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 5th September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
Islamic Republic of Iran Wants .Islam and .Halal Managed and Operated by a Muslim Community - The Islamic Republic of Iran in a letter to ICANN said that the new gTLD applications of .ISLAM and .HALAL “should be managed and operated by the Muslim community through a neutral body that represents the different sections and segments of the Muslim community including Governments, NGOs and IGOs, Private Sector, Academia, as different stakeholders of internet in the this community.” The applicant for .islam and .halal is a private corporation, Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Medium.com: “Trading Domain Names Should Be Banned” - “I started a company called Surgeonfish. It develops and sells sportscare products. ” “It owns the following domains .eu, .de, .hu .info .org .biz and with a dash surgeon-fish.com. : “You noticed one omission? The dotcom is missing.” At the time of founding the surgeonfish.com domain had a sort of search engine on it. It did not interfere with us, so we did not care. Then they went defunct and the domain got into the hands of some domain sharks. The lowest offer I could type in in their ... read more ...
Wed 4th September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Share.TV and KeepSmart.com Hit With UDRP’s - Two generic domain names got hit with UDRP’s today Share.tv which has a creation date of 2010 was hit with a UDRP. While the complainant is not yet listed I’m going to guess its the owner of ShareTv.Org which says they have over 200,000 registered users. According to Screenshots.com there hasn’t been much of the domain since 2010 when it was parked. Another domain hit with a UDRP today is KeepSmart.com which is owned by a lawfirm. KeepSmart.com is owned by Lawline.com, CLE Inc. KeepSmartx.com ... read more ...
 
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Killer Domain Tv.Org Dropping Tomorrow; BSF.com In Auction Already - A couple of Dropping domains worth noting. A truly great domain name is on the drop list for tomorrow, Tv.Org The domain was owned by TSL of Panama which seemed to have acquired the domain in 2009. The original registrant of the domain seems to be the late Igal Lichtman who owned the domain back in 2004 then it went under privacy until 2007 where is showed  NetrinoUK Limited  of London as the Registrant. The domain went back under privacy until 2009 when the domain transferred to  Brooke Viner ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Check.Me At Auction In 2010 For $2,500, Raises $24 Million More in Funding - The domain name Check.me was at a Sedo auction with a reserve price of $2,500 back in 2010. Today according to to The Term Sheet, Check (f.k.a. Pageonce), a Palo Alto, Calif.–based mobile app for tracking and paying bills,  which used the domain name Check.me, raised $24 million in Series C funding. Menlo Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers Morgenthaler Ventures and Pitango Venture Capital. This is the second example just from today how our post that the future of  Domaining ... read more ...
 
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.Org Registrations adult 13.6% in 1st Half of 2013 to 10.3 Million - Public Interest Registry – the not-for-profit operator of the .ORG domain – today released the results of its bi-annual  domain name report, “The Dashboard,” detailing the international and domestic growth of .ORG from January to July 2013. Specifically, the report revealed that new .ORG registrations increased by 13.6 percent in the first half of 2013. Other findings from “The Dashboard” include: .ORG has reached 10.3 million domains under management (DUM) representing a net gain of ... read more ...
 
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CommonBond.Co Raises Over $100 Million - According to the Term Sheet, CommonBond, a New York-based student lending platform, has raised over $100 million in new equity and debt financing. Tribeca Venture Partners and The Social + Capital Partnership led the equity tranche, and were joined by Vikram Pandit (ex-Citi CEO), Tom Glocer (ex-Thomson Reuters CEO) and Tom Kalaris (ex-Barclays exec). The company’s website is commonbond.co CommonBond.com appears to be owned by a different company, CommonBond Communications. I know there are a bunch ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Afternic.com Sells $1.18 Million In Domains Led By Philanthropist.com For $50K - Afternic.com just released its reportable weekly domain sales report for the week of 8/26/13 – 9/1/13, total domain sales for the week, including confidential sales and sales under $1000, summed to $1,180,925. All sales were led by Name Administration, Inc sale of Philanthropist.com For $50K, tied for the highest sale of the week was the domain name Dentl.com. One of our domain names made the list as we sold Skipahead.com for $15,000 <![CDATA[]]>Non-.com Sales Price yachting.net $19,999 gatsby.org ... read more ...
 
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GongShow.com Lost In UDRP After Domain Holder Trys To Sell It For $18,000 - Gongshow Gear Inc. just won a UDRP on the domain name GongShow.com, after the domain holder asked for $18,000 to sell the domain. Complainant contends it has rights in the GONGSHOW mark, used in connection with lifestyle hockey apparel. Complainant has rights in the GONGSHOW mark with the United States Patent Trademark Office (“USPTO”) (e.g., Reg. No. 3,400,170 registered March 18, 2008). Complainant provides evidence of the fame of its GONGSHOW mark by providing exhibits of a Google search ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
CheckCashing.com Up For Sale Reserve Range $500K-$750K - Moniker® and SnapNames®, both KeyDrive S. A. companies and leading providers of domain name solutions, announced today that they have been selected as the exclusive brokerage and auction house representing CheckCashing.com and the domain is up for auction on SnapNames.com. The reserve range is pegged at $500K-$750K “The domain represents an unprecedented opportunity allowing the financial community access to more than 68 million Americans, or an $85 billion market that represent financially underserved ... read more ...
 
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ABC Liquors Gains Control Of 14 Year Old Domain ABCLiquors.com In UDRP - ABC Liquors, Inc. of Florida, just won a UDRP on the domain name abcliquor.com. Its an interesting case, although living in Florida I know ABC Liquor to be the largest chain of Liquor stores in the state, however also having a house in North Carolina I know all the liquor stores in many states are run by the state, rather than privately and referred to as ABC stores (Alcohol and Beverage  Commission) Complainant is the owner of the active United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) registration ... read more ...
 
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Fox Gains Control of 22 Domains Related To Fox Sports 1, Including Foxsport1.com, FoxSports1.Tv - Fox gained control of 22 domain names around its new network, Fox Sports 1 which just launched a few weeks ago through a UDRP. As you can see from the list below there are some bang on domain names for this new network included in this list FoxSports1.TV, FoxSport1.com and Foxsportone.com All the domain names were registered by a James Carter a/k/a JCI Here are the domain names Fox Sports got today in the UDRP: Foxsports1.tv Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
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WTR: Chats About How Radix Is Planning on Marketing Its New gTLD’s - The WorldTrademarkReview.com, published a story on Radix this morning and applicant for 29 new gTLD’s and spoke to Sandeep Ramchandani, business head of Radix , on how the company would market its offerings. Radix’s marketing strategy is two-fold.” “It plans to leverage its relationships with registrar channels as well as offering extensions directly to specific industries through direct marketing to brand owners.” “On the company’s string selection process, Ramchandani explains: “We ... read more ...
 
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Wow: Check Out Verisign’s Scathing Letter To ICANN - In a scathing letter from Chuck Gomes, Vice President of Verisign to Fadi Cheladeto CEO of ICANN Mr. Gomes lists 6 “examples of ICANN’s Unaccountable Actions as Requested by ICANN CEO Fadi Chelade” The letter itself fills in the back story as it is an outgrowth of a discussion that the two men had during “the GNSO discussion at the recent ICANN meeting in Durban. ” “In that exchange, I indicated that ICANN was not holding itself accountable and that ICANN was elevating risk- avoidance ... read more ...
Tue 3rd September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Demand Increases Credit Facility From $105 Million To $225 Million - Demand Media (DMD) announced today that it has entered into a new $225 million credit facility comprised of a $125 million revolving credit facility and a $100 million term loan. The new facility, which matures in August 2018, replaces the Company’s existing $105 million revolving credit facility that was due to expire in August 2016. The new credit facility has an accordion feature under which it can increase to a maximum of $250 million, subject to certain conditions. Shares of Demand Media, ... read more ...
 
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Sedo Transactions Total $1.4M Led By OPS.com & Deco.com during $100K; Fork.com $50K Test.net $40K -   Sedo released its weekly report for the holiday shortened week and 746 transactions took place on Sedo’s marketplace and via SedoMLS, totaling $1,4m. This amounts to $46,4m in year-to-date sales revenue. Over 46% of total sales were the result of Buy Now listings. Sedo wants to Congratulate the buyer of fork.com, VETTER, a manufacturer producing and distributing forks worldwide. Another good example for a company that understood how important it is to be the owner of a domain that fits exactly ... read more ...
 
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Google Buys Smart Watch Maker WIMM & Gets Category Killer SmartWatch.com Along With - Google acquired WIMM Labs a maker of “smart watches” last year according to TechCrunch.com and CNET.com “Google quietly snapped up Los Altos, Calif.-based WIMM Labs last year . WIMM Labs not only gives Google the talent and technology to build a smartwatch, but actually an Android-based app platform tailored for consumers’ wrists.” What neither publication picked up on, is that not only did Google get some technology by buying WIMM to help its own smart watch efforts, it also got the ownership ... read more ...
 
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FirstHotel.com Saved In UDRP: Domainer Also Owns CheapHotels.com & CheapRooms.com - First Hotels AS of Oslo, Norway just lost a UDRP on the domain name FirstHotel.com which is owned by  Klaudia Kruzicevic of Split, Croatia, who was represented by ESQwire.com, P. C. The three member panel basically found that the domain holder did not buy the domain FirstHotel.com in bad faith but in support of its Internet based travel business she and her deceased husband started in 1999 operating many travel related websites including Cheaprooms.com, Cheaphotel.com, and Cheaphotels.com. “The ... read more ...
 
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Vertical Axis Loses UDRP On 9 Year Old ParisOpera.com and 7 Year Old OperaParis.com - Opera National de Paris of Paris, France, just gained control of ParisOpera.com and OperaParis against Vertical Axis Inc. which was represented byESQwire.com, P.C. It was a majority decision  with panelist Neil Brown filing a dissenting opinion longer than the actual opinion of the panel in which he found that the complaintant failed to meet any of the three required conditions for a UDRP. The domains were awarded based off a trademark which is OPERA NATIONAL DE PARIS, which in the dissent found ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Site Generating 25,000 page Views A day Changes URL From a .Com to a .Net - According to a press release today, a site that was generating some 25,000 page views per day just changed its domain from a pretty crappy .com to a two word .net On August 31, EurekaMag.com has changed its domain name to GeoScience.net and its slogan to Biology – Geography – Health, reflecting a shift to a global digital approach and to further strengthen its presence worldwide. The new streamlined presence and its seamless mobile site are all accessed via the new single URL. GeoScience.net ... read more ...
Mon 2nd September 2013
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Core Diagnostics of Gurgaon India, Guilty Of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - Core Diagnostics of Gurgaon, India has just been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) on the UDRP it filed on the domain name corediagnostics.com by a one member WIPO panel. Core Diangostics was represented by in-house council. Here are the relevant facts and findings by the one member panel: The Complainant first started business in 2011. It registered its trademarks in 2012. The Respondent registered the disputed domain name in 2001 and has been using it since then to promote various ... read more ...
 
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PCadvisor.co.uk Open Poll On Whether People Are Aware / Interested In New gTLD’s - PCadvisor.co.uk,  just opened a poll today on what readers think about the new gTLD domain name program. Its one of the first open polls I have seen on the subject in a non-domainer publication. The poll asks: With the launch of new domain names are you: Planning to buy one Already on the pre-registration list Never heard of them Not interested It will be interesting to see what the results look like if they can get thousands of votes. So far only 25 votes are recorded with 20% planning on buying ... read more ...
Sun 1st September 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Was Whistles.com Quietly Lost IN A UDRP? Case Is Terminated & Complaintant Now Owns a Domain - A UDRP was filed on the generic domain name Whistles.com a couple of months ago and today the proceeding is showing as being “terminated”. The complainant in the UDRP was Whistles Limited of London. who according to the updated whois records just obtained control of the domain. The previous owner was a  iGenesis Limited of Hong Kong. The domain name according to screenshots was parked with results mostly for  women’s gowns,  dresses and clothing  which happens to be the business of Whistles ... read more ...
 
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Godaddy Aftermarket Sells Over 40,000 Domains In Aug Led BY OPS.com At $100,000 - Godaddy.com has released its auction results for the month of August 2013 selling in all 1,000 more domains than in July. In all 40,246 domain names sold on Godaddy.com auctions including all the expired domains. In July Godaddy.com sold 1,000 less domain names at 39,264. Of the 40,246 domains, 20,470 sold in auctions, 18,897 were Buy it Now Priced domains (BIN) and 810 were the result of offer/counter offer negotiations Here are the top 10 sales from August:   Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
Sat 31st August 2013
Written by The Domains in EN
Is Telefonkatalogen.biz The Worst Domain Ever For A Company Advising Others On Domain Branding? - We see press releases every week from companies looking for business in the domain branding business but saw a PR today that stood out from the crowd for a company called Telefonkatalogen.biz. The PR cites a  “recent article from Ping! Magazine, that said  “it is imperative for businesses to select the very best online domains–and the Web marketing professionals at Telefonkatalogen.biz agree.” (unfortunately the PR does not give a citation to the article) “The Ping article notes that ... read more ...