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.

Fri 31st October 2014
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Start Spreading The News: Marijuana.NYC Sells For Over $60,000 In Landrush Domain Auction - The second of three rounds of .NYC landrush auctions closed today with the highest (yes pun intended) .NYC sale to date. The domain name Marijuana.NYC sold today for a whopping $60,920 Earlier this week the domain name cannabis.nyc” sold for just $3,600 in the first of three landrush auction rounds. You can read our report on the 1st .NYC landrush auction here Once again we start with some disclaimers: These numbers are unofficial. These figures, did not come from the .NYC registry or Neustar the ... read more ...
 
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Report: 8 .NYC Sites Are Already In Alexa Top 1 Million - The launch of domain names ending with .NYC about a month ago have just 47,000 .NYC domains have been claimed and will become internet websites from and for New York City. Sites are following suit. Eight sites are already in Alexa´s top One million count. Alexa provides traffic data, global rankings and other information on 30 million websites and is one of the main sources of information for internet usage. According to one report out today, the following are the eight sites already up in the Alexa´s ... read more ...
 
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Startup.club Launches to Help Entrepreneurs Get Access to Great .CLUB Premium Domains -     The .Club registry announced today the Startup.club which is designed to Help Entrepreneurs Get Access to Great .CLUB Premium Domain Names with the purchase price financed up to over 10 years with no interest. The Startup.Club will be rolled out today  T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East Conference in Miami. The new program for entrepreneurs which includes a payment plan for premium .CLUB domain names valued at more than $20,000 each, allows qualified businesses to spread payments over 10 years, interest ... read more ...
Thu 30th October 2014
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Ashton Kutcher is not a usually one induction domain names associated to his baby Wyatt - Yesterday we wrote about Ashton Kutcher on Conan discussing that he got all the domain names for his new daughter Wyatt Isabelle, “We immediately went home and we reserved all the domain names. ” It seems like he did not get all the domain names, it looks like someone other than Ashton got WyattIsabelleKutcher.com registered on 10-3-14 and today IsabelleKutcher.com was registered, I guess someone thought if she prefers to go by her middle name this will make the perfect domain. There was also: wyatkutcher.com wyatt-isabelle-kutcher.com wyattisabellkutcher.com wyatt-kutcher.com The ... read more ...
 
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Google Voice Alternative Vonjour.com Release Exclusive Perk for GoDaddy Members - In a press release Vonjour.com announced a program for Go Daddy customers called, “Vonjour for Go Daddy” Go Daddy members will receive a discount of 15 % on Vonjour related services. As Go Daddy continues to focus on small business under Blake Irving this is another step in providing a comprehensive small business suite of services for Go Daddy customers. From the release: Santa Monica based Vonjour.com announced the release of Vonjour for GoDaddy, a perk program for GoDaddy members. With ‘Vonjour ... read more ...
 
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New gTLD’s Top 3 Million Domain Names As .Realtor Moves Into #5 With 78K Free Registrations - New gTLD domain name registrations passed the 3 million mark today. According to ntldstats.com, the total number of new gTLD domain name registrations sits at 3,026,376. The good news is that in less than 8 months new gTLD registrations went from zero to over 3 Millihttps://www.thedomains.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=60681action=editmessage=9on and are growing daily. The bad news is there are a lot of caveats to the numbers. Free domains are at the forefront of what some would call inflated new gTLD ... read more ...
 
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Agari and Neustar Partner To Provide Domain Protection Solution - According to a press release today Agari and Neustar are partnering to today announced the two leading security firms are partnering to give customers the highest level of domain security possible in the current climate of targeted and sophisticated cyberattacks. The partnership provides the industry’s first-ever collaborative domain protection solution for customers, combining the power of the Agari PRO solution with Neustar’s UltraDNS offering. The two services will reinforce one another to ... read more ...
Wed 29th October 2014
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Domain Holdings Sells $10M In Domain Names In 3rd Quarter: Transactions Up 7.8% - According to its Third Quarter sales report,  Domain Holdings reported almost $10,000,000 USD in domain name sales. The total amount of sales was  down from 3.8% from the second quarter however the number of transactions were up 7.8%. Domain Holdings reported their biggest domain sale for the quarter was $2.7 Million versus $5.0 Million in Q2 “showing a much healthier overall diversity in sales.” During Q3 we were involved in many key transactions including the sale of BentoBox.com, House.com, ... read more ...
 
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Ashton Kutcher reveals he’s indifferent domain names for his daughter Wyatt - Ashton Kutcher who is one of the more prominent celebs to adapt to social media and has over 16 million Twitter followers, has secured the domain for his new baby daughter.  There is talk the one month old could have her own Twitter and Instagram accounts too. The names Kutcher registered included: WyattKutcher.com WyattIsabelle.com.  The domains were registered at Enom on 3-25-14 under privacy. Express.co.uk covered the story: Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher won’t have much to worry about when she turns ... read more ...
 
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UDRP Panelist Screws Up Name Of TM 3 Times Transfering 7 Domain Names - A UDRP was decided by a one member panel of the the National Arbitration Forum on the domain names: highrollerdates.com highrollerwheelweddings.com highrollerweddingslv.com highrollerdate.com highrollerdatelv.com winfreehighrollertickets.com highrollerride.com Awarding all of them to Caesars License Company, LLC Eduardo Magalhães Machado, the sole Panelist seemed to be confused on the trademark at issue which is “High Roller”. The panelist referred to the trademark as High Holler no less than ... read more ...
Tue 28th October 2014
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Sedo Transactions Total $1million Led by Angel.in - Over the past week, 554 transactions took place on Sedo’s marketplace and via SedoMLS, totaling $1 Million Dollars 49% of total sales were the result of Buy Now listings. Highlights of public sales are:   Top .coms: cupofjo.com at 18,888 USD Top ccTLD: angel.in at 30,000 USD Top “other” TLD: joy.club at 10,000 USD Angel.in was also on the Sedo sales report back in April of 2012 when it sold for just $1,750   ... read more ...
 
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Two Social Media Powerhouses With Over 7 Million Followers Re-brand to An .XYZ Domain - A couple of social media trendsetters have gone with an .XYZ domain name for their internet domain name presence. Tasia Alexis is by any measure a social media powerhouse with a total of 3.85 million followers has registered and proudly promoting her new domain name Tasia.xyz If you haven’t heard of Alexis, well she has some pretty impressive social media numbers: Vine – 3 Million followers 451Million loops Youtube – 24,000 Subscribers Instagram – 650,000 Followers Facebook – 16.5K Followers Twitter ... read more ...
 
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TLD Appoints the First China GM & Open Its HQ In “China’s Silicon Valley” -                     TLD Registry Ltd, who operates two of the most successful new gTLD’s, had two big announcements  today. They announced their first ever China GM and the opening of their office in the “China’s Silicon Valley” TLD announced the appointment of the company’s first ever China General Manager. Mr. Jin Wang has joined the TLD Registry team, contributing a wealth of knowledge and expertise of the internet and domain name industries in China. “Our eight month ... read more ...
 
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Forbes: Verisign Becomes #1 Most Shorted Stock in S&P 500 - According to Forbes.com, Verisign Inc (NASD: VRSN) is now Most Shorted Stock in SP 500 based on most recent short interest data has been released by the NASDAQ for the 10.15.2014 settlement date. According to nasdaq.com there are 19,441,435 shares of Verisign Stock being shorted as of 10.15.14 but more shares have been shorted in the past. 24,641,765 of Verisign were shorted back on December 31,  2013 and 23,218,994 back on March 31, 2014. There are about 125 Million shares of Verisign outstanding, ... read more ...
Mon 27th October 2014
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Robin Chase owner of Zipcar Joins Tucows Board of Directors - Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ:TCX, TSX:TC), today announced that Robin Chase founder of Zipcar has joined its Board of Directors. Ms. Chase has been a pioneer of the peer, or sharing, economy. She founded Zipcar, now the largest car sharing company in the world. Zipcar’s disruptive technology and delightful customer experience gave its members on-demand access to cars by the hour and by the day, providing an effective alternative to car ownership or conventional car rental services. She took that a step ... read more ...
 
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Results From 1st .NYC Landrush Auctions: Carservice.NYC $11,500 Bitcoin.NYC $11K - We have a few results from the first .NYC landrush auctions that closed today on Snapnames.com. So first the disclaimers. These numbers are unofficial. These figures, did not come from the .NYC registry or Neustar the operator of the extension or SnapNames.com which held the auction. All these numbers came from bidders that may have won or lost landrush auctions. All numbers are rounded off Here are some of the winning bids according to some of those involved: CarService.NYC was the highest domain ... read more ...
 
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Arif Develier of Istanbul Guilty Of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - A one member WIPO panel has found Arif Develier of Istanbul, Turkey, represented by Net Koruma Danışmanlık Hizmetleri, Turkey guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) on domain name Develi.com The Complainant is a private individual and states that it is the owner of the restaurant chain named “Develi”, which it notes is the first and only such chain in Turkey that has been operating for more than a century. The Respondent asserts that the city of Develi is located in the central Anatolia ... read more ...
 
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.Biz Domain Name Registrations Fall Under 2.5 Million -                       The number of domain names registered under the Top Level Domain of .Biz has fallen under 2.5 Million. The extension owned and operated by Neustar (NSR) seems to have been effected by the new gTLD’s. As you can see from the chart .Biz was slowing growing until early this year when the new gTLD’s started to launch and now is moving the downward direction:       .XYZ has topped 650,000 registrations. .Berlin in the last week past the TLD’s .Tel and .Name ... read more ...
Sun 26th October 2014
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NY Post Covers .Luxury: “Domains Ending in a Word “Luxury” Shows No Signs of Slowing” - The New York Post, has just covered the .Luxury new gTLD in a story entitled Rush for ‘luxury’ domain names continues. “Luxury may no longer be a dirty word. “The rush for domain names that end in the word “luxury” shows no signs of slowing, according to Monica Kirchner, CEO and co-founder of .Luxury Tiffany, Armani, Four Seasons, Bitcoin, Berkshire Hathaway and Hermès are among 1,250 companies that have signed on to dot-luxury (www.join.luxury) and will use the luxury domain extension ... read more ...
 
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Nat Cohen’s Telepathy Hit With UDRP On Three Letter .Com: SDT.com - Nat Cohen’s Telepathy was been Hit With UDRP On the domain name SDT.com The UDRP was filed by SDT International Limited Company Telepathy has owned the domain since at least 2007 according to Domaintools.com, however recently moved the domain name to the domain name registrar name.com from Moniker.com due to theft concerns which he wrote about on his blog. Many times you will see a UDRP filed after an ownership change and I wonder if some Corporate Counsel saw the change in domain registrars and ... read more ...
Sat 25th October 2014
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Breaking: Report Says ICANN Is “Postponing” Meeting in Marrakech in February - According to a report in Moroccoworldnews.com, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has decided to postpone its 52nd meeting scheduled to take place in Marrakech from February 8-12. “ICANN is an international entity that coordinates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions, which are key technical services critical to the continued operations of the Internet’s underlying address book, the Domain Name System (DNS).” The article is citing another publication, ... read more ...
 
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ICANN’s Haul From Just 7 Last Resort New gTLD Auctions Tops $26 Million - ICANN just released a report showing that it has received over $26 Million dollars from last resort new gTLD auctions. The total amount received by ICANN from the last resort auctions is $26,172,919. That amount is net of auction set up guarantees, set up and cancellation auction fees paid to Power Auctions the provider of the ICANN auctions. There have only been 7 new gTLD’s last resort auctions including the first one for an IDN which sold for $600,000 and the three that sold this week Many more ... read more ...
Fri 24th October 2014
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FoxNews Reports On Media Org’s Calling Google’s .Soy new gTLD “Segregation” For Latinos - According to a story out in FoxNews.com, Google’s recent announcement of its new .SOY domain, meant to appeal to Latinos, has drawn criticism and jest from a number of places. .Soy (Spanish for “I am”) according to Google “offers Hispanic consumers, brands and publishers “a place to build, create and share culturally relevant Web content.” “A number of Latino organizations, including the Hispanic Heritage Fund and Ella Institute, have switch over to the .soy domain name, but some media ... read more ...
 
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Partners Trust “LA Real Estate Broker Specializing in Luxury Properties” Partners with .LUXURY - According to a press release out today Partners Trust, Los Angeles’ most selective real estate brokerage specializing in luxury properties, has partnered with .LUXURY, to create custom-tailored marketing experiences for luxury properties. PartnersTrust.Luxury is the first destination website built to highlight luxury properties exclusively represented by Partners Trust to clients around the world. “Luxury and technology trends change rapidly, and Partners Trust prides itself on not just keeping ... read more ...
 
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After Suspended 2,359 Domains, London’s Police IP Crime Unit Gets £3 million in Funding - According to a press release out overnight, The City of London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has been given £3 million in funding to ensure its existence to at least 2017. The IP Crime Group report 2013/2014 notes PIPCU has already investigated more than £29 million worth of IP crime and has suspended 2,359 domain names. IPCU was also involved in the review of Nominet’s domain registration policy. “PIPCU uses several methods to address intellectual property crime including ... read more ...