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 3rd March 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Last week's NameJet Expired Domain Sales - Joseph Peterson details recent expired domain name sales at NameJet. After a couple of weeks during which Chinese purchases topped the expired domain auction list at NameJet, English is back. In the driver’s seat sits an exact-match domain that defines a ubiquitous commercial category: SignPrinting.com ($4.9k). ChicagoDivorce.com ($2.8k) called shotgun – an EMD as well yet geographically specific. Although this duo was fairly expensive, both are ultimately worth more. You can’t walk ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
February's tip 5 stories: Taylor Swift, Rangers and Google - Taylor Swift’s strange domain name registration was the most popular story on Domain Name Wire last month. February was a very cold and snowy month for much of the northern hemisphere, but a few domain name stories heated things up a bit. Here are the top five stories on Domain Name Wire last month: 1. Taylor Swift’s domain name registration – after her former guitar teacher registered a domain name with her name in it, Swift’s peeps registered a rather, um, dirty domain name with her name. 2. ... read more ...
 
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This week's new TLDs: .WhosWho and 4 EAPs - There aren’t many who’s registering this new domain name. Only one non-brand new top level domain name goes live this week in general availability, and it’s a rather unique one. .Whoswho went live yesterday. It appears to have only gotten about a dozen registrations on its first day and only has 22 names in the zone file so far. This isn’t too surprising. First of all, .whoswho is somewhat akin to .CEO. You can argue it fails the douche test. Second, whoswho is a somewhat strange term. I ... read more ...
Mon 2nd March 2015
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THE Domain Conference offers special pricing - Discounted tickets available for two weeks. The inaugural THE Domain Conference, Howard Neu’s follow up to TRAFFIC, takes place this coming September. Compared to TRAFFIC, the show is very inexpensive. And it’s even less expensive if you buy a ticket now. THE Domain Conference is offering passes for only $349 until March 15. To get the special price, enter code MARCH15 at THEDomainConference.club. The conference takes place September 27-29, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 Hotel and Spa on ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
2 panelists contend RDNH, other says domain name should be transferred - How did one panelist think a domain should be transferred when the other two say the case was brought in bad faith? It’s fairly rare that a panelist files a dissenting opinion in a UDRP. Usually a three person panel comes to the same conclusion, although occasionally you’ll see a dissent. But a recent decision treads even further into “rare” territory: 2 panelists thought the case was so egregious, it qualified at Reverse Domain Name Hijacking. A third panelist actually found in favor of ... read more ...
 
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Wearables.com: Benefits of a good domain name with Luis Rincon – DNW Podcast #22 - How a category-defining domain name creates instant credibility. Domain name investors know that great domain names offer a number of benefits to the companies that use them. In this episode, Wearables.com co-founder Luis Rincon gives concrete examples of how using a category-defining domain name has helped his company get instant credibility plus search and branding benefits in the fast-growing field of wearable technology. Also: Google spends $25M on .app, new TLD innovation?, and Google sets ... read more ...
 
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.App and .Blog – a demeanour during domain name registration numbers - Both terms are popular in existing domain name registrations. Google bought rights to the .App top level domain name last week for a whopping $25 million. Also last month, .Blog sold for an unknown number that was certainly 8 figures. App and Blog are certainly very popular terms, and they’re frequently found in newly-registered .com domain names. In fact, over the past six months, 328,271 .com domain names have been registered that include “app” in them, according to Verisign’s DomainView. ... read more ...
Fri 27th February 2015
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GoDaddy's latest obvious applications - Company adds to its stack of pending patents. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has just published a handful of patent applications filed by GoDaddy. Methods and Systems for Recommending Packages of Domain Names for Registration (application 14/500711) is a continuation of patents I wrote about earlier this month. It essentially describes a way to determining which domain names a user will want and presenting them as a package. Two others are related to submitting an offer for a domain name when ... read more ...
Thu 26th February 2015
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Frank Schilling defends DBAT.com in UDRP - Owner of .net domain name filed cybersquatting complaint. Nothin’ but .net!Baseball equipment company DBAT has lost a UDRP it filed against Frank Schilling for the domain name DBAT.com. The baseball company uses the DBAT.NET domain name. According to the decision (embedded below), DBAT originally threatened Shilling with a UDRP in 2009. It then tried to acquire the domain name through an attorney in 2012. While the details of the 2012 discussions are in dispute, it’s clear that the company tried ... read more ...
 
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Google: Make your website mobile accessible by Apr 21…or suffer - Google says major mobile search changes are coming. Unless you want to lose search traffic, you need to make your site mobile friendly before April 21. Google announced today that it will place more weight on how mobile-friendly a website is when users search from a mobile device starting April 21. The company says this will affect mobile searches in all countries, and will have a “significant impact” on search results. It’s rare that Google uses the term “significant” to describe algorithm ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Google pays $25 million for .App domain - Google pays dearly for rights to control .App domain name. Google has won the rights to operate the .App top level domain name after paying what may be a record-breaking price for a top level domain name. 13 companies applied to run the .app domain name, and 12 of them were still in the running when the ICANN auction started yesterday. The auction was so heated that it continued today, with the final price ending at $25,001,000. Google beat out other big brands, such as Amazon.com, for the domain ... read more ...
 
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Interesting: Minds + Machines obvious app for regulating domain names as currency - Patent application describes a novel way to use domain names as a currency. So far, we’ve seen some innovation in how new top level domain names are distributed and sold, but not much innovation in how they’re actually used. Minds + Machines has an idea that certainly seems innovative: using domain names as a currency. The company filed a patent application on the idea last year, and it was just published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office this morning. (Read the full application embedded ... read more ...
 
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Wow, how was this box not retreat domain name hijacking? - WIPO panelist drops the ball in RDNH decision. A single member World Intellectual Property Organization panel has denied a UDRP complaint against the domain name alessandro.com, but failed to find the complainant guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. Frankly, I’m stunned that panelist Pablo A. Palazzi did not find beauty products company Alessandro International GmbH to have brought the case in bad faith, and his rationale contradicts the facts of the case. Alessandro International GmbH filed ... read more ...
Wed 25th February 2015
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Marchex CEO stairs down - A new boss at Marchex and Q4 earnings released. Marchex reported earnings today, and also announced that long time CEO Russell Horowitz has stepped down. Company co-founder Pete Christothoulou has taken over the top post. The company, which derives the bulk of its revenue from performance advertising in which customers pay for phone calls, had a rocky 2014 after losing the bulk of its business from its biggest client. The stock trades for about $4.00 now, well below its 52-week high of $12.84. Marchex ... read more ...
 
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Here's what sole during NameJet this past week - Joseph Peterson reviews the previous week’s expired domain name sales on NameJet. China is perched at the top of our chart – same as last week. The high expired domain sale from NameJet was YuChu.com ($11.9k), which – if experience is any guide – probably has multiple meanings apart from being a proper name. In spite of its resemblance to the English word “symmetry”, SYMM.com ($1.8k) is bound for a Chinese audience also, as are WABB.com ($1.9k), SeHai.com ($713), and possibly 2 or ... read more ...
 
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New claimant for misfortune domain name: Sqeeqee.com - Why would you put your company at such a marketing disadvantage? I’ve written about plenty of poor domain name choices, and I have a new candidate to throw into the mix: Sqeeqee.com Sqeeqee.com is some sort of social networking platform, and it proudly just launched a cloud file hosting service called SqeeBox. How do you think you pronounce these brands? Skee-key? Skwey-key? Squeak-Key? It’s tough to say. On the one hand, the logo has keyholes, so I think something with “key” in it. But ... read more ...
Tue 24th February 2015
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GoDaddy releases earnings, picks GDDY ticker - Domain name registrar gets one step closer to IPO. GoDaddy filed an amended S-1 statement with the SEC today that revealed fourth quarter and full year 2014 financials, as well as the company’s planned NYSE stock ticker GDDY. Fourth quarter revenue at the company grew to $371.7 million, up from $356.9 million in the third quarter and $305.9 million in the same quarter of 2013. The company reported a net loss of ($26.8) million for the quarter, about in line with the third quarter. For the year, ... read more ...
 
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Domain Name Wire Survey is shutting soon - The survey period is closing soon… The deadline for completing the 10th annual Domain Name Wire survey is quickly approaching. Complete the survey here Already, people from 25 countries of taken about 5-10 minutes to complete the survey. They’ve answered questions about: Why they chose their current domain name registrar, such as security and pricing Where and how they sell domain names, such as “buy now” or “make offer” The current state of new top level domain names and where they ... read more ...
 
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.Science soars to 10,000 registrations in 3 hours - Famous Four’s latest launch is off to a fast start. Famous Four Media launched the .Science top level domain name this morning, and registration activity has been brisk so far. At roughly three hours after launch, 9,680 .science domain names have been registered. The company expects the number to top 10,000 within the next half hour. Why is .science doing so well? It’s not all rocket science: some registrars are giving the domain names away free or cheap, spurring extra demand. Kind of like .casa ... read more ...
 
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Oh my, Verisign is indeed frightened of new tip turn domains! - Company sues .XYZ and claims its marketing is hurting .com. If you listen to any of Verisign’s quarterly investor calls, you’ll often hear analysts asking what new TLDs are doing to .com. Well, new TLDs are creating confusion, the company says. That confusion isn’t really hurting .com. Maybe .net gets caught up in the confusion, but that’s about it. Actions speak louder than words, though, and Kevin Murphy wrote about proof today that Verisign must actually be a bit concerned about .com in ... read more ...
 
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Minds + Machines reports numbers, including $36M from auctions - Big 2014 numbers from losing auctions, but domain registration revenue starting to grow. Minds + Machines released some preliminary numbers for 2014 today. It can be summarized as: it pulled in a lot of cash from losing auctions, and registrations of its domains picked toward the end of the year as it released more of them. Here are some highlights: Auctions – Grossed $36 million from losing 21 private auctions for new top level domain names last year; spent $25.9 million to acquire 6 contested ... read more ...
Mon 23rd February 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Expire.com launches as dutch auction for domain names - Domain name prices start at $500 and drop from there. The team behind HugeDomains, DropCatch.com and NameBright launched a new service called Expire.com today. It has nothing to do with expired domains, however. The name refers to domain name buying opportunities that are about to “expire” (i.e. end). Expire.com runs dutch auctions, a model that has worked well for new top level domain name companies that have run so-called early access phases. Domain names on Expire.com start at $500, and then ... read more ...
 
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Quickly building domains with Bruce Marler – DNW Podcast #21 - Learn how you can quickly develop your domain names into web businesses. Want to develop your domain names into websites? Bruce Marler has done it on a number of domains. In this episode he explains his process for building out sites, including how he built a starter site on credit.club in just four hours, including content and a logo. Bruce also explains how listening to his customers helped him create a viable business model for a local site (hint: it’s not ads). Listen now and start turning ... read more ...
 
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Domain Holdings sells $8.1 million of domain names in Q4 - Company brokered over $30 million worth of domain names last year. Domain Holdings reported today that it sold $8.1 million worth of domain names last quarter, bringing its 2014 tally to $31.0 million. The fourth quarter number was down slightly from a strong Q2 and Q3 ($9.9M and $9.6M, respectively) but still strong compared to Q1 2014 and prior. 77% of the company’s sales in Q4 were .com domain names, and the same percentage of names had 10 or fewer characters. The company doesn’t report ... read more ...
 
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NamesCon sets dates and early bird special for 2016 show - NamesCon sets dates for 2016 and offer $199 tickets. It seems like just last month that the domain name industry converged on Las Vegas for NamesCon 2015. Oh yeah, it was last month. Yet NamesCon has already announced dates for its 2016 show, which will take place January 10-13 in Las Vegas. Tickets are 80% off through the end of this month, and will cost only $199 until then. The event will again take place at The Tropicana hotel. Co-producer Richard Lau tells Domain Name Wire that it will re-evaluate ... read more ...