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.

Fri 28th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Fortune 1000 association loses 2 URS cases - Heartland Payment Systems loses claims to “Heartland” domain names. So far the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) policy for new top level domain names appears to be working. URS was designed to be a faster and cheaper version of UDRP for slam dunk cases of cybersquatting. Since UDRP was meant to be for clear-cut cases as well, the burden of proof is very high in URS cases. Richard Branson was the first to lose a case, for Branson.guru. Now Heartland Payment Systems, ... read more ...
Thu 27th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
24 some-more finish user domain name sales - End user domain name sales of up to $35,000. Sedo sold $1.7 million worth of domain names last week. Here are some of the sales made to end users. View previous end user sales reports here. SnowBusiness.at 1,500 EUR – Snow Business GmbH, which creates special effects of snow for movies and other video productions. They use SnowBusiness.de. OfficeCoffeeMachines.com.au $1,250 – Coffee Machines and Beans Pty Ltd UniteStudents.co.uk 800 GBP – UNITE Integrated ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo domain names get kicked off GoDaddy on Monday - Domain sales partnership comes to an end next week. Last November GoDaddy announced it was ending its syndication agreement with Sedo effective the end of March 2014. That date is just around the corner: Monday. Domain names listed with SedoMLS will no longer show up on GoDaddy Auctions and, more importantly, in the registration path at GoDaddy.com. The move comes in the wake of GoDaddy’s acquisition of rival domain marketplace Afternic last September. GoDaddy is ... read more ...
Wed 26th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
End user sales report: People still wish a relating .com - Many examples of companies buying the matching .com when they use a .net, .org, or ccTLD. Frank Schilling said something during his keynote at NamesCon that really rings true. When companies get a domain name other than .com, they say to themselves “we really ought to get the .com domain too”. In the year 2014, that’s certainly true. You can argue this will change in the future, but when people tell me today the domain extension doesn’t matter, it’s usually ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Why domain investors and Bitcoin click - Domain investors find a lot to love in bitcoin. Despite some massive setbacks, bitcoin is still a hot topic right now. I think domain investors are drawn to bitcoin at a higher rate than the general population for a handful of reasons. Having talked to several bitcoin owners, I think there are four key reasons for this. 1. You have to learn a little to get into the club. It takes a bit of knowledge and research to start using bitcoin. It’s much like the knowledge ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cheers! .Wine and .Vin domains prepared to be bottled - Wine domain names can move forward without additional restrictions. The New gTLD Program Committee of ICANN’s board has given the green light for the .wine and .vin top level domain names to move forward without additional restrictions. [Update: put a cork in it! The GAC has apparently found a procedural error that will delay the Board’s decision.] A number of governments, particularly in Europe, were opposed to the delegation of the domain names without added ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.UK adds registry close option - .UK domains can now get added protection against nameserver and domain hijacking. .UK registry Nominet is now offering its own version of a registry lock service, dubbed “Domain Lock.” Similar to Verisign’s Registry Lock service for .com domain names, Domain Lock requires manual intervention and authentication in order to change key details about a domain name. This authentication should prevent the type of attack that took down the New York Times website last ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sign.com and Signs.com settle dispute - You can’t trademark “sign” for selling signs. The owners of the category-killer domain names Sign.com and Signs.com have settled a legal battle over their ability to co-exist. In Janauary 2013 I wrote about how the owner of Sign.com made the bizarre claim that Signs.com was violating its service mark by using the domain Signs.com to sell signs. An attorney for SA International, owner of Sign.com, sent a cease desist letter to Signs.com: The use of the substantially ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
United Internet holding marketplace share from GoDaddy in new TLDs - After slow start, company is grabbing share in recent TLD launches. United Internet, a group of companies that includes 11, Sedo, InterNetX, and United Domains, appears to be taking a good chunk of the new TLDs market share away from GoDaddy. United spent about $50 million advertising pre-registrations for new top level domain names. Yet GoDaddy was kicking its butt in registrations for the first batches of new TLDs that hit the market. That has shifted in recent ... read more ...
Tue 25th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
16 finish user domain purchases including EA’s new video game - EA buys a domain name that’s likely for a new video game. Yesterday I published an end user sales list of sales from Sedo. They sent two weekly lists at once and I’m getting caught up, so this morning I’ve got another one for you. You may view previous end user sales lists here. HFF.org $10,000 – a Mark Monitor client InvestorAdvantage.com $877 – Lincoln Financial Group HorizonCityRealEstate.com $999 – Realty Executives Vantage in El Paso, Texas. OpenFuture.org ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TMCH brags about numbers, though what do they mean? - Trademark Clearinghouse has issued 500,000 claims notices. The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) announced today that it has issued 500,000 claims notices to prospective registrants of domains under new top level domain names. The notices are shown when someone tries to register a domain that matches a trademark or trademark string submitted to the database. Here’s what the claims notices look like. That’s an impressively high number, but what exactly does it mean? ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
5 some-more Donuts TLDs accessible to register tomorrow & .email is a leader so far - .Email has the most registrations so far for this week’s batch. Five more of Donuts’ new top level domain names revert to regular registration pricing tomorrow: .training, .solutions, .support, .builders and .email. So far it looks like .email is the winner — but anything can change when prices drop tomorrow. The latest .email zone file shows about 1,500 domain names registered. Just over 300 in the zone file were sunrise registrations with the rest coming during ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Famous Four alleges couple between panelist and competition for .Sport - Company says panelist that killed its .sport application had a conflict of interest. Last fall Famous Four Media saw its plans to run a .sport top level domain dashed after a panelist found in favor of rival applicant SportAccord in a community objection. Famous Four appealed the decision to ICANN through a reconsideration request and lost. Now the company is claiming (pdf) it has found ties between the panelist that decided the case and SportAccord. Panelist Guido ... read more ...
Mon 24th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cleveland Clinic’s .Med focus is alive again - Board Governance Committee to consider if application should move forward. A lot of new top level domain name applicants have filed “Reconsideration Requests” after finding themselves on the losing end of objections. They all have the same story: we were wronged, and we were wronged in a way unique to everyone else who has failed with their reconsideration request. It was the same story I heard from .Med applicant Medistry (backed by Cleveland Clinic) when it ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Radix boots ARI in preference of CentralNic - CentralNic picks up contracts for new TLDs from rival. New top level domain name applicant Radix has selected CentralNic to be the backend registry provider for its .website, .host, .space and .press top level domain names. Radix had originally said that ARI Registry Services would be the technical services provider for all of its top level domain names. With that in mind, it was somewhat surprising when Radix chose CentralNic to power its .pw launch in 2012. That ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cybersquatting lawsuit filed opposite AnnualCreditReport.com typos - Company goes after ten 37 typos of popular website. A company created by the three major U.S. consumer credit bureaus has filed an in rem lawsuit against 10 typo domain names. [Update: The company actually filed four separate lawsuits against a total of 37 domain names.] Central Source LLC was formed to operate the AnnualCreditReport.com website after the U.S. government passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in 2003. The law mandated that consumers get free ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
17 finish user domain name sales including Hallmark - A Hallmark company is among the companies buying domain names at Sedo. Here are some end user sales from Sedo’s sales list for the week of March 10th-16th. You may view other end user sales list here. Payability.com $15,000 – Payability, Inc in New York. zzPhone.com 10,000 EUR – Las Vegas company ZZ Inc, which operates sites such as ZZPrint.com, zzShare.com and zzRides.com. Smart-Movie.com $925 – J-Stream, a video distribution company. Innovate.at 790 EUR ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How many domains in new TLDs will we register? - Answer this question on the 9th annual Domain Name Wire survey. This year’s Domain Name Wire Survey has additional questions about top level domain names now that new ones are finally rolling off the assembly line. By taking the survey, you’ll answer questions such as: * How many second level domains in these new extensions do you plan to register for yourself or on behalf of your company in 2014? * What will the release of new top level domain names do to the ... read more ...
Sat 22nd March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
End user sales are partial of Afternic’s large $2.1 million sales week - Pharmaceuticals company, non-profit, and garage door repairman are among end user domain buyers. GoDaddy and Afternic teamed up to sell $2.1 million worth of domain names last week, led by QY.com at $100,000. Following are some of the sales that were made to end users. You can end user sales from previous weeks here. AutismSociety.com $9.750 – Hussman Foundation, which just launched the Hussman Institute for Autism. Renta.Limo $1,776 and Chicago.Limo $1,625 – ... read more ...
Fri 21st March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
A domain financier goes to WIPO’s home in Geneva to learn some-more about UDRP - Nat Cohen traveled to Geneva to learn more about the current state of UDRP. Here’s what he learned. Last October, at the suggestion of attorneys John Berryhill and Zak Muscovitch, I flew to Geneva to attend a workshop presented by WIPO entitled WIPO Advanced Workshop on Domain Name Dispute Resolution: Update on Precedent and Practice. I hoped to gain a better understanding of whether, despite the UDRP’s flaws and the pro-complainant bias built into the procedures, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Why Neustar paid $109 million for .Co and what it means for new TLDs - While the circumstances behind Neustar’s acquisition of .CO Internet were unique, it bodes well for operators of new TLDs. Neustar announced yesterday that it is paying $109 million to acquire .CO Internet, operator of the .co domain name. It’s a big price tag, and here’s how it breaks down: * $68 per currently registered .Co domain * 5x current annual revenue run rate * 6.5x current annual revenue run rate when you account for Neustar losing $4 million a year ... read more ...
Thu 20th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Exposed: A GoDaddy impersonator, lies, and an lapsed domain name scheme - This month I received a call from someone impersonating GoDaddy. Last year someone called impersonating ICANN. Here’s what they were up to. In August 2013 I received a phone call from someone who claimed to be working for ICANN. He said he needed to verify the contact information on a couple of my domain names. The domain names were actually expired. The caller was trying to figure out if I still wanted the domain names. If I did, I’d get a call back later with ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP row gets AustinPain.com preference wrong - Panel awards generic domain name to company with questionable trademark rights. A National Arbitration Forum panel has ordered the transfer of the domain name AustinPain.com, and I believe it got the decision wrong. The case was filed by Austin Pain Associates* against HugeDomains. The three person panel had to twist and rationalize UDRP rules in order to find against HugeDomains in each aspect of the UDRP. Reading the case, it’s apparent that Austin Pain Associates ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Amazon.com registers .domains domain names for any of the due TLDs - Amazon.com grabs .domains domains corresponding to its new top level domain applications. Amazon.com has registered corresponding .domains domain names for each of the 65 Latin script top level domain names it has applied for. All of the registrations follow the format dotTLD.domains, e.g. dotAmazon.domains, dotCloud.domains, and dotDeal.domains. This is an interesting move that adds to the complicated question of what Amazon.com plans to do with its domain names. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Breaking: Neustar acquires .CO for $109 million - Neustar pays $109 million for registry that runs .co domain name. Domain name registry Neustar has acquired .CO Internet S.A.S and associated assets for $109 million, the company announced moments ago. .CO Internet, which commercialized the .Co domain name starting in 2010, exited last year with an annual revenue run rate of $21 million. [See more: Why Neustar paid $109 million for .CO Internet.] The registry has over 1.6 million domain names currently registered. ... read more ...