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 8th August 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verisign responds to NTIA: There’s a disproportion between “ability” and “advisability” - Verisign says it will agree to add lots of new TLDs to the root, but advises against it at this time. Verisign has responded to the U.S. National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA)’s demand that Verisign verify it will add new top level domains names to the root upon request. The company confirmed (pdf) that it will add new top level domains to the root, but essentially said “if something goes wrong, don’t say we didn’t tell you so.” The ... read more ...
Wed 7th August 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
9 things we schooled from using a competition on 99Designs - These tips will help you if you do a logo design contest on 99Designs. A new logo was part of the Domain Name Wire redesign released last month. I designed the original logo myself back in 2005, and only had it refreshed a few years later by a designer. To refresh your memory, here’s what it looked like: I looked into a number of logo design services and ultimately decided I’d try crowd sourced design service 99Designs.com. I was familiar with the company, as ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verisign gets obvious for self-existent domain trade analysis - Patent covers tool to identify potentially valuable unregistered domain names. The U.S Patent and Trademark Office has granted a patent to Verisign that covers analysis of traffic to non-existent domain names. U.S. Patent number 8,504,673 (pdf) is titled “Traffic like NXDomains”. I wrote about this patent last year when it was published. Here’s the patent abstract: Methods and systems for analyzing network traffic related to domain names, including Non-Existent ... read more ...
Tue 6th August 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
What a heck is a “premium domain”? - A domain that would qualify as premium in .com may not be premium under different extensions. Just like grade inflation, the quality of what people are labeling a “premium domain” has been slipping in recent years. That’s because anyone can call their domains premium. This has resulted in a rush to the bottom with terms like “ultra premium”, “super premium”, and “platinum super duper premium magic” domains. With new top level domains on the horizon, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy’s sales and Nokta’s sales and leases from July - Domain name companies release sales information. GoDaddy Auctions sold 38,601 in July, according to the company’s Go Daddy Auctions Domain Market Report. The top sale, which I’ve written about previously, was body.com for $380,000. Here are the company’s other top sales from last month: flight.ca $110,700 bought by Farematrix, which provides services to travel agents hjx.com $29,000 – domain was with Afternic yec.com $20,005 realgaming.com $20,000 diamondlife.com $14,971 kh.org $14,500 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Del Monte v. Del Monte: initial new TLD conflict to be upheld - Objector wins .delmonte Legal Rights Objection. If you look at the list of filed Legal Rights Objections for new top level domains, only a few stand out as plausible cases. One of those was Del Monte Corporation v. Del Monte International GmbH for .delmonte. Now that we have the details, it’s not surprising that this was a close case. Del Monte International GmbH is a licensee of Del Monte Corporation’s trademarks for Del Monte. Yet the former applied for .delmonte, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
After unconditional it underneath a rug, Name Collisions come behind to haunt new TLD program - Name collisions derail new top level domain name timeline. Everyone in the executive suite at Verisign must have been smiling this morning. That’s because ICANN dropped a bombshell, delaying a big portion of new top level domain names due to “name collisions”. It not only delays much of the program (as some have argued is Verisign’s goal in raising concerns), but also shows that Verisign isn’t crazy for raising its concerns. (Name collisions have been discussed ... read more ...
Mon 5th August 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Interesting: Network Solutions’ invisible pricing - Finding Network Solutions’ pricing takes a lot of commitment. Web.com customers who use Network Solutions or Register.com are not very price sensitive (or price knowledgeable). That’s how the companies are able to charge roughly $35 for a one year registration instead of the $10-$15 that most registrars charge. But I noticed something the other day about its pricing strategy/order flow that is rather interesting. I was trying to figure out how much Network Solutions ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Afilias forecasts 5,000 to 50,000 domains for the new TLDs after 3 years - Company forecasts only 4 of its new TLD strings having over 50,000 DUM after three years. For the most part, new top level domain applicants have remained quiet about their registration projections. There’s a good reason for this, especially if they’re in a contention set with other applicants. If competitors know how many domains they expect to register, they can back into how much the other company might pay in an auction. But Afilias is an exception to this ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Now.com owners Starbucks (HK) Limited loses brawl over .now - Company that owns now.com loses the first of many objections it filed over the .now top level domain. IPTV company Starbucks (HK) Limited has lost its legal rights objection against One.com A/S’ application for the .now top level domain name. Starbucks, which is not affiliated with the coffee chain, owns the second level domain name Now. It’s also a rival applicant for .now and filed legal rights objections against all five competing applicants. The fact that ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
This is funny: SM.net UDRP claims domain couldn’t be associated to porn - A rather curious argument in a UDRP for SM.net. Spanish education publishing company Fundación Santa María-Ediciones SM has lost a UDRP it filed against the owner of SM.net. Although the company’s trademarks include the term “SM”, it only makes up part of its marks. Thus, the panel ruled that the domain name was not confusingly similar to a mark in which the complainant had rights. Nothing earth shattering here. But this is what I found amusing. The Complainant ... read more ...
Sat 3rd August 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NTIA dissapoint with Verisign, final that it endorse it will routine new TLD delegations - NTIA questions Verisign’s recent spate of concerns about new TLD rollout. ICANN has published a letter that Verisign sent to the U.S. National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) regarding Verisign’s security and stability concerns for new top level domains as well as the NTIA’s response. The response shows that the NTIA doesn’t want Verisign playing any games. Verisign’s letter was sent May 31 and the NTIA’s response has an August 2 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows and Donuts strike understanding on .media and .marketing - Donuts paid Tucows to walk away from two new top level domain bids. Donuts negotiated a deal with rival applicant Tucows for the strings .marketing and .media, which is why the latter withdrew its applications for the two domains last month. While neither party disclosed the terms of the deal, a video released by Tucows shows that Donuts paid Tucows to withdraw its applications. Because Tucows is a public company, we will likely get more details when it releases earnings ... read more ...
Fri 2nd August 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
If .amazon is killed, will Amazon bail on a new TLD program? - Amazon may be questioning its role in the first round of new top level domain applications. With the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) recommending that ICANN block Amazon.com’s application for the .amazon top level domain, it poses an interesting question: should Amazon.com bail out on the entire new TLD program? Assuming ICANN’s board agrees with the GAC, I suspect the question will at least be discussed at Amazon. The answer has a lot to do with what Amazon ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top 5 Domain Name Wire Stories from Jul 2013 - An acquisition, domain disputes, defensive registrations, and new TLDs top last month’s news. July was a busy month at Domain Name Wire, thanks in part to the launch of our redesign. Before we go forward, let’s take a quick step back and look at the top 5 stories on Domain Name Wire last month. 1. It’s not really Walmart: Walmart goes after union’s parody site Walmart filed a UDRP against a union’s domain names that are used to parody a Walmart website. 2. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TLDH and Tucows group adult on 3 tip turn domain names - Two TLD applicants pool resources. Top Level Domain Holdings and Tucows are combining resources in an effort to lock down three top level domain names that are in contention sets. Tucows had applied for .group and TLDH applied for .tech and .store. By teaming up, each company will contribute to auction funds and take a minority interest in each others’ strings. Their amount of ownership will depend on how much money they contribute for the auctions. While the companies ... read more ...
 
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Network Solutions shuts down 3 Iranian websites - Registrants are agency of the Iranian government or Specially Designated Nationals. Web.com, parent company of domain name registrar Network Solutions, revealed today that it has shut down three Iranian websites due to the The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012. In its SEC filing, the company details three organizations that Network Solutions originally sold domain name registrations to from 1999 to 2002, which later renewed their domain names. ... read more ...
Thu 1st August 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The LRO is operative only fine, appreciate you - Weak cases leading to failed Legal Rights Objections. With objectors losing the first 25 decided Legal Rights Objections (LRO) to new top level domains, there are murmurs about whether or not LRO is working. The short answer: yes. The LRO was created to assuage fears that someone would cybersquat on a top level domain. Groups like Association for National Advertisers scared their constituents into thinking someone might apply for their well known brand. For example, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Are Famous Four’s tip turn domain name projections realistic? - A new pitch deck for Domain Venture Partners details how much money it thinks a new top level domain registry can generate. In November I wrote about Domain Venture Partners’ pitch deck for new top level domain investors. Today I received a new pitch deck, dated June of this year, detailing the investment funds’ capital raise to date and its plans for a new fund. It also has projections for what a typical new TLD will generate. Domain Venture Partners is investing ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
I Reckon this association needs to re-read a UDRP - Company provides evidence to panel that destroys any chance of it winning UDRP for Reckon.com. Australian company Reckon Limited, which uses the web address reckon.com.au, has lost a UDRP for the domain name Reckon.com. It’s pretty clear what happened in this case. Reckon Limited tried to track down the owner of Reckon.com to buy the domain name, but quite simply couldn’t get a response. So, as a last ditch effort, it filed a UDRP. Of course, not being able to ... read more ...
Wed 31st July 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
34 finish user domain sales - Afternic has another big week for end user domain name sales. Afternic sold over $1 million worth of domains last week. Here are 34 domains that were sold to end users. Memorial and headstone company Tecstone Granite USA paid $1,477 for CivicMemorials.com. Ciudad Del Saber in Panama bought CiduadDelSaber.com for $1,495. It currently uses CDSPanama.org. Boston event production company Gateway Productions bought BostonVideo.com for $1,350. UK Pet Food company Pet Organic ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Whistles.co.uk owners files UDRP on Whistles.com - Parked page’s contents probably upset clothing company. Whistles Limited, a UK womens’ clothing brand, has filed a UDRP against Whistles.com. The company’s website is Whistles.co.uk. A B.S. filing against a generic domain name? Maybe. But this is one of those cases in which the domain’s owner should have been more careful with domain name parking. Here’s what’s on the site right now: This reminded me of some recent debate about the dangers of parking ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Drone builder spends $300k on domain and Phoenix Suns make waggish .la domain purchase - Company producing popular drones for hobbyists spends a lot of money on a domain while the Suns get creative with a .la domain name. This week’s Sedo domain sales list includes a number of good domain sales to “end users”. One is a hot technology company making drones for the hobbyist market. The other was a purchased by the Phoenix Suns that creatively uses the .la domain name. Chinese company DJI Technology Co bought DJI.com for $300,000. This is a very high ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Objection opposite Google’s .music bid rejected - First of seven objections filed by DotMusic Limited fails. DotMusic Limited’s legal rights objection to Google’s application for the .music top level domain name has been rejected. Officially, panelist David J.A. Cairns ruled that DotMusic Limited didn’t have standing to bring the case because it was unclear if it (or other entities) owned the marks asserted in the case. Nevertheless, Cairns went ahead and considered whether the objection would be approved even ... read more ...
Tue 30th July 2013
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Yahoo gets obvious for prioritizing cybersquatting cases - Patent covers discovering and prioritizing cybersquatting issues. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted patent number 8,499,032 (pdf) to Yahoo for a “System and method for compiling a set of domain names to recover”. The invention, which I wrote about when the application was published in 2010, allows a trademark owner to generate a list of potentially infringing domain names. This list is run against network data to prioritize which domain names get ... read more ...