report: NNN.net sells for $7.2k - A look back at the past week in expired domain name sales. SnapNames turned in the top expiry result this week: 489.net ($7.2k). Such 3-digit .NETs are fairly rare in these charts, since only 1000 exist and those few rarely expire. The last time we saw one was 9 months ago, before the Chinese surge in prices; and it’s interesting to note how little the value has changed between these 2 NNN.net sales – quite unlike the steep appreciation in categories like LLLL.net, where 160,000 “CHIPs” ... read more ...
 
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Another Reverse Domain Name Hijacking decision, though I'm not so sure - Was reverse domain name hijacking really justified in this case? I usually gripe about UDRP panels finding in favor of the respondent but not going the extra step of finding the complainant guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. This morning I read a decision from Czech Arbitration Court in which the panelist found the complainant guilty of reverse domain name hijacking, but I’m not sure it was warranted. Perhaps the panelist just didn’t do a good job of wording his decision. NanoTemper Technologies ... read more ...
Thu 28th January 2016
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Hopscotch.com saved in UDRP, though no RDNH - PR firm filed UDRP after failing to buy domain name. A three-member World Intellectual Property Organization panel hasdenied a UDRP for the domain name Hopscotch.com. It did not find the complainant to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking for the domain name, however. Joseph Lee bought the domain name for over $10,000 in 2010 with plans to create a game site. Complainant Hopscotch Group of Paris is a PR company. The complainant uses the domain name hopscotchgroupe.com and also owns domains ... read more ...
 
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Can we make clarity of $41.5 million for .Shop? - GMO Registry’s outlay for .shop is difficult to rationalize. I’m still trying to wrap my head around GMO Registry paying $41.5 million for the .shop top level domain name. .Shop is a monster TLD, but it’s hard to justify this upfront cost for any top level domain name. I’m not alone. Of the seven participants in yesterday’s auction for .Shop, only two were willing to pay more than $15 million for the domain name. Clearly, GMO is in this for the long term. Any company that invests $41.5 ... read more ...
Wed 27th January 2016
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Breaking: .Shop tip turn domain sells for towering $41.5 million - $41.5 million spent for rights to a single new top level domain name. An auction to determine which company will control the .shop top level domain name has concluded with a record price of $41,501,000. GMO Registry, a Japanese domain name company, was the last bidder standing. It defeated six other bidders, including Amazon.com and Google. Only GMO Registry and one other company bid above $15 million for the name. The final bid price is sure to turn heads with the lackluster results of other new ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
2015's Top 5: Taylor Swift - A story about Taylor Swift goes viral. Taylor Swift had some Bad Blood with a guy who claims he taught her how to play the guitar. A resulting story on Domain Name Wire went viral, coming in at the #2 most-read story on the site last year. The backstory: T Swift’s former guitar teacher registered the domain name ITaughtTaylorSwift.com. Swift’s management company didn’t like this and threatened him. When I heard about the issue with the guitar teacher, I did a couple of searches on Verisign’s ... read more ...
 
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Wiz Khalifa's record tag and other businesses buy domain names - Rostrum Records and other end users bought domain names last week. Wiz Khalifa’s record label, Rostrum Records, paid 40,000 euros to pick up the shorter domain name Rostrum.com this past week. Its official website is RostrumRecords.com. Rostrum Records was one of many companies that bought domain names over the past week at Sedo. Sedo handled 589 domain name transactions last week for a total of $1.3 million. A higher-than-usual 64% of transactions were “buy now”. Here’s a look at these end ... read more ...
 
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Lendvo enters Domain Name Financing business - Company offers capital to owners of domain names and online businesses. A new company has entered the domain name lending space, offering loans to domain name owners and digital businesses. Lendvo was founded by Patrick Izzo and Ben Lichtman, nephew of the late Igal Lichtman (Mrs Jello). The company has a number of creative financing options for buying and selling domain names, as well as unlocking the equity built up in existing domain name portfolios. The most straightforward loan is for the purchase ... read more ...
 
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Minds + Machines, FFM make pull into China - Companies setting up subsidiaries in China. Two more new top level domain name companies are establishing ties in China to tap into the growing appetite for domain names there. Today, Minds + Machines announced it has appointed ZDNS as its local infrastructure partner in China. The company is also establishing a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in China called Beijing Ming Zhi Mo Si Technology Company Limited. Allegravita is advising Minds + Machines on its China strategy. Yesterday, Famous Four Media ... read more ...
Tue 26th January 2016
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2015's Top 5: WordPress sues domain name owner - A WordPress lawsuit was the third most-trafficked story on Domain Name Wire last year. Coming in at #3 on last year’s most-read posts was a lawsuit filed by WordPress foundation. WordPress Foundation sued the owner of TheWordPressHelpers.com (and other domains), alleging the domains infringed WordPress’ trademarks. The group has guidelines for how people can use the WordPress trademarks. One of the rules is that they can’t be used in second level domain names. WordPress Foundation has filed ... read more ...
Mon 25th January 2016
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Mark your calendars for…NamesCon? - You just got home from NamesCon 2016 and you can now register for NamesCon 2017. Just a week after the final curtain closed on NamesCon 2016, show organizers have already opened registration for the January 2017 show. Next year’s event will take place January 22-25 in Las Vegas. The show will take place at the Tropicana again. Rooms are available for $95 plus resort fees. The dates later in January will put more distance between CES and NamesCon, which will make it much easier for early arrivers. Super ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
2015's Top 5: A Scandal - The fourth most-read post on Domain Name Wire last year. On Friday, I published the first of five posts covering the most-read stories on Domain Name Wire last year. Coming in at #4 is an unfortunate story: DNForum owner and prominent domain conference speaker Adam Dicker fell from grace. It all started when Shane Bellone published an expose post about Dicker’s business activities. Bellone posted a link to it on NamePros, and that thread has over 3,400 replies and a whopping 250,000 views. In ... read more ...
 
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Buying and Selling Websites with Rick Latona – DNW Podcast #68 - Make money by buying or selling websites. We buy and sell domain names — but what about developed websites? Rick Latona’s brokerage Latonas.com specializes in established websites and is very successful at connecting buyers and sellers. Last year Latonas.com handled 13 sales over $1 million, and already has $3 million in sales this month. Rick discusses what makes a site valuable, how to value it, and other considerations when you buy or sell an existing website. Also: A China update, Domaining ... read more ...
 
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This week's new TLDs: 3 some-more from XYZ - 5 domains hit general availability on Wednesday. New top level domain name company XYZ LLC releases three new domain names this week. On Wednesday, the company will launch .Security, .Protection and .Theatre in general availability. The company didn’t originally apply for these names; it acquired them from other companies. Following on XYZ’s recent .car, .cars and .auto releases, the company is taking a premium-pricing approach to these launches. Expect to pay $2,000+ for .security and .protection ... read more ...
 
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New Golden State Warriors locus to be Chase Center - Chase registers domain names for new Golden State Warriors arena in San Francisco. It looks like the new arena to house the Golden State Warriors will be called the Chase Center. The NBA basketball team is slated to move back to San Francisco in a couple years. On Friday, JP Morgan Chase Co registered a number of domain names that suggest it is buying naming rights to the new stadium. The company registered: ChaseCenterGSW.com ChaseCenterSF.com ChaseWarriorsArena.com ChasCenter.com ChaseCener.com ChaseCenteer.com ChaseCentre.com ChaseCnter.com ChaseEnter.com The ... read more ...
Fri 22nd January 2016
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2015's Top 5: Google now partial of Alphabet, uses abc.xyz - Farewell to 2015. 2015 was a busy year on Domain Name Wire. This is the first of five posts that will examine the top 5 most-trafficked stories of last year. I should start by saying these weren’t the most-visited of 2015, just the most-visited stories I wrote during 2015. There are some older posts that have staying power. For example, in 2014 I wrote about John Oliver’s 5 .NYC domain names. That post was #1 in 2015. OK, let’s get started! Coming in at #5 of 2015’s most-read stories was ... read more ...
Thu 21st January 2016
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Taxi program association goes with .Taxi domain name - Company uses bid.taxi for new ride-hailing technology. Back in November, Sedo reported the sale of Bid.Taxi for €2,000. I reached out to the buyer to understand why it bought the domain name and chose a new top level domain. Command Software Services Ltd. began offering taxicab dispatch systems in 1991. Its dispatch systems are marketed under the name Cab Master. “We supply taxi companies throughout the UK but are now focused on moving into providing Platform Based Taxi booking service which ... read more ...
 
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Dietmar Stefitz gives a lowdown on Domaining Europe - Domain name conference will be held in The Hague in May. Paul Keating presents at last year’s Domaining Europe conference in Spain.After a successful NamesCon this month, the next domain investor-focused conference on the schedule is DomainingEurope. The event will take place May 29-31 in The Hague. DNW readers can currently purchase passes for half price. I’ve never been to the DomainingEurope shows, so I asked show organizer Dietmar Stefitz to provide an overview. DNW: What’s your background? Stefitz: ... read more ...
 
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Toot.com for $31.8k and other lapsed domain name sales - Toot.com leads expired domain name sales. Close observers will have noticed the absence of SnapNames results from my last article, which only covered NameJet expired domains. In the week since NamesCon, most of us have drifted homeward and settled back into our normal routines. So this time both auction houses are represented in the charts – 7 days for SnapNames, 5 days for NameJet. By far the biggest expired domain auction was TOOT.com ($31.8k). Most of us will recognize that as an English ... read more ...