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 8th July 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.LA gets GoDaddy’s selling energy to assistance code domain for Los Angeles - .LA to get another push as the domain for Los Angeles. GoDaddy announced this morning that it has teamed up with DOT LA Marketing Company and CentralNic to help push the ccTLD .la as a domain name for Los Angeles. The domain name registrar is offering annual .la domain name registrations for $39.99 and will hold auctions for some premium .la domain names as well. .LA is actually the country code for Laos, also known as Lao People’s Democratic Republic, a country ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tesco goes after domain penetrate tes.co – and there’s some-more to come. - Here’s an example of a type of complaint we’ll see more often going forward. Traditionally, UDRP panels don’t consider the top level domain as part of what makes a domain name similar to a mark in which the complainant has rights. We can expect this to change as new top level domain names come online. Here’s an example of how a second level domain is not similar to a complainant’s mark, but the combination of the first and second level domain are: tes.co. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
United Press International sues after losing UDRP - Company that lost UDRP in May files cybersquatting lawsuit. United Press International, commonly known simply as UPI, has filed an in rem cybersquatting lawsuit (pdf) for the domain names UPIPhoto.com and UPIPhoto.org. The company lost a UDRP for upiphoto.com in May. A World Intellectual Property Organization ruled that the registrant of the domain, which goes by the name United Photographers International, had legitimate rights or interests in the domain and had ... read more ...
Fri 5th July 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Article 29 Working Party hurdles new RAA information influence requirements - Group provides a blanket statement for registrars wishing to get a waiver for data retention under new registrar agreement. The Article 29 Working Party has lent a helping hand to EU registrars (and potentially others) concerned about data retention requirements in the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). There are a number of requirements to retain data in the 2013 RAA approved last week, ranging from the IP address of domain registrants to their credit ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verisign files patents for a Domain Manager and preventing antagonistic domain registrations - Company that is looking to assert its patents files two more applications. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published to patent applications yesterday that were filed by Verisign. Both applications were filed in 2011. Application 13/339466 (pdf) is titled “Methods and Systems for Creating New Domains”: Systems and methods for creating a new domain, such as a top-level domain or a second-level domain, make use of a Domain Manager that enables a user to enter ... read more ...
Wed 3rd July 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Board approves new TLD registry agreement - Board approves agreement that will govern new top level domain operators. The New gTLD Program Committee of the ICANN Board of Directors has approved the registry agreement that will be signed by most new TLD operators. The 93 page agreement governs how top level domain operators must manage their namespaces, fees they’ll pay ICANN, and under what conditions ICANN can terminate the registry relationship. Not all registry operators will be pleased with the agreement, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
A BIG finish user domain name sale during Sedo - A company who’s initials are BIG paid $22,500 for a domain last week at Sedo. Sedo’s public sales list from last week was led by a domain purchased by a new personal care products company. Here are details on that sale and other end user sales at Sedo. A new personal care company called Beauty Innovations Group LLC (BIG for short) bought BIGBeauty.com for $22,500. Sprinkler Warehouse, Inc. in Houston bought DripStore.com for $9,900. Imagings Solutions AG in Switzerland ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
38 some-more finish user domain sales including some tangible brands - 20th Century Fox among domain name buyers. Some recognizable brands made domain name purchases at Afternic last week. Here’s the end user sales list. IMF.com sold for $27,000. Although the whois is protected by a privacy service, the domain now forwards to imf-formacion.com, the web site of Instituto Madrileo de Formacin. PayHere Payment Services Ltd bought PayHere.net for $3,900. The domain was sold by Tucows’ YummyNames. Marchex owns the .com version. A guy ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
U.S. Wine organisation questions GAC recommendation on .wine and .vin domain names - Wine Institute questions GAC concerns about geographic second level domains under .wine and .vin. A trade group for the California wine industry has sent an e-mail to ICANN Chairman of the Board Dr. Stephen Crocker questioning the GAC’s advice regarding the .wine and .vin domain names. Wine Institute Director of International Trade Policy Tom LaFaille sent the email on June 20, but it doesn’t appear to be published anywhere on ICANN’s website. The Governmental ... read more ...
Tue 2nd July 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ingenious? Network Solution offers Expiration Protection. - Company charges $9.99 to renew your domain name for another year in case you forget. As Web.com points out frequently on its investor conference calls, it believes that it has room to grow its cross selling activities to existing customers. This latest sales pitch gave me a good laugh. Network Solutions (owned by Web.com) is offering its customers “Domain Expiration Protection”, which makes sure your domain doesn’t expire for a least a year if they can’t auto ... read more ...
Mon 1st July 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Testing DomainsBot’s new TLD Recommendation Engine - Latest DomainsBot software starts to tackle challenge of hundreds of top level domains. DomainsBot announced its new TLD Recommendation Engine today. The service considers a number of data points to return the most relevant top level domain options for a given search. It considers content analysis of popular websites, frequency analysis of searched and registered domains, social media data, and geo targeting. I was eager to try it out given the coming changes to domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Donuts hires 6 for sales and marketing - New top level domain applicant adds sales team ahead of new TLD launch. Donuts, which applied for more top level domain names than any other company, has staffed up its sales and marketing team. The company announced six hires today, at least one of which was previously known. Sales and marketing efforts will be based in the company’s new Calabasas, California (Los Angeles) office. The company hired Bob Samuelson to as VP of Sales Marketing. Samuelson joins from ... read more ...
 
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Google and Lego among speakers during new TLD conference - Initial list of speakers for new TLD conference in London is released. Representatives of Google and Lego will be among the speakers at the Digital Marketing gTLD Strategy Congress in London this September. Hal Bailey, Strategic Partnerships Director at Google, which has applied for about 100 new top level domains, will be speaking. Mette Andersen, Corporate Counsel for Lego, will also present. Lego is one of the most prolific UDRP filers, so it will be interesting ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Nintendo loses domain brawl for WiiU.com domain name - Company fails to provide enough evidence to panel to convince it to hand over WiiU.com domain name. The World Intellectual Property Organization just posted the text of a decision finding against Nintendo in its bid to get the domain name WiiU.com. Nintendo argued that the respondent “registered” the domain on September 15, 2012. The respondent countered that it had actually registered it in 2004, and that although the registrant name changed multiple times, it ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP complainant Talks a Talk, Fails to Walk The Walk - Walk the Walk Worldwide fails in domain name dispute. In April I wrote about how a charity had filed a UDRP against Frank Schilling for the domain name WalkTheWalk.com. Walk the Walk Worldwide, which operates WalkTheWalk.org, raises money for breast cancer research by organizing women to walk marathons in bras. It sounds like a great approach to raising money and awareness. Unfortunately, the charity took a not-so-great approach to trying to get the WalkTheWalk.com ... read more ...
Sun 30th June 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Switching RSS readers? Take DNW with you. - Be sure to subscribe to Domain Name Wire’s feed in your new RSS reader. The day is finally here. Google Reader dies tomorrow. 6,887 Domain Name Wire readers get their DNW news through Reader. Most competing RSS readers have a handy import feature to take all of your Google feeds with you. But if you’re starting from scratch, please subscribe to the RSS feed at: domainnamewire.com/feed My search for a Google Reader replacement has been anything but enjoyable. I ... read more ...
Fri 28th June 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
It’s a BIG ICANN proclamation day - ICANN makes major announcements that affect much of the domain registrar and registry ecosystem. I’ve received some long myICANN.org daily briefings since they started but this morning’s email is by far the longest. Here’s a quick run down of the big ICANN news out today. More analysis will follow. 1. The new Registrar Accreditation Agreement has been approved by the board. This has major implications for both the new TLD program and registrars who sell existing ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Case not sealed on “closed generics”, and there’s a hulk loophole anyway - ICANN pushes off decision on closed generic top level domains, leaving many applications in limbo. This week ICANN’s New gTLD Program Committee passed a resolution about so-called “closed generic” top level domain applications. A closed generic is a generic term applied for by an entity that does not plan to offer second level registrations to any other entities. Amazon.com, for example, doesn’t intend to offer second level registrations for any of the strings ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Singulars, plurals, and new tip turn domain confusion - We’re going to have confusion, but that may be OK. ICANN’s new gTLD committee has decided that it will not place singular and plural versions of new top level domain strings into contention sets, shutting down what was effectively an “appeal” by the Governmental Advisory Committee. Here are my thoughts. Yes, plurals and singulars will confuse internet users and domain registrants alike. There’s going to be some confusion. Anyone who says otherwise is blowing ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New RAA ushers in large changes (and demands) on domain name registrars - Developers at domain name registrars will be working overtime this fall. ICANN announced today that its Board of Directors has approved the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement. It’s the conclusion of a long and contentious process that has resulted in arguably the most sweeping changes ever in the contract that governs the relationship between ICANN and domain name registrars. I’ve written previously about the impact this will have on domain registrants. Yet ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
STRAAT pulls .movie focus as it partners with another company - Company withdraws .movie application just before initial evaluation results were to be announced. For the second time in as many months, Nu Dot Co, LLC, a subsidiary of STRAAT Investments, has withdrawn a new top level domain application and partnered up with another applicant. The latest application withdrawn was for .movie, which faced six competitors. Last month it withdrew its application for .book. “We’ve been working out the details of a strategic partnership ... read more ...
Thu 27th June 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VC changes name to Upfront with a assistance of dual domain name companies - DigiMedia and Name Ninja help Upfront Ventures get Upfront.com domain name. TechCrunch is reporting today about venture capital firm GRP Partners raising a fresh $200 million round and changed its name to Upfront Ventures. Smartly, the VC firm also picked up the domain name Upfront.com as part of the rebrand. I hadn’t heard about the domain name changing hands, so I started digging into DomainTools’ historical whois records to find out the backstory. It turns ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
It’s time to direct additional confidence from your domain registrar - Latest security lapses are another reminder of why we need added security. We are constantly reminded that thieves want to hack into our domain registrar accounts and steal our domains. Security has always been a concern for domain registrants and is frequently cited in the Domain Name Wire survey near the top of the list as to what’s important in a domain registrar. I think it’s time registrants demand better security from their registrar, or threaten to move ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New domain marketplace DNX.com rigourously launches - DNX.com facilitates reverse domain name auctions. DNX.com (Domain Name Exchange) has formally launched in beta. The domain marketplace is a joint venture between Media Options and Internet Media Pty. DNX runs reverse domain name auctions, meaning the asking price for the domain name continually drops until someone buys it (or it hits the reserve). Media Options is using DNX to help sell domains that it can’t sell through its normal channels. Here’s how the company ... read more ...
Wed 26th June 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Major League Baseball buys an “outstanding” domain name - MLB among companies buying domain names last week. Major League Baseball turned to Sedo last week to buy the domain Outstandings.com. I’m not sure what it plans to do with it, although it does award a lot of “outstanding” player awards. Details on that purchase (and other end user domain name purchases on Sedo) are below. Osa Family Clothing Co. Ltd. went global with OSA.com at $20,000. It had been using OSA.hk. Agni Travel Ltd in the UK bought BeachVillas.com ... read more ...