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 25th September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Afternic.com Sells $904K In Domains Led By Credo.com For $75K - Afternic.com just released its domain sales for the period of 9/16/13 – 9/22/13. Domain sales including confidential sales and sales under $1000, summed to $904,382. The highest sale was Credo.com which sold for $75,000 followed by Rool.com for $35,000. Here is the full list of reportable sales: Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Sedo Transactions Total $1.4MM - Over the past week, 752 transactions took place on Sedo’s marketplace and via SedoMLS, totaling $1.4m. This amounts to $49.8m in year-to-date sales revenue. Over 47% of total sales were the result of Buy Now listings. “Congratulations to the buyer of novigo.com: The buyer is a global consulting firm based in California and providing information technology services. Formerly called GOPA IT Consultants and operating under the URL gopa-itc.com, the companies’ name has now changed to Novigo.” Highlights ... read more ...
 
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UPDATED: Registrars Where You Can Place Pre-Reservations On New gTLD Domain Names - We have updated this post which was published a couple of months ago adding registrars that are now taking pre-orders or pre-reservations on New gTLD domain names. Pre-orders or pre-reservation require a form or payment while expressions of interest do not After I wrote the post that 1and1.com topped over 2 Million new gTLD domain name pre-reservations (actually now over 2.15) I got a few emails of people asking me what other registrars are and are not taking pre-reservations. Once again a pre-reservation ... read more ...
 
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ICANN Publishes Study on Whois Privacy & Proxy Service Abuse & Opens Up Comment Period - ICANN authorized a study conducted by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the United Kingdom, to analyze gTLD domain names to measure whether the percentage of privacy/proxy use among domains engaged in illegal or harmful Internet activities is significantly greater than among domain names used for lawful Internet activities. Furthermore, this study compares these privacy/proxy percentages to other methods used to obscure identity – notably, Whois phone numbers that are invalid. These findings ... read more ...
 
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ICANN To Post Redline Changes To New gTLD Registry Contracts - According to a post by ICANN on its site it will start publishing redline versions of executed Registry Agreements as it ” would be helpful to the entire ICANN community, and would also support ICANN’s efforts to provide operational transparency”. “Published redlined versions will highlight changes between an executed agreement and the current standard 2013 Registry Agreement. ” “Redlined versions will be available starting October 2013.” “As of Friday 20 September, ICANN has signed ... read more ...
Tue 24th September 2013
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Are These The 107 New gTLD Extensions Donuts Partnered With Demand Media On? - Donuts.co which applied for 307 new gTLD strings has stated all along that they were in partnership with Demand Media (DMD) on 107 of the applications. However I do not think Donuts or Demand have publicly stated which of the 107 new gTLD’s that Donuts applied for that they are in a partnership with Demand Media on. Looking through some new gTLD applications today I found that 107 applications are now held by a parent company called Covered TLD, LLC (Covered Donuts) and another 201 are held by ... read more ...
 
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Come Join Me At The Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress In London On Thursday - Tonight I’m jumping the pond and heading over to London for the Digital Marketing gTLD Strategy Congress which is being held in at the Park Plaza Victoria in London on Thursday and Friday. “Back by popular demand and building off of the success of the inaugural Digital Marketing gTLD Strategy Congress that was held in New York in March, Momentum is pleased to offer you the Digital Marketing gTLD Strategy Congress–UK European Edition in London. “Regardless of whether your organisation ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Techstars Acquires NameLayer to Bring Premium Domain Names to the Portfolio - According to a blog post on its company blog,  Techstars has acquired the entire portfolio of NameLayer, a popular inventory of brandable domain names curated for the tech market. NameLayer was founded by Julian Shapiro and Edward Zeiden in 2011 as the commercialization of Shapiro’s domain aftermarket algorithms that were designed to find the needles in the domain market haystack. S ome notable domains from its inventory include SocialBond.com, NetworkGraph.com, PayMethod.com, ZenSale.com, PayPlatform.com, ... read more ...
 
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Jean-Christophe Vignes joins Artemis as Director of Domain Operations - Tom Scopazzi of Artemis which has an application for .Secure, just sent out an email today announcing that effective today, Jean-Christophe Vignes has joined Artemis as Director of Domain Operations! “In this capacity, he will be in charge of building our Registry and Registrar capabilities for .secure and we look forward to leveraging his expertise throughout the ICANN world. ” “As you know, J.C. brings a wealth of experience to the team, having worked for several ccTLDs, a registrar, and ... read more ...
 
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Radix, TLDH & Westerdal Asks ICANN To Suspend All Pending Expert Panels In New gTLD Process - Three large applicants to the new gTLD program sent a letter to ICANN yesterday to complaint about the Experts appointed by The Dispute Resolution Service Providers relating to the Community Objection process especially those at the ICC and asked ICANN to “ask all contracted arbitrators to temporarily suspend their decision making until ICANN can conduct a basic level of training for the actual Expert Panels on the AGB guidelines and their interpretations.” “Only Experts who are successfully ... read more ...
Mon 23rd September 2013
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Phil Corwin Of ICA Appointed To Internet Committee of a International Trademark Association (INTA) - Phil Corwin of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has been appointed to the serve on the Internet Committee of the International Trademark Association (INTA) for a two-year term commencing in January 2014 International Trademark Association (INTA) is the largest group of its kind. Mr. Corwin stated: “This will allow me to bring the perspective of domain registrants and others into the Committee’s consideration of trademark policy on the Internet Committee for the next two years!” This ... read more ...
 
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Microsoft, Verisign & Yahoo! Sends Joint Letter To ICANN: We Want An Update On Name Collision Mitigation Plan - In a joint letter Microsoft, Verisign and Yahoo! urged ICANN to study the Collission Mitigation Plan before allowing any “The undersigned companies and organizations submit this letter to express our significant concern regarding several unresolved stability and security issues associated with the upcoming delegation of new gTLDs.” “We understand that the New gTLD Applicant Group (NTAG) recently submitted a letter on these issues. While some of the undersigned are members or observers of NTAG, ... read more ...
 
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FileSense, Inc. Loses 2nd UDRP This Year On The Domain FileSense.com - FileSense, Inc. represented by Ronnie Allen Sheppick of Utah just lost its 2nd UDRP this year on the domain name FileSense.com. Back in March 2013, we covered this same company’s attempted to grab this same domain name away from the same domain owner. The domain name owner has now defended two UDRP on the same domain per se, (without  the representation of an attorney) so he didn’t have to incur legal fees but has now spent a lot of time defending a domain he got for $350 on the drop. While ... read more ...
 
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DomCollect AG Loses UDRP On 18 Facebook Typo Domain Names - DomCollect AG just lost a UDRP of a bunch of Facebook typo domain names that they didn’t even bother to respond to. DomCollect according to at least one report is owned or is a subsidiary of United Internet the same company that owns Sedo.com and 1and1.com Here are the domain names: dominalaventaconfacebook.com facebookatemybaby.com facebookbuyingclub.com facebookconsultancy.net facebook-consulting.net facebooklikespage.com facebooklikespages.com facebook-marketing-service.info fäcebook.org facebookpararestaurantes.com facebooksafetyforteens.com facebooksafetypup.com facebooksafetypup.org facebook-site.org facebooktools.net hpukfacebook.com myspace-facebook.com   DomCollect ... read more ...
 
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Are These The Worst 7 Domains Someone Has Filed a UDRP On? - The luxury Jeweler Van Cleef Arpels filed a UDRP on 7 of the worst domain names you will ever see. Obviously there must be something going on well beyond the domain names themselves, but on a domain name basis all of these are brutal. This maybe the best case for owning a registry, as all sort of ridiculous domains are registered everyday and at the end of the day the registry wins. Here is the list: a-graceful-leaf-of-pave-set-diamonds-curls-in-van-cleef-arpels.com a-little-modern-masterwork-by-van-cleef-arpels-presents-a-oval.com artisans-cartier-van-cleef-and-arpels-winston-bulgari-tiffany.com kennedy-proposed-jackie-with-van-cleef-arpels-engagement-ring.com van-cleef-arpel-oval-sapphire-sleek-wide-ring-2-baguette-tracks.com van-cleef-arpels-to-make-womens-gold-and-pave-set-diamond-band.com van-cleef-arpel-the-contract-bracelet-for-our-contract-18-v-37.com Google+Michael ... read more ...
 
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1and1.com New gTLD Pre-Registrations Blows Past 2 Million, Setting Off gTLD Pre-Reservation Panic -                   1and1.com which started a multimillion dollar national television advertising campaign which seemed to start around the first NFL games three weeks ago, just crossed the 2,000,000 mark in new gTLD pre-reservations. Unofficially I tracked some 70,000 pre-registrations today alone. To their credit and unlike other pre-registration services, 1and1.com is only accepting one pre-registration per new gTLD domain name. If someone’s selected new gTLD domain name is the person ... read more ...
Sun 22nd September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
Domainer Gets Really Lucky With Lucky7.com As ABC Rolls Out Contest On ABCLucky7.com - A domainer seems to have gotten really lucky with the domain name Lucky7.com Not only is ABC rolling out a new television show by the same name but its running a contest which is is heavily promoting on the domain name ABCLucky7.com which premeirs on September 24th The contest is going to give away $100K so you can expect to get some exposure. The domain name Lucky7.com was first registered in 2000. The domain name is currently owned under privacy at Tucows.com As for the domain name LuckySeven.com ... read more ...
 
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PetSitters.com Closes At Record Auction Price For Pheenix.com At $23,383 - Back catcher Pheenix.com which recently went to an auction system for multiple back orders on August 1,  just closed its highest auction ever with the sale of PetSitters.com which closed at $23,383. (plus the $18.95 backorder fee so total of $23,401.95) The domain PetSitters.com has an Estibot.com value of $60,000. It obviously a great name and and one in which you could open up a business on. The domain PetSitters.com was a free drop domain name meaning it was gotten on a first come first serve ... read more ...
 
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Paris Opens Up Founders/Pioneer Program For 1st 100 .Paris Domain Names - The City of Paris opening up a submission period to allocate the first 100 .Paris new gTLD domain names. The city is opening  two “Calls for Proposals” for the purpose of selecting the first domain names under “.paris” top-level domain (TLD). Interested parties can apply on the web site http://mondomaine.paris.fr to be among the first 100 first holders of a web site ending in “.paris”. “The first Call for Proposals enables various types of actors to obtain a domain name matching their ... read more ...
Sat 21st September 2013
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CADNA: Costs Of Defensive New gTLD Registrations To Be Double The Total Cost Of All .Com Registrations - As pointed out by the Phil Corwin of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) has launched another offensive at the new gTLD program teaming up with the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB) to launch a month-long “‘Know Your Net’ gTLD public awareness campaign” “Their goal is to enact amendments to the U.S. Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) that would expand the law’s coverage beyond domain registrants by creating secondary ... read more ...
Fri 20th September 2013
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NameCheap.com Files 4 UDRP’s Against 7 Domains - NameCheap.com filed four separate UDRP today with the National Arbitration Forum for a bunch of typo’s The first case involves three typo domain names: namechea.com naecheap.com nameceap.com The 2nd case filed by NameCheap.com involves two typo’s” nmecheap.com namehceap.com The third case involves just one typo domain: namecehap.com The 4th case also involves just one typo: mamecheap.com As it involves a big registrar in the space we will keep our eye on all. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
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Want To Win An Apple TV: Famous Four Starts Suggest A Cool .Bid New gTLD Domain Contest - Famous Four Media is running a competition to find the coolest web address you can think of for the new .Bid generic Top Level Domain (TLD). The competition is open now and will close at 11:59 UTC +2 on 4th October 2013, at which time the best suggestions will be entered into a random draw and the winner will receive a brand new Apple TV. To stand a chance of winning all we need is for you to send your suggestions along with your email address to coolnames@famousfourmedia.com. Alternatively you ... read more ...
 
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Aida.me Saved In UDRP By Domain Holders Children - Aida Cruises whose website is Aida.de just lost a UDRP on the domain name Aida.me. Although the complainant had a registered trademark on the term Aida the domain holder registered the domain name for his daughter which won him the UDRP: “The Respondent submits that his daughter, born December 15, 2010, is named “Aida”. The Respondent has three other children named Zakaria, Danyaal and Mikaeel. The Respondent has registered domain names for each of his children for their personal use. The Respondent ... read more ...
 
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Hunting Moon GFY Adult Domain Auction Is Live With Over 700 Domains - HuntingMoon.com is holding an online auction of primarily adult domain names in conjunction with GFY (Gof*ckyourself.com) also in conjunction with the Webmaster Access Amsterdam 2013 conference. There are 710 domain names in the auction with a total reserve price of over $12,000,000. The auction seems to just have a starting bid for each domain rather than a reserve price or reserve range. The auction closes on October 16, 2013 with staggered times so you will have to check on the closing time of ... read more ...
Thu 19th September 2013
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Marchex Pulls Plan To Spin Off Archeo Into Separate Public Company But Plans To Issues Dividends -   Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHX), today announced that it will not pursue a spin-off its domains-related assets into a stand-alone, publicly-traded company at this time and that Archeo will continue to operate as an independent division of Marchex. Marchex came to this conclusion as part of a recent strategic review which began this summer after Marchex sold certain pay-per-click assets, which were operating under Archeo, in July. Marchex sold the assets to help sharpen Archeo’s focus and market ... read more ...