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.

Mon 2nd February 2015
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NamesCon Domain Name Conference Recap – DNW Podcast #018 - Listen in at last month’s NamesCon domain name conference. Take a walk on the floor of NamesCon 2015 in Las Vegas in this episode of the Domain Name Wire Podcast. I walk the exhibit floor talking to exhibitors, pop in on a few sessions, and also play part of Frank Shilling’s keynote. Featured on this episode: Frank Schilling, Bret Fausett, Domain Capital, Escrow.com, TLD Registry, Top Level Design, .Buzz, .Club, Ron Sheridan and InternetX. Also: GoDaddy Super Bowl ad, buying bids at Flippa, Photo.com ... read more ...
 
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Blake Irving on Fox & Friends: Super Bowl ad barter was not designed (and we trust him) - GoDaddy’s CEO discusses this year’s Super Bowl ad controversy. GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving was on Fox Friends this morning talking about the Super Bowl ad controversy. He claims the original ad and changing it was not a publicity stunt. (See video below.) After watching the final commercial yesterday, I believe him when he says that nixing the first ad was not a publicity stunt. After all, the company ended up with a commercial that: Was produced with stock video footage Had voiceover from someone ... read more ...
Sun 1st February 2015
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Watch GoDaddy's deputy Super Bowl commercial - GoDaddy Super Bowl ad doesn’t show a puppy dog…it shows a small business owner. GoDaddy’s Super Bowl commercial is puppy dog-less, making it seem that the initial Buddy commercial was not intended to be a PR stunt. The real commercial is a great nod to GoDaddy’s customer, the hard working small business owner. He’s not watching the game at a party, the narrator says, because he’s working. The commercial makes a subtle nod to its aborted “Journey Home” commercial, or at least the ones ... read more ...
Fri 30th January 2015
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NameJet Expired Domain Name Review - Joseph Peterson looks back at the past week in expired domain name sales at NameJet. NameJet’s top expired domain sale during the past week was Lucie.com at only $5.6k. Last week, that same domain would have been #7 – far behind the $29.1k leader. That isn’t to say that Lucie.com was NameJet’s biggest auction; actually I counted 16 that closed last week between $8.1k and $21k, but they weren’t expired domains. For those who are just joining us, I’d better explain that these weekly articles ... read more ...
Thu 29th January 2015
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Puppy dogs for sale on GoDaddy satire site - Someone is having fun with GoDaddy’s withdrawn commercial…and doing it with GoDaddy services. GoDaddy won’t run its controversial Journey Home commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday. The ad featured a site called Gabby’s Goldens that sold dogs online. It drew the ire of pet lovers and advocates everywhere. Yet someone is having some fun with it, and using GoDaddy’s services to boot. GoDaddy registered GabbysGoldens.com ahead of the commercial. Another customer just registered GabbysGoldens.org ... read more ...
 
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LeadPages is a Reverse Domain Name Hijacker - WIPO panel finds that lead generation technology company abused UDRP. A three person World Intellectual Property Organization panel has found the company behind LeadPages.net to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking in a cybersquatting complaint. Avenue 81, Inc., which offers lead generation software and tools at LeadPages.net, filed a cybersquatting complaint against Karl Payne, the owner of LeadPages.com. Payne registered the .com domain name in 2004. LeadPages.net was formed and its domain ... read more ...
 
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27 End User Domain Name Sales - A weekly run-down of end user domain name sales at Sedo. Sedo’s top reported sale last week was SuperSeats.com, which Michael Berkens sold for a staggering $48,888. With Sedo still in possession of the domain, I can’t confirm my hunch that SuperSeats.net was the buyer. Some other large sales are in the same boat, including RBU.com ($27,500) and 2009.com ($22,500). Below are 27 Sedo sales from last week where the end user is identifiable. Previous weeks’ lists can be found here. If you’d ... read more ...
 
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GoDaddy's Super Bowl ad switcheroo: designed or not? - GoDaddy, once again, is getting a lot of press for its Super Bowl ad. How much of it was planned? If you pay for a Super Bowl commercial and no one talks about it before or after the big game, you got ripped off. GoDaddy discovered this many years ago and has mastered the art of getting extra impressions of its ads and Monday morning water cooler talk. GoDaddy’s ads are often criticized and sometimes ranked as the “worst” ads on the Super Bowl. Yet “worst” is a heck of a lot better than ... read more ...
 
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.Space wins this week's new TLD releases - .Space tops in registrations with about 1,700 on first day. When it comes to most registrations, .space appears to have topped the list of this week’s new top level domain name launches. That doesn’t come as a big surprise since it’s the most generic (and lowest priced) domain of the lot. Here’s a run down of this week’s new TLD launches, starting with the most registrations… 1. According to namestat, .Space added 1,700 domain names in the zone yesterday, bringing its total to 1,784. ... read more ...
Wed 28th January 2015
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Owner of Good.com sues business that uses Good.co - Company miffed that consumers may be confused by Good.co vs. Good.com. Good vs. GoodGood Technology Corporation, a mobility services company that uses the domain name Good.com, has sued (pdf) a career app and social network company using the name Good.co. I suspect Good Technology Corporation is facing an uphill battle here. It uses a dictionary term with broad usage, and the arguments it makes in its case seem rather weak to me. For example: Defendant should have performed a trademark search before ... read more ...
 
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Was Michele.watch purebred for Pole Dances or for Watches? - Domain name registrant came up with a creative defense in UDRP. A National Arbitration Forum panel has ordered the domain name Michele.watch transferred to watchmaker Fossil Group, Inc. I’ve got to hand it to the respondent in this case. He put up a spirited defense of his registration of Michele.watch. Kucevic said he didn’t register the domain name to take advantage of Fossil’s Michele brand of watches. Instead, he registered it for use as a pole dancing site. The idea was that visitors ... read more ...
Tue 27th January 2015
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GoDaddy to change argumentative Super Bowl Commercial - GoDaddy won’t run controversial “Journey Home” commercial. GoDaddy’s 2015 Super Bowl commercial, which it just released this morning, won’t air on Sunday after all. GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving tweeted this afternoon: The ad was criticized by many animal lovers. In many ways, the commercial was classic GoDaddy. It was sure to spark outrage, which got people talking about the company…much like its previous GoDaddy commercials. I wondered this morning if the plan was to get this commercial ... read more ...
 
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GoDaddy's Super Bowl Commercial will be the many argumentative nonetheless [Watch] - Here’s proof you can have controversy without nudity. [Update: GoDaddy won’t run this ad after all.] GoDaddy made a name for itself with controversial Super Bowl commercials. If you thought its move from sexy commercials to one featuring a puppy dog meant the company was shying away from controversy, you’re in for a bit of a surprise. This year’s commercial (embedded below) features an adorable puppy dog that gets tossed off a truck, yet perseveres and finds its way home. Yet “Buddy” ... read more ...
 
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This week's new TLDs: .Space, Google's .How and .RIP - 6 new top level domain names will be released on Wednesday. A number of new top level domain names are being launched in general availability this week, all on Wednesday. Radix’s .Space hits registrars’ shelves at a price of about $10. It’s a generic domain, but also conjures up the idea of your “space” online. Their site markets it as “A .space domain is for passionate and driven individuals and groups who want to carve out a personalized space online. It specially caters to freelancers, ... read more ...
Mon 26th January 2015
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Photo.com – sole for over $1 million twice – saved in UDRP - Complainant makes interesting allegations in UDRP. A three person WIPO panel has handed down a decision in a UDRP for Photo.com in a case I wrote about in October. The complainant owns Foto.com, but there’s a lot more to the story than just a company using UDRP to go after a great domain name. According to complainant Fotocom Société Anonyme: Complainant contends that Respondent is actually controlled or influenced by its former Chief Executive Officer (hereinafter “Panos”). According to ... read more ...
 
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New TLDs with Donuts' Richard Tindal – DNW Podcast #017 - A discussion about new top level domain names with the biggest new TLD company. Donuts Inc doesn’t sell baked goods by the dozen — it sells new domain names. But like Krispy Kreme, it sells a lot of varieties of its product. In this episode, I chat with Donuts co-founder and COO Richard Tindal. Donuts is the largest new TLD company with over 300 applications and nearly 200 domain names released. We discuss why Donuts thinks new TLDs are better than .com and what the company will do this year ... read more ...
Fri 23rd January 2015
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New TLD association Architelos sued after melancholy IP Law Firm - Architelos sent cease and desist letter to intellectual property law firm, with a predictable result. What happens when you send a cease desist letter alleging trademark infringement to an intellectual property law firm? You get sued. That’s what happened after new top level domain name services company Architelos sent a CD to California-based Cotman IP this month. DeSantis Law Firm, which represents Architelos, sent the CD (pdf) to Cotman IP earlier this month, claiming Cotman was infringing ... read more ...
 
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SelfieSticks.com sells for $29,100 and some-more lapsed domain name sales - Joseph Peterson runs down the latest expired domain name sales at NameJet. If you’re as un-with-it as uncool me, then you’ll look at the $29.1k high bid for SelfieSticks.com and say, “Huh?” Apparently, selfie sticks are rods that attach to a camera phone so that you can hold it far enough away to take a picture of yourself and the grinning people next to you. Asking a stranger to snap a photo please wasn’t that onerous, was it? Trends move fast. Already the market for these devices generated a ... read more ...
Thu 22nd January 2015
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Trademark Clearinghouse bundles Porn domains with use during discount - Deal with ICM Registry cuts pricing if you sign up for TMCH and protect a brand in adult domain names. The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) will cut you a deal on its services, if you take a little TA with it. On a webinar about the new ICM Registry domains .Adult and .Porn today, ICM General Counsel Sheri Falco announced it has partnered with TMCH to create special bundled pricing. She said it’s the first deal of its kind for the Trademark Clearinghouse. The TMCH doesn’t set pricing for domain ... read more ...
 
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.XXX registry releases Domain Check for code owners - Tool checks brand across more than just ICM Registry’s top level domain names. ICM Registry, the company behind .xxx and the forthcoming .porn and .adult domain names, has released an online tool for companies to check their brands across hundreds of new top level domain names. Domain Check, of course, provides status information related to ICM’s own top level domain names. But it also checks the domain name across many TLDs, providing launch phase and registration status. For example, here’s ... read more ...
 
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Do we need new domain names for genuine estate? - Many domain names used in real estate are still available in .com. There are lots of new top level domain names coming out (or already released) for real estate purposes: .Realtor, .realty, .realestate, .casa, .immobilien, .immo and probably a few others I’ve missed. This week Rightside released .forsale, a domain it is pitching for real estate purposes, i.e. 123Anystreet.forsale. Domain names purchased for real estate marketing are big business. GoDaddy has frequently touted domain names as a ... read more ...
Wed 21st January 2015
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Investment organisation RVK intent in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking on RVK.com - Company changed its brand last year, filed UDRP to get matching three letter domain name. They want the matching domain name, but would rather not pay for it.A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has found investment advisory firm RVK (formerly R.V. Kuhns Associates, Inc.) guilty of engaging in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name RVK.com. The company, aided by law firm Tonkon Torp LLP, filed a UDRP against domain name owner Gregory Ricks. According to the decision, the ... read more ...
 
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22 End User Domain Name Sales - Recent domain buyers include TrueCar, HomeAway and a company that sells herbs for kids. Sedo handled 603 transactions last week for a total of $1 million in domain name sales. The top reported sale was BabyCity.com, which was sold to an herbal supplements company that sells a lot of products geared to kids. Another interesting sale is DrivenByCode.com, purchased by auto data company TrueCar. Without further ado, here’s a list of 22 end user domain name sales that took place on Sedo last week… (You ... read more ...
 
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The furious story about how a domain name CM.com was only registered - Verisign just allowed the reserved domain name CM.com to be registered. Here’s why. In 2013, the longtime registrant of CM.com lost his domain name. The domain name had been registered to Satoshi Shimoshita since 2004. Yet the domain name was deleted following a period in which the nameservers for the domain name pointed to NS1.SPAMSHUTDOWN.COM. That a registrar forcefully deleted an extremely valuable domain name not coming up for renewal is rather odd. But the story of CM.com has become even ... read more ...
Tue 20th January 2015
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Pssst…Rightside expelled the name collision domain names - Many good domains on the list, but be prepared to pay a premium. While you were partying in Las Vegas at NamesCon last week, Rightside released its name collision domain names to the public. Sort of… As a bit of background, name collision domain names are ones that new top level domain operators had to hold back from registration at launch. The list includes domain names that, during a somewhat random window of time in history, received traffic. ICANN required the domain names to be held back for ... read more ...