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.

Sun 19th October 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Loser of WWE.Org UDRP Tells World Wrestling Entertainment He Is Not Happy - After losing a UDRP on the domain name WWE.org the owner of the domain has a message for the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. who won the National Arbitration Forum decision, and its fair to say the domain holder is not too pleased. Although the decision was handed down on October 13th and today is October 18th,  the whois still shows the loser of the UDRP as the owner and he clearly has control of the server the domain resides on Here is the message from the loser of the UDRP to World Wrestling, ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Reforms Needed Before U.S. Hands Over Control of ICANN - Senator Mark Warner (D-Va) wrote a piece on Information Week that discusses the reforms that need to be addressed before the keys to ICANN are handed over. He touches upon things like, Who will hold ICANN accountable, transparency with the public and the sanctity of the DNS. From the article: The FCC recently received more than 3.7 million comments on its proposed rules to govern how Internet providers will treat traffic on their networks. However, there’s another pivotal discussion happening ... read more ...
Sat 18th October 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
JD.com With A $30 Billion Market Cap Registers 3 .Rich Domain At Up To $3K Per -                 .Rich picked up 3 registrations yesterday which is notable since it represented an addition of 8% to its registration based which increased from 46 to 49. .Rich has the highest cost of any new gTLD with a regular, non-premium registration fee as high as $3,000 per domain name registration. What makes it even more notable is who registered the three new .Rich domain names. These are three new registrations were: Jingdong.Rich PaiPai.Rich Vixun.Rich Jingdong which purchased ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
TRAFFIC Announces Winners of The How Attending TRAFFIC Has Helped Change My Life Contest - The organizers of the TRAFFIC conference have just announced the three winners of the  “How attending T.R.A.F.F.I.C. has helped to change my life.” contest. The winner gets a free ticket to the Miami show, or a free ticket to next year’s show or a refund of the ticket if they already paid. Plus the first night at the hotel for free!! In addition they will be picked up by a  limo at the airport. Second Prize is a FREE Hotel room for 2 nights and the third prize is a hotel room for 1 night ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Verisign To Be The Premier Sponsor At TRAFFIC - According to an announcement out today, Verisign (Nasdaq-VSRN) the registry for .Com, .Net and .Tv will be the Premier Sponsor of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2014 conference which will be held at the Fontainebleau Hotel, October 30- November 2. Verisign will host the biggest Welcome Party since 2004 on Thursday, October 30th at the LaCote Restaurant overlooking beautiful Miami Beach. La Cote was named Miami’s Best Poolside Dining Spot by the Miami New Times and has earned the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence “Sparkling ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Fred Krueger Exercises Option To Acquire 5 Million Shares Of Minds + Machines For 4p - Minds + Machines Group Limited (AIM:MMX), announced today, that Frederick Krueger, a director of the Company, has today exercised options to subscribe for 5,000,000 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 4p per new Ordinary Share. Shares of Minds + Machines closed in trading today at 9.63p, having a 52 week high of 19.38p and a 52-week Low of 5.38p. Frederick Krueger held options to subscribe for 5,000,000 new Ordinary Shares which, if not exercised, would otherwise have expired on November 13, 2014 and ... read more ...
Fri 17th October 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Is Microsoft a Self Appointed Sheriff of a Internet ? - Robert McMillan of Wired did an interesting piece on how Microsoft became the self appointed Sheriff of the Internet. The article starts off detailing the facts in the case of  No-IP. Apparently Microsoft had noticed that an unusually high amount of malware was going out to domain from No-IP.org. It was 7 o’clock in the morning when the knocking on Dan Durrer’s front door woke him up. His dog started barking, and Durrer thought he was getting an early morning package. But when he opened the ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Flippa Reveals The Niches With The Highest Chance of Selling and a Whole Lot More - Stephen Koo wrote a piece on the Flippa blog that should be of interest to everyone looking to sell domains and websites on the platform. Flippa has gained a lot of momentum in domain only auctions since Kevin Fink has come on board and been responsible for domain only transactions. Koo points out that the niches with the highest chance of selling are the following: The Niches with the Highest Chance of Selling Websites in the following niches and sub-niches are the most likely to be successfully ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
When It Comes To Rightside, One Seeking Alpha Author Believes The Market Doesn’t Realize How Useful GLTDs Are And How Adoption Affects Earnings - Summary After quitting low quality ad service the company is bleeding cash with razor thin margins on its current business. GTLDs represent a major shift in the way domains are used on the Internet. The company bought the right to function as a registry for 33 unique gTLDs which is a major difference from its registrar business. Revenue per gLTD domain sold is between $20-$30 instead of $1 for a traditional TLD. Because of the tremendous operating leverage within the business model a major % of ... read more ...
Thu 16th October 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google Reports: Revenue adult 20%; Pay Per Click Up 17%; Cost Per Click Down 2%: $63 Billion In The Bank - Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 after the market closed today, missing slightly from what was expected send the shares down over 2% in after hours trading Google Inc. revenues for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 were $16.52 billion, representing a 20% increase over third quarter of 2013 revenues of $13.75 billion.GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2014 was $3.72 billion, or 23% of revenues. This compares ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google Standing Firm on European De-Listing Requests As it Pertains to Google.com - Tech Crunch is out with a piece on Google refusing to extend the European search de-lising rules to Google.com, currently requests made can only remove the information from Google.europeancctld. So it really is a cat and mouse game being played here. You could get your de-listing request approved and no longer show in Google.de for example, but that info would be found using Google.com. So anyone wanting to do a complete search would make sure to use Google.com in addition to their local European ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Here is a GAC Communiqué From ICANN 51 Los Angeles - The Governmental Advisory Council to ICANN (GAC)  released its Communiqué concluding its activity from the ICANN 51 conference that was held this week in  Los Angeles, CA. Here are the highlights: Transition of US Stewardship of IANA and Strengthening ICANN Accountability The GAC met with members of the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) and was briefed on the transition proposal process in relation to names, numbers and protocol parameters. The GAC advises the ICANN Board ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
.Club Leads All New gTLD’s In Number of Sites In Alexa Top 1 Million - According to Namestat.org  which is tracking the number of websites in the Alexa Top Million, based on the Namestat.org data on October 8th, 2014, .CLUB has more sites in the Alexa Top Million than any other new domain extension. If you calculate the number of sites in the Alexa Top Million for each of the top 50 new gTLD, after .Club the next top 49 extensions average 16.6  sites per domain, one-tenth of the number of .CLUB sites. All in all, .CLUB leads with more than ten times the usage of the ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Directi Founders Buying Back 100 % Ownership in Media.net - Photo Courtesy of DN Journal The Turakhia brothers (Bhavin and Divyank) are in the news today after starting the process to buy back 100 % interest in Media.net. This was the only business the serial entrepreneurs started that had an outside investor. The brothers started Directi while still in their teens and have since started many companies over the last 15 years. Businesses include: LogicBoxes, ResellerClub, and BigRock. Directi announced its more than $30 million investment for its application ... read more ...
Wed 15th October 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Rightside Launching 11 More New gTLD’s This Year - Rightside Group, Ltd. (Nasdaq:NAME), announced today it will launch 11 additional Top Level Domains (TLDs) by the end of 2014, bringing its in-market portfolio to 28. Next week, members of the armed forces, as well as military families, supporters, and veterans, can begin registering .ARMY, .NAVY, .AIRFORCE, and .VET web addresses. Launch activities will include a home-page promotion with registrar partner GoDaddy on Veterans Day, as well as a salute to U.S. veterans through a donation in support ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Forget Ebola.com, Where is Ebola.Gov ? - Over the last couple of days there have been a lot of stories about the domain name Ebola.com being put up for sale. Domain publications and mainstream media have written extensively about the domain. What we have not heard is anything about Ebola.gov. Why? Well the name has not even been registered by the U.S. government. This name could and should be used by the United States as a portal to news about the disease, symptoms, how and where to get treatment, quarantine information, outbreak information ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
GigaOM: “The latest New York City “land rush” is already branch into a celebration for cyber-squatters” - Jeff John Roberts of GigaOM covered the .NYC launch in an article today, the site points out that many New York sports teams have had their domains registered but not by the teams themselves. They summed it up like this: The latest New York City “land rush” is already turning into a party for cyber-squatters, who have snapped up some familiar names. The episode shows, again, how the system is geared in favor of the domain name industry, rather than brands or the public. They go on to talk about ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
WARNING: Stolen Domain Names Slash.com & County.com Are Being Shopped Around - We have received a report from Andrew Rosener of MediaOptions.com that at least two domain names, Slash.com County.com have been stolen from NetworkSolutions.com and are being shopped around for sale. In a email Andrew wrote: “I wanted to notify everyone that we have just discovered a domain theft at Network Solutions which I do not believe is an isolated incident.” “So far it involves two domains, slash.com county.com.” The domains are from different owners and stolen by the same thief.” County.com ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
DNPric.es: There have been Over $1 Million In New gTLD Domain Name Sales - According to domain price research site DNPric.es there have been over $1 million in new gtld sales since the new gTLD launched in February. According to DNPric.es there have been 247 domain name sales in 58 New TLDs Totalling $1,016,987.12. I did not see a breakdown of EAP, Premium registry auction sales and/or whether these are just straight secondary domain name purchases. .Club led the way with over $191,000 in sales. This is of course based only on reported sales and we do not believe the list ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sedo Transactions Total $1 Million; 51% Buy It Now; GoldPay.com Sells For 50,000 Euro’s -

Over a past week, 491 exchange took place on Sedo’s marketplace and around SedoMLS, totaling $1 million

51% of sum sales were a outcome of Buy Now listings.

Highlights of open sales are:

· Top .coms: goldpay.com during 50,000 EUR
· Top ccTLD: pri.mx during 10,000 USD
· Top “other” TLD: stream.org during 20,000 USD

Via: thedomains.com

 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
World Wrestling Entertainment Wins Control Of WWE.org - World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. just gained control of wwe.org. The domain name was parked and the domain owner just months after registering the domain name offered to sell the trademark holder the domain for $50,000 Here are the highlights from the one panel decision: Complainant has rights in the WWE mark through registrations with trademark agencies worldwide, including the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) (e.g., Reg. No 2,772,683 registered Oct. 7, 2003, filed May ... read more ...
Tue 14th October 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google Discloses A Vulnerability in SSL 3.0 - Google reported via their online security blog, that there is a vulnerability in the design of SSL Version 3.0. Apparently usage is ubiquitous as most browsers support SSL 3.0. They have recommended a work around to the problem. From the article: Today we are publishing details of a vulnerability in the design of SSL version 3.0. This vulnerability allows the plaintext of secure connections to be calculated by a network attacker. I discovered this issue in collaboration with Thai Duong and Krzysztof ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
.XYZ Crosses 600,000 Domain Registrations and .Club is gaining belligerent for a series dual spot - .XYZ crosses 600,000 Registrations According to Ntldstats.com .XYZ has crossed the 600,000 mark as far as domain registrations. .XYZ started October with 550,596 registrations. .Berlin remains in second place with .Club hot on its heels, .Club registrations are accelerating at a faster daily pace than .Berlin, .Club has increased its numbers by about 7,000 names since the beginning of October, while .Berlin is just a little over 500 names in that same time period. Club could overtake .Berlin for ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Vodka Maker, Which Costs Up To $24,500 A Bottle, Buys KorsVodka.com For $750,000 - According to a press release out today KV Spirits LLC has purchased the domain name KorsVodka.com, for $750,000 “Made from the same old recipe that was enjoyed by the Royals over a century ago, Kors is known as being the most exclusive, handmade, limited edition Vodka, and is priced up to $24,500 per bottle.” Vodka.com was sold for $3 Million dollars by legendary domain name investor Roy Messer. “It’s certainly worth mentioning as a record-breaker of its own.” Harris adds that the dynamic ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sweden to auction off 349 formerly blocked .SE Domain Names - Sweden to hold an auction of 349 previously blocked .se names. The auction started Monday and will run for the next 12 days. Some of the names include: USA.se, HR.se, cd.se, Jamaica.se and bahamas.se. Swedish Wire reported on the auction: Through a unique auction during the autumn/winter of 2014, .SE will be releasing .se domain names that have never before been possible to register. It’s about country codes, for example cd.se, hr.se and it.se, as well as other countries’ names – for example ... read more ...