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.

Thu 21st November 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
CM.com was deleted and is unregistered…but we can’t have it - CM.com was deleted this year, but is unavailable for registration. If you pop on over to DomainTools and type in the domain name CM.com, you might be surprised to see that it is not registered: But when you visit your domain name registrar, you’ll find out the domain isn’t available for registration. Despite being registered from 1997 until at least the middle of 2013, CM.com has been sent to purgatory. The domain name was apparently deleted by the registrar ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Donuts disses Independent Objector. Panelist disses Donuts. .Medical is dead. - The independent objector has killed Donuts’ application for .medical. Prof. Alain Pellet, the independent objector for the new top level domain name program, has won (pdf) a community objection against Donuts’ application for .medical. The case got off to a bizarre start, with Donuts calling into question Pellet’s impartiality and independence. Donuts pointed out that Pellet has a bias to the medical community and that Donuts’ TLDs make up a large part of ... read more ...
Wed 20th November 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Did TheWire.com domain name sell for 6 figures? - The Atlantic may have paid six figures for TheWire.com for rebranding The Atlantic Wire to The Wire. Atlantic Media purchased the domain name TheWire.com to rebrand The Atlantic Wire to simply The Wire. The sale may have been for six figures, depending on how you interpret a quote in an article published yesterday on CapitalNewYork.com. The story quotes company president M. Scott Havens on how much the company paid for the domain name: “over five and less than seven ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo finish user domain name sales report - Sedo sold $1.4 million worth of domain names last week, which is more than its typical week. Here are some of the domain names that were purchased by end users. Holos.com $5,000 – Massie Research Labs, which offers the HOLOS IntraOp, a tool for refractive cataract surgery. Tngroup.co.uk 1,649 GBP – Thurlow Nunn Standen Ltd, an agricultural machinery dealer. Symcon.de 1,500 EUR – Symcon GmbH, which uses the domain ip-symcon.de Istanbul.at 5,000 EUR – Elite ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Nominet to offer second turn .uk domain names, with .co.uk owners removing priority - Major shift coming to .uk namespace. Nominet has approved a controversial program to offer second level .uk domain names, but has drastically changed the program from the first draft. Under the approved plan, second level .uk domain names (e.g. example.uk) will be available for registration at a wholesale price of £3.50 for single year registrations and £2.50 for multi-year registrations. Owners of existing third level .co.uk domain names will get first rights to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Will NamesCon chaperon in an epoch of inexpensive domainer conferences? - NamesCon is an inexpensive alternative to most domain name conferences. NamesCon, a new domain name conference being organized by Richard Lau, will take place in Las Vegas January 13-15. Right now you can purchase a conference pass for $199. That’s not a typo. Tickets are $199, and the top ticket price for advance purchase if you wait until closer to the show is only $599. That’s much less expensive than the two big domain name shows, TRAFFIC and Webfest. Each ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
David Letterman jokes about Healthcare.xxx domain name - It works a lot better than Healthcare.gov, comedian says. If the owner of the Healthcare.xxx domain name is wondering why he got a bunch of traffic to his parked domain name last night, here’s why. On the David Letterman show last night, David Letterman joked about all of the problems with Healthcare.gov, the government’s health care shopping site. He suggested an alternative: Healthcare.xxx. The show then shows an ad for the site. Healthcare.xxx is registered ... read more ...
Tue 19th November 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo gets understanding with Donuts for Sunrise and Premium Domains - Sedo gets a tasty customer for new top level domain name services. Sedo has nabbed a big client with Donuts signing on to use its services to resolve sunrise contention as well as sell some of its premium domain names. Donuts will use Sedo’s auction technology for cases in which more than one company submits a sunrise-eligible claim on the same domain name. Sedo will also auction off some of Donuts’ “premium” second level domain names. This deal is interesting ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo! domain auction now has over 500 domain names - More domains, including several hundred from Associated Content, have been added to the Yahoo! domain auction. The list of domain names Yahoo! is offering in a domain name auction currently running on Sedo has expanded to over 500 domain names. Many of them are listed with reserves below $5,000 and some are below $1,000. The auction ends on Thursday. There’s a wide range of quality beyond the headline domain names such as AV.com and Sled.com. For example, if your ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Forget new TLDs, new 844 numbers are entrance soon! - New toll free numbers are coming out next month, and services offer to pre-register them much like new top level domain names. New TLDs are coming, but not as soon as new 844 toll free numbers. The new numbers will be released next month. Much like with new TLDs, companies are happy to help you secure the new toll free numbers. I received an email today from a group that offers a pre-registration service similar to what some domain name registrars are offering for ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Panel denies village objections opposite .Hotels applicant - Objectors were upset with single registrant application for .hotels. An International Chamber of Commerce panelist has denied two community objections filed against .hotels applicant Booking.com. The cases were filed by Hotel Consumer Protection Coalition and HOTREC, Hotels, Restaurants Cafés in Europe, and the cases were consolidated. Although there were 7 applications for the .hotel (singular) top level domain, it seems that the groups were concerned about Booking.com’s ... read more ...
Mon 18th November 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
What a Yahoo! auction tells us about removing PR for domain name auctions - If you want press about a domain auction, you need a unique angle. Last week Sedo announced its latest online auction, and the press ate it up. The auction was covered by L.A. Times, Investors’ Business Daily, TechCrunch, CNET, MarketWatch, CNBC, Engadget, and on and on. Compare this to the typical auction Sedo and its competitors run. They might be covered be a few domain blogs, and the press release will get syndicated, but that’s about it. Back in the good ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Here are some Stocks for Betting on New Top Level Domain Names - Want to invest in new TLDs through the stock market? Here are some options. On Friday I wrote about how Top Level Domain Holdings’ stock shot up 25% on news of the contract signing for the .London top level domain name. TLDH, which trades on the London AIM under TLDH, has seen its shares nearly triple since early October. The company is a pure-play new TLD applicant. There are other public companies you can invest in if you want to bet on the success of new top ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN posts all name collision reports – solely for 25 new TLDs that don’t qualify - .Web, .blog among those not eligible for APD. ICANN has posted the block lists for all new top level domain names that want to pursue the “alternate path to delegation.” New TLDs can launch faster if they choose this option, which requires them to block certain second level domain name registrations, as least in the beginning. Until now, ICANN had been publishing these lists in small batches, so this development will be welcomed by applicants… Except for some ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Gay Objector Strikes Out - ILGA loses three community objections against .gay and one against .LGBT International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) has lost three community objections it brought against applicants for the .gay top level domain name. The objections were filed against Top Level Design, Top Level Domain Holdings, and United TLD (Demand Media). ILGA is backing a rival .gay bid by dotgay LLC. Panelist Dr. Bernhard Schlink ruled that the gay community is ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TLDH launches “Priority Registration” use for new TLDs, starting during €29.95 - Service makes it easy to get first in line for some new TLDs, although premium pricing does apply. Top Level Domain Holdings has released a system for pre-registering new top level domain names, called Priority Registration. The service is enabled through the company’s Online Priority Enhanced Names database (“OPEN”) at the company’s own domain name registrar, Minds + Machines. It is also open for other domain registrars and registries to link into. It’s ... read more ...
Fri 15th November 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The GoDaddy and Afternic finish user domain name sales list - GoDaddy handles $1.8 million in aftermarket sales, including these end user domain name sales. GoDaddy/Afternic sold $1.8 million worth of aftermarket domain names last week. Here are 23 that were end user sales. Domain, Price – buyer AllRenovations.com $3,288 – All Renovation Construction LLC in Staten Island, which uses the domain AllRenovationLLC.com. MichiganSealCoating.com $1,250 – B E Sealcoat Products, Inc in Blanchard, Michigan. YHCA.com $1,088 – ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy to finish the Sedo domain sales partnership - Sedo to lose key domain distribution partner next year. GoDaddy is ending its domain listing syndication partnership with Sedo as of March 31, 2014. The partnership enabled domain names listed with Sedo to show up on GoDaddy Auctions as well as in the registration path on GoDaddy.com when a customer searched for a domain listed for sale with Sedo. The decision comes in the wake of GoDaddy’s acquisition of Sedo’s competitor Afternic in September. “We’re all ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ken Hansen leaves Neustar to launch co.com domain name registry - Hansen will join team offering third level domain registrations under co.com. Ken Hansen, formerly at Neustar, will lead co.com as CEO.Three well known people in the domain name industry have teamed up to offer domain name registrations under co.com, e.g. name.co.com. Ken Hansen has resigned his position at Neustar to join the new venture as CEO. Paul Goldstone (who owned the second level domain co.com) will be President and Gregg McNair (Igloo.com) will be Chairman. This ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Top Level Domain Holdings batch adult 25% on .London news, adult 3x given final month - TLDH on fire as new top level domain names get closer to reality. Shares in Top Level Domain Holdings skyrocketed 25% today after the company announced ICANN had signed the contract for the .london top level domain name. TLDH is the backend registry for .london. Shares in TLDH were up 3.62 pence to 17.88 pence on the London Stock Exchange. There were also two “price monitoring extensions”. This extension is “activated when the matching process would have otherwise ... read more ...
Thu 14th November 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Some new TLDs will run “Early Access Programs” for a Landrush phase - The TLD launch phase typically known as Landrush might look very different with new top level domain names. Top level domain name launches over the past decade have followed a fairly similar path. First, there’s a sunrise period in which trademark owners can get first claim on domains. Then the domain proceeds to a landrush phase. In landrush, prices are generally higher and there are auctions if more than one person is interested in the same domain. Finally, the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Under Armour buys MapMyFitness for $150 million - Company didn’t spend a lot of money for its domain names. Athletic apparel company Under Armour has acquired Austin, Texas company MapMyFitness for $150 million. So what does this have to do with domain names? Well, it’s kind of interesting when you dig into it. The name MapMyFitness immediately set off alarm bells in my head when I heard about the acquisition. Not because it’s a local company, but because they recently bought a domain on the aftermarket. My ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Timbermate Products guilty of retreat domain name hijacking - Company never alleged domain was registered in bad faith…just use in bad faith. Timbermate Products Pty Ltd of Nunawading, Australia, has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking by a World Intellectual Property Organization panel. The company, which uses the domain name timbermate.com.au, filed a UDRP against the domain name timbermate.com. The owner of Timbermate.com was, at one point, a distributor for Timbermate in the United States. After the distributorship ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
J.P. Morgan registers domain names for Mortgage Backed Securities settlement - Bank registers domain names for a settlement with the U.S. government over mortgage backed securities. It’s no secret that J.P. Morgan is on the verge of a multi-billion dollar settlement with the U.S. government over mortgage backed securities. That probably explains why the bank just registered a handful of domain names related to the settlement: jpmc-mbs-settlement.com jpmorganchasermbssettlement.com jpmorganmbssettlement.com jpmrmbssettlement.com MBS obviously ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
My picks for a Heritage Auctions domain name auction - Reasonable reserves should lead to some good sales in HA.com’s first domain name auction. The Heritage Auctions domain name auction, the first domain name auction to be undertaken by a major auction house, ends one week from today. The actual auction will take place on November 21. Reserves will be posted on HA.com tonight, but after taking an advance look, it seems like there are some great domains with very reasonable reserves. I’m not sure if these will sell, ... read more ...