Author Archives: The Domains

About The Domains

Michael Berkens, Esq. is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheDomains.com. Michael is also the co-founder of Worldwide Media Inc. which sold around 70K domain to Godaddy.com in December 2015 and now owns around 5K domain names . Michael is also a Director of RightoftheDot.com which is a consultant in the new gTLD space and a broker of super premium domains. Michael was also one of the 5 Judges selected for the the Verisign 30th Anniversary .Com contest this year.

Wed 18th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
Once One of The Biggest Gambling Sites Generating Billions, BetonSports.com Sells For $4,900 - BetonSports.com was once one of the biggest gambling sites on the Internet generating Billions of dollars in revenue. Today it was on the Godaddy.com/Afternic.com list selling for just $4,900 According to wikipedia.org BetonSports plc Which operated under BetonSports.com, was “one of the biggest players in the United States online gaming market, drawing in several billion US dollars in wagers in the early 2000s.” In June 2006 US authorities indicted the company and a number of its executives ... read more ...
Tue 17th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sedo Transactions Total $1.4 Million Led By Musique.com For $75K - Sedo reported 688 transactions took place on Sedo’s marketplace and via SedoMLS, totaling $1.4 Million This amounts to $64.5 Million  in year-to-date sales revenue. Over 45% of total sales were the result of Buy Now listings. Record sale: Today, Sedo’s broker Dave Evanson brokered jobs.ca for $450,000. Please note that this sale is not included in the attached sales list. It will appear in next week’s sales list. Highlights of public sales include: ·         Top .coms: musique.com ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Tucows Moving To NASDAQ & Does 1-for-4 Reverse Stock Split - Tucows Inc. (NYSE MKT:TCX, TSX:TC), announced today that it will transfer its U.S. stock exchange listing to the NASDAQ  effective December 30, 2013. The Company also announced that its board of directors has approved a reverse stock split of the Company’s common shares that will combine every four Tucows common shares into one Tucows common share. The Company’s common stock is expected to begin trading on a split-adjusted basis at the market open on December 31, 2013. Shares of Tucows have ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
insurance.pro Gets Hit With a UDRP - I know 99% of you could give a crap about a .Pro domain name but in the legal world there isn’t any different between a .pro and a .com domain and insurance.pro, as about a  generic domain as you can get,just got hit with a UDRP. The complainant is not listed but there is a trademark on the term “Insurance Pro” The domain is being re-directed at the moment to Allprodomains.com which has a lot of great .pro domain names listed for sale or lease including: BANKRUPTCY.PRO DISABILITY.PRO DISCRIMINATION.PRO LAWFIRM.PRO LITIGATION.PRO PATENTS.PRO All ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Godaddy/Afternic Sales Total $1,838.00 Led By Humble.com For $50K - Godaddy.com and Afternic.com just released its sales report for the week of 12/9/13 – 12/15/13. Total domain sales for the week summed to $1,838,001. All sales were led by Humble.com which sold for $50,0000 Orderme.com at $20K was pretty cheap. iFollow.com at $9,700 is interesting. I have no idea who would buy or why Godaddy.com or Afternic would sell GoogleCreate.com at all,  but it sold for  $2,300. Google does not seem to be the buyer. <![CDATA[]]>  Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Cisco Acquires Collaborate.com - Cisco’s just announced on its company blog that it has acquired Collaborate.com “to help capture this market transition in mobility and cloud”. The domain name was owned by Collaborative Strategies of San Francisco earlier this year and the site just launched in June when it went under privacy. Terms were not announced. Here is the rest of the blog post: As the rapidly developing mobility and cloud markets transform the technology landscape, the population of mobile workers looking to extend ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Schilling On 2014: “We Plan To Roll Out Significant Evolutionary Developments in Traffic Monetization” - In a letter to clients, Frank Schilling of DomainNameSales.com tells clients that his company has big plans for 2014 which will hopefully lead to higher payouts for Traffic Monetization: “As pivotal as 2013 was, 2014 will be even more tumultuous with hundreds of viable new G’s coming to market. SLD Domain Names will rain aplenty, like pennies from heaven and the smart registrants and folks on this email list will see this as a significant opportunity to expand their footprints and hedge their ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
I Love You Rick, But Your Poll Results Are BullSh*t - Rick Schwartz published the results of the poll he took last week on topics ranging from readers thoughts of his blog, to what they thought about the new gTLD program in a post entitled Rick’s 2013-2014 Poll Results. What They Mean and Pointed Commentary. As many as you know Mr. Schwartz and I are good friends and fellow Sherpa’s on DomainSherpa’s Live weekly show, actually there are few people in the industries opinion I value more than Rick’s but I have to call BullSh*t on the meaning Rick ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
ICANN Opens Comment Period On Last Resort Auctions - ICANN has opened a comment period on its Last Resort Auctions “To gather community input regarding the detailed rules and processes for Auctions to resolve string contention sets in the New gTLD Program.” “The Auction Rules have been updated since the initial release of the Preliminary Auction Rules on 1 Nov 2013 based on feedback received including during the Auctions Webinar on 7 November 2013 and the ICANN 48 Meeting in Buenos Aires. The documents being published for comment are: Auction ... read more ...
Mon 16th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
SnapNames.com BuyDomains.com Auction Ends Thursday Led By Hikers.com At $11,000 -   Snapnames.com is holding an auction of BuyDomains.com owned domain names which closes at Thursday 3:15PM on accordance with Snapnames.com normal closing rules. All bidding so far is led by Hikers.com which has a bid of $11,000 but which has not hit reserve. Hikers.com has a reserve range of $10K-$25K Complimentary.com has a bid of $5K but the reserve has not been meet which is in the $5K-$10K range. In all 15 domain names has bids on them Here are all the domains in the auction, the number of ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
With 20 Million Domain Registration, The Registry Behind .TK Raises $3 Million In Funding -   Freenom who is the registry for the .TK which is the ccTLD of Tokelau, which offers free domain names has closed a $3 million Series A funding round led by Kima Ventures. Freenom is headquartered in Amsterdam runs the .TK registry which is the second most registered domain name extension in the world with over 20,000,000 domain name registrations. Only .com has more domain name registrations that .TK The company also has signed deals with the countries of  Gabon (GA) , Central African Republic ... read more ...
Sun 15th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
Zynga Drops 130 + Names - Zynga dropped about 130 names that were either going to be projects that never came top fruition or were just protection names in alt extensions. Some of the names included: Hospitalville.info is an interesting one as Zynga has branded many games around Ville, they never owned the .com which is actually expired itself and is on Go Daddy Auctions. ZyngaCasinoBlitz.info ZyngaAnimalWorld.info/.net/us TreasureVille.us/info ZyngaFrontier.com which was probably went with the game Frontierville. Zynga ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
German Court Orders Release Of 20,000 Names Of Online Porn-Watchers - A German court has released the names and addresses of about 20,000 people whose IP addresses were detected on porn website Redtube in a copyright infringement case, NBC News reports. RedTube, the leading provider of adult content with 25 million daily users, refutes the matter in which thousands of RedTube users have received so-called “cease and desist letters”. RedTube stands by its firm opinion that these letters are completely unfounded and that they violate the rights of those ... read more ...
Sat 14th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
UDRP Panel Hands Over 12 Year Old Domain AmericanConnection.com To AA - A one member UDRP panel has awarded the 12 year old domain name americanconnection.com to American Airlines (AA) The domain holder who is a Canadian Citizen and resident registered the domain name on June 19, 2001. Complainant is American Airlines, Inc. of Fort Worth, TX, USA. Complainant is the owner of the USPTO registered mark AMERICAN CONNECTION which it claims to have been using at least as early as September 24, 1997 and which was registered on October 27, 1998. AMERICAN CONNECTION is one ... read more ...
Fri 13th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
20% of The Domain Name Conferences.com Sold For $50,000, All In Bitcoins - Josh Metnick who is best known in the domain world as having owned Chicago.com, just purchased a 20% interest in the domain name Conferences.com for $50,000, and in what maybe a first, the purchase price for the %20 interest was paid entirely in Bitcoin (BTC) The domain name Conferences.com is owned by another top domain investor, Merlin Kauffman. Josh tells me that he has been in negotiations for about three years on acquiring an interest in the domain name The 20% sale for $50,000 places the valuation ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
The Pirate Bay is Sailing Toward A World Where The Domain Name is irrelevant - The Pirate Bay has had to sail the high seas of the DNS many times throughout its existence. Recently the site has moved from .SX  (Sint Maarten) to the .pe extension (Peru). The Pirate Bay has told TorrentFreak.com that they will soon no longer have the need for a domain name and thus make the confiscating or blocking of a domain completely futile. From the article: Currently under development is a BitTorrent-powered browser that will enable users to store and distribute The Pirate Bay and other ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Overstock.com Sues NoMoreRack.com For Trademark Infringement For Buying Keyword Ads Under Overstock - Overstock.com filed suit in the Federal Court for Utah for trademark infringement against NoMoreRack.com apparently over NoMoreRack.com’s use of the word Overstock in its ads and for buying keyword advertising under the term Overstock. Here are the relevant parts of the Complaint: “Overstock.com, Inc. files this Complaint for trademark infringement and unfair competition, and seeks a preliminary injunction, a permanent injunction, and damages against Defendant Nomorerack.com and alleges as follows: “Upon ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Godaddy.com Warns Customers That .Vg & .Tc Domains May Not Be Renewed & Will Be Costly - In any email Godaddy.com warns customers that they might not be able to renew .VG domain names or .TC domain names. If they are able to renew them they are not going to be cheap “We previously told you about a dispute at the .TC and .VG domain name registries.” “We have already suspended new .TC and .VG registrations because of complications at the registry, and we may have issues renewing your domain(s). ” “Also, effective immediately, the registries have increased the price of renewals: ... read more ...
Thu 12th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Bob Parsons Pledges Half of His Fortune to Charity - Huffington Post reports that Bob Parsons the founder of Go Daddy will give half of his fortune to charity. According to Forbes that net worth is $1.9 Billion. http://www.forbes.com/profile/bob-parsons/ From the article: Parsons and wife, Renee, recently joined the Giving Pledge –- a movement started by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett four years ago –- which asks the world’s richest people to donate half of their wealth to charity. The Parsonses, along with six other affluent families, ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
5.co.uk Sells For $67,611 on NameJet.com - The domain name 5.co.uk sold for a very nice $67,611 on NameJet.com today, leading all .co.uk sales for the month on that platform. There have been quite a few .co.uk domain names up for sale this month on Namejet.com which coupled with the announcement by Nominet that company that runs the .Uk ccTLD that they will be assigning .UK domains with the .co.uk owner getting first shot. In other domain name auctions at Namejet.com, the domain name CustomCar.com sold for $22,600 or less than twice the amount ... read more ...
Wed 11th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
From a $25K Domain Sale To $18 Million In Funding, One Of Our Domain Sales; Raise.com Is On Fire - Techcrunch.com just covered Raise.com, a domain name that I sold at a live Moniker.com/TRAFFIC auction many years ago for $25,000. The company has gone from the $25K purchase to raising over $18 Million in VC money. “”Raise.com is one of the fastest-growing startups in the Chicago region. While we were able to reach founder George Bousis today to confirm the raise, the company prefers to keep a low profile when it comes to disclosing its funding details, and instead wants to focus only on growing ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
BioPlus Loses UDRP To Grab Bioplus.com After Refusing to Pay a “Exorbitant Price of $20,000.00″ - BIOPLUS SPECIALTY PHARMACY SERVICES, INC. just lost its bid to grab the domain name Bioplus.com after refusing to pay the “exorbitant price of $20,000.00″ Complainant has used the BIOPLUS mark in connection with its specialty service since 1998. However the mark was not registered with The USPTO until February 11, 2010. Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy requires that Complainant must prove each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be cancelled or transferred: ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
dotShabaka Chooses Pool.com For Sunrise & Landrush Aucitons - The newest of the new gTLDs, ‘شبكة.’ (translates to .web in English) announced today that they have selected Pool.com for its Sunrise and Land Rush auction More recently Pool.com’s auction platform has helped support .sx (the country code of St. Maarten) and CoInternet’s re-launch of .co, which, according to Mr. Schreier, allows businesses and individuals to brand themselves online with memorable domain names even shorter than .com. “As the world’s first borderless Arabic new Top-Level ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Godaddy Opens Up Pre-Registrations on 14 Donuts New gTLD’s With 6 Levels Up to $12,569.99 Per Domain - Godaddy.com is now taking Pre-registrations for domain names on 14 of  Donuts new gTLD’s The new names are .ESTATE, .PHOTOGRAPHY, .VENTURES, .GURU, .BIKE, .CLOTHING, .GALLERY, .SINGLES, .CAMERA, .LIGHTING, .PLUMBING, .EQUIPMENT, .GRAPHICS and .HOLDINGS. Godaddy is accepting normal Pre-Registrations starting at $24.99 up to $99.99 which varies by the extension, but the real story is Godaddy is offering 5 other levels of Priority pre-reservations for each of the 14 new gTLD strings for up to $12,569.99 ... read more ...
Tue 10th December 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sedo Transactions Total $1 Million - Sedo.com  Over the past week, 580 transactions took place on Sedo’s marketplace and via SedoMLS, totaling $1 Million. This amounts to $63.1 Million in year-to-date sales revenue. Over 51% of total sales were the result of Buy Now listings. Highlights of public sales include: Top .coms: sandwich.com at 137,500 USD Top ccTLD: pizza.es at 35,000 EUR Top “other” TLD: tmnet.net at 3,900 EUR   <![CDATA[]]> Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...