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.

Thu 19th September 2013
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Godaddy.com Also Acquires Domain Parking Service SmartName.com From Name Media - As part of the press release just sent out by Godaddy.com announcing its purchase of Afternic.com from Name Media, Godaddy reveals it is also buying the parking company owned by Name Media SmartName.com as part of the purchase: Industry partners Web.com, operator of Network Solutions and Register.com, and Tucows.com fully support GoDaddy’s new registrar-led model. “GoDaddy is also acquiring SmartName, a domain parking service, as well as NameFind, a new service for helping entrepreneurs brainstorm ... read more ...
 
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Breaking: Afternic.com Acquired By Godaddy - In a email that just went out to customers of Afternic.com, the online domain name marketplace owned by Name Media, Godaddy has acquired Afternic. According to the email, Name Media which owns Afternic.com, is just selling Afternic.com the marketplace and not BuyDomains.com another company owned by NameMedia which owns and operates reportedly some 1 million domain names. It will be interesting to see how this will effect some new gTLD registries. Afternic.com has been offering an aftermarket product ... read more ...
 
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12 Year Old Domain DIMY.com Saved In UDRP - The Complainant INDÚSTRIA E COMÉRCIO DE CONFECÇÕES DI MIRMAY LTDA of Brazil, lost its bid to grab the domain name DIMY.com from a chinese registrant. The domain name was registered on November 16, 2001. The Complainant was founded in 1994. Here are the relevant findings of the one member panel: It manufactures and sells a wide range of fashion products under the Trade Mark and the trade mark DI MIRMAY, including clothing, bags and accessories. The Trade Mark is derived from the Complainant’s ... read more ...
 
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Hitting Like Button Is Protected Free Speech Says The US Court Of Appeals - Hitting the “Like” button on Facebook is an element of free speech protected by the US constitution, The US Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled yesterday Virginia case involving six people who say Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts fired them for supporting an opponent in his 2009 re-election bid, which he won. The workers sued, saying their First Amendment rights were violated. The court ruled that hitting the like button qualifies as speech and can be considered the 21st century-equivalent ... read more ...
 
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DomainTools Names Bruce Roberts as VP of Technology & Jeff Day as VP of Marketing and Product & Is Still Hiring - DomainTools®, is pleased to announce the appointments of Bruce Roberts to Vice President of Technology and Jeff Day as Vice President of Marketing and Product. Both Executives bring deep enterprise software experience in growth-company environments, and add critical leadership acumen as DomainTools invests heavily to meet increasing demand from clients in the Cyber Security and Brand Protection markets. Bruce is a 20-year veteran in engineering and systems development, with a Ph.D. in Applied and ... read more ...
 
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Study On Phishing Attacks In 1st Half Of 2013: Over 58K Domains Used: 82% On .Com, .Tk, .Info - APWG Global reported in its study of phishing attacks in the first six months of 2013 and here are some of the findings of the report especially those that related directly to domain names. There were at least 72,758 unique phishing attacks worldwide in first half of 2013 (1H 2013) far below the 123,486 attacks recorded in the 2H 2012 Many brands were attacked several times a week on average, with eighty brands attacked 100 or more times each during the 26-week period. Half of the targets were attacked ... read more ...
Wed 18th September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
Top 125 Domains In Bankrupt Friend Finder’s Network: Cams.com; Amigos.com; Penthouse.com, BDSM.com - FriendFinder Network, Inc. which filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday has some great domain names within their network of company’s. We sold you earlier today that the former public company FriendFinder Network, Inc, (FFN), along with 39 associated company’s filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. Below are the top 125 domain name in terms of traffic within the FF Network , which was provided by our friends at DNSR.com which does competitive intelligence contract work for corporate clients. Obviously ... read more ...
 
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Troubling Decision: Tupras.com Registered In 1996 Lost In UDRP To “Trademark” Registered in 2000 - In a pretty troubling one member UDRP WIPO decision a trademark holder of a turkey trademark first registered in 2000 was awarded the domain name Tupras.com which was registered in 1996. The panel seemed to award the domain name based solely that the owner of the domain name Mehmet Kahveci, “has a long history of registering domain names that correspond to the name of well known Turkish companies” While the panel acknowledged that the domain name was registered a very long time ago calling it: “One ... read more ...
 
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With A Day To Go Sedo .Info Auction Has Less Than $2K In Bids - With just one day to go, the Sedo Premium .info Auction has less than $2,000 in total bids, and only one domain name streets.info has met its reserve price. Not great buy any measure. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
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Sedo Transactions Total $1.14 Million - Over the past week, 679 transactions took place on Sedo’s marketplace and via SedoMLS, totaling $1.14m. This amounts to $48.4m in year-to-date sales revenue. Over 45% of total sales were the result of Buy Now listings. “Congratulations to the buyer and seller of intranet.com for $160,000: The domain was brokered by Sedo’s broker Dave Evanson and is the highest sale in this sales list. ” Highlights of public sales include: ·         Top .coms: intranet.com at 160,000 USD ·         ... read more ...
 
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Bergzeit GmbH Owner Of Bergzeit.de: Guilty Of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - Bergzeit GmbH of Wooden Churches , Germany , represented by lawyers Riegger , Ludwigsburg, Germany  has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) on the domain name Bergzeit.com by a one member WIPO panel. Bergzeit translates into Mountain Time in German. The UDRP decision was published in German. The complainant is the owner of the domain name bergzeit.de and offers in this since 2000 , among other equipment and clothing for mountain sports and outdoor activities. The complainant ... read more ...
 
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FriendFinder Networks Inc, Publisher Of Penthouse & Owner of a Ton of Websites Files For Bankruptcy - Just two years after it went public at $10 a share, FriendFinder Networks,  publisher of Penthouse,  and a ton of websites including AdultFriendFinder.com filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday. The bankruptcy petition cites up to $1 billion in debt and less than $10 million in assets. 39 other related companies filed for bankruptcy along with FFN. The company and its affiliates comprise a global network of more than 8,000 websites with 220 million members and 750,000 subscribers, according ... read more ...
 
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RedWine.com, HighHeels.com, RedCarpet.com & Credit.co.uk Hit The Sales Block For 7 Figures Each - SurfMyAds.com is putting up several big domain names on the sales block. RedWine.com, HighHeels.com, RedCarpet.com and Credit.co.uk are for sale for what I’m told is an asking price of seven figures for Each domain name. “After owning some of the most valuable generic domain names for several years, SurfMyAds.com has decided to release some of its inventory,” said Alexis Caldwell, Vice President of Global Partnerships for SurfMyAds.com. “Generic domain names such as these can be a priceless ... read more ...
Tue 17th September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
Afternic.com Sells $950K In Domains Led By BaliMap.com For $10K - Afternic.com just released its domain sales for the period of 9/9/13 – 9/15/13. Domain sales including confidential sales and sales under $1000, summed to $951,287. The highest sale was BaliMap.com which sold for $10,000 followed by Broda.com for $9,077. Here is the full list of reportable sales: Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
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Making Whois Info Universally Private Will Be Horrible For Domain Investors & A Big Money Lose For Registrars - An ICANN working group  interim report to make Whois information generally unavailable  to the general public is getting some coverage in non-domainer publications over the last couple of days Basically the proposal calls for scrapping the current whois system which allows anyone to see who the owner of a domain is, (unless the owner has paid the registrar to have the registrar hold the domain under privacy) with a centralized Whois system called the Aggregated Registration Data Service (ARDS) ... read more ...
 
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14oz.net Loses Bid To Grab 13 Year Old Domain Name 14oz.com in UDRP - BREAD Butter GmbH Co. of Berlin, Germany, which operates under the domain name 14oz.net just lost its bid to gain control of the domain name 14oz.com in a one person UDRP decision. In the year 1999 the Complainant established a retail and wholesale business under the brand “14oz”. The business mainly focusses on the design, production and retailing of high quality apparel. Until 2004 the Complainant maintained its business in the city of Cologne and then moved to Berlin. In October 2012 the ... read more ...
 
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HealthySolutions.com Owned Since 2000, Lost In UDRP As Panel Rejects Laches - Health Management Resources Corporation just won the rights to the domain name HealthySolutions.com in a one member panel National Arbitration Forum Decision, despite the fact that the domain was registered and owned by the domain holder Todd Kingsley since March 6, 2000 and the case seemed to turn on the fact the domain name was parked and some of the links were found to be in the classes covered by the trademark. Here are the facts and findings by the one member panel: Complainant owns rights in ... read more ...
Mon 16th September 2013
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Google Buys Bump: Bu.mp - Google (GOOG) just bought Bump, a developer of Android/iOS apps that allow users to share contact info, photos, and other files by bumping their phones together. MarketWatch.com is saying the acquisition was between $30 Millon and $60 Million and the company reportedly took in some $20 Million in investment David Lieb CEO and cofounder of Bump announced the acquisition the company’s blog “We’re excited to announce that the Bump team is joining Google! “Our mission at Bump has always been ... read more ...
 
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Paramount Pictures Gets Paramount.co.uk In Nominet Ruling After Owner Asks For £120,000 - Paramount Pictures Corporation was awarded the domain name the domain name Paramount.co.uk in an arbitration decision by Nominet when operates the .Uk ccTLD. Its a pretty interesting decision since the domain Paramount.co.uk, was first registered as on June, 25th 2005 with the then Registrant identified as TagNames Limited (UK Co. No. 4534942), and with the Administrative Contact listed as “Andy Hugh”. The registration remained this way until a transfer was recorded on 29 December, 2012 from ... read more ...
 
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Another .Me Covered By TechCrunch: PushPage.me Raises $1.7M In Seed Funding & Launches W/ 5K Users - TechCrunch.com just covered another company built around a .Me domain name. According to the story  PushPage.me  is “launching its personal homepage and QA platform today, backed by $1.7 million in seed funding. ” “The product, live now on both web and mobile, offers users an online presence where they can publicize their likes and interests through a series of interview-like questions. “The company was founded in mid-2011 by Harvard grad (and former Facebook intern) Meir Lakhovsky and ... read more ...
 
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“First Glance” TRAFFIC Auction List Revealed - The organizers of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C conference, which will be held in just about one month at the Ritz Carlton in Ft. Lauderdale from October 20-23, just released its “First Glance List” for the domains that will be going up on auction during T.R.A.F.F.I.C. According to the organizers the entire list will be out next week. Also, some of these domain name will wind up being in the “Silent” auction not the live auction. Auction is scheduled for Monday October 21, 2013 Under $90k Reserve: Postal.com GoldWanted.com ... read more ...
 
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WIth Over 2,500 Votes PC Advisor Poll On New gTLD’s Says 25% Of People Are Planning On Buying 1 - Two weeks ago we told you that PCadvisor.co.uk opened up a poll on the new gTLD program Today total votes received broke the 2,500 mark and the results are pretty interesting. With 2,506 votes cast 25% of all voters said they planned to buy a new gTLD domain name although only 3% said they were on any sort of pre-registration list. 42% of the voters said they were not interested. 29% of the voter said they have never heard of new gTLD’s. Considering the fact that there are no new gTLD available ... read more ...
 
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Africa.com Now Selling Subdomains From $40 – $5,000 Per Year - Africa.com has become the latest site to sell Subdomains and according to the registry trademark holders have already grabbed a bunch. According to Ope Odusan, Managing Director, Africa.com: “The world’s largest and most high profile brands have been among the first to acquire domain names ending with the new extension .africa.com. “In the first few weeks since we started offering domains, trademarks owners have quickly picked up their domains including twitter.africa.com, starbucks.africa.com, ... read more ...
Sun 15th September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
Mashable: NSA.Org Owner Selling Subdomans and Email Addresses For $100 - According to Mashable.com,  the owner of NSA.org just started selling email addresses for $100. According to the story, Chris Fisher, is registered the domain in 1995. “At the time, since they were cheap, he said, he harvested various domain names. Fisher claims he even registered tacobell.com.” “Since then, he has kept the domain, and even turned down offers from people who wanted to buy it. ” “Fisher declined to specify the largest offer he received, saying that most offers came from ... read more ...
 
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UDRP Filed On 12 Year Old Generic Domain Name Canary.com - A UDRP has been filed on the generic domain name Canary.com According to DomainTools.com the domain name was create in 2001 by a Lin ZanSong of China who still seems to be the registrant. The domain name does not currently resolve however there appears to have been a Chinese baby clothing site on the domain back in 2012 and the domain was parked in 2011 with most links going to topics related to birds. The Complainant is not yet listed. On the trademark front there are several trademarks filed on ... read more ...