Competition for Monopoly gTLDs - The essay examines some of the new domain name managers' unjustifiable obsession with owning monopoly gTLDs when they should devote more energy and thought to making domain names more value adding. For the last three decades, the discourse regarding competitive advantage has focused on the need to rely on rare/unique resources and capabilities. However, more recently, the focus has shifted to the imperatives of efficient utilization of nonunique resources that are readily available on the ... read more ...

Stop YourLawFirm.sucks From Surfacing on the Web -

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ICANN Runs Last Resort Auction for Contentious New gTLDs, Raises $59M - With the sale of .stream to Famous Four Media, ICANN has completed the sale of rights to new dot-word TLDs, The Register reports. Four other new gTLDs were resolved in the past week, all through private auctions as .stream was, however ICANN completes the process having raised $59 million from the 13 domains that sold through its public process. According to a report by CircleID, “ICANN’s new gTLD program provides for last resort auctions to settle contention sets where the competing applicants ... read more ...

Verisign Reports First Quarter 2015 Results - VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), a global leader in domain names and Internet security, today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2015. First Quarter GAAP Financial ResultsVeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries ("Verisign") reported revenue of $258 million for the first quarter of 2015, up 3.9 percent from the same quarter in 2014. Verisign reported net income of $88 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.66 for the first quarter of 2015, compared to net income of $94 ... read more ...

Will New gTLDs be to the Internet what Cable was to Television ? - Jennifer Wolfe published an article on ClickZ that used an analogy that I myself have thought about to a certain degree when it comes to the new gtlds. Will the new gtlds be to the Internet what Cable TV was to Television ? There is something there, COM, NET and ORG would play the roles of ABC, CBS, and NBC, but the comparison imo doesn’t stay completely true, that is because when cable tv started we all got to know who the new stations were. Whether you were young or old, you quickly came to know ... read more ...

Stop YourLawFirm.sucks From Surfacing on the Web - Haynes and Boone has no plans to register its own name defensively with a company that’s marketing “.sucks” as a new Internet domain name suffix. Moreover, Jeff Becker, a partner in the Dallas-based firm’s home office, has rethought the advice he previously gave corporate clients to register defensively any names associated with their brands with domain-name purveyors. Why? The proliferation of what’s known as a generic top-level domain names, or gTLDs, including the “.sucks” ... read more ...

Half a BILLION dollars later and, PHEW, we’re all done buying up dot-word … - The auctioning of rights to new dot-word top-level domains has finally come to a close with the sale of .stream to portfolio company Famous Four. In the past week, four other gTLDs - .map, .living, .search and .fun - has also been resolved, with two of them going to Google. Over the past year, domain-name overseer ICANN has run monthly auctions for multiple competing applications for the same name. ... read more ...

YourBrand.SUCKS – what can a trademark owner do? - Owners of well-known trademarks and brand names are trying to get the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to block the launch of the new .SUCKS domain name. The .SUCKS domain is scheduled to join more than 1000 other new generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .GURU, .WINE, .LOVE, .ADULT and .PORN. Most gTLDs were purchased from ICANN for about $200,000 each. Some popular ones were auctioned off for millions of dollars. For example, Google paid $25 ... read more ...

United States: IP Fridays – Episode 26: Interview with James Bikoff – Litigation Of … - Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:06 — 15.2MB) Co-Presenters: Rolf Claessen and Kenneth Suzan Episode 26 – April 17, 2015 RC = Rolf Claessen KS = Kenneth Suzan JB = James Bikoff In this episode we have the chance to interview James Bikoff, who is frequently litgating trademarks of the International Olympic Committee, FIFA and other large sports associations. The we also talk about a podcasting patent that was recently cancelled. And in the end, we tell you about decisions ... read more ...

New gTLDs Make US, UK Web Users Feel Less Secure Online: Survey - Change is scary, and that could be part of why 87 percent of consumers are uncomfortable visiting websites that use new generic top-level domains. According to a recent survey by NCC Group, 40 percent of web users in the US and UK feel less secure online since new gTLDs were introduced. NCC Group surveyed 10,000 consumers in October 2014 in collaboration with IDG Research Services. The responses are part of its “New Internet Study”, released in April. It seems that respondents’ fears aren’t ... read more ...

Metrics for New gTLDs Performance - The essay describes six groups of gTLD performance indicators: (1) the presence of a secondary market; (2) uses of second-level domain names; (3) the identity of the owners of parked and not-in-use domain names; (4) domain name renewals; (5) the market size of the supporting complementary assets; and (6) the character of the person in charge of a given registry. A time-trend of these indicators would convey any price inefficiencies and bubbles, and the health of the industry. However, there ... read more ...

ICANN to investigate .sucks registry over eye-watering fees - Brand owners, many of whom have registered their trade marks with the Trademark Clearinghouse to get first dibs on new gTLD domains during Sunrise Periods, are being charged a hefty premium by the '.sucks' registry. In the last year, most new domain name registries that have opened gTLDs (eg, .network, .business) have charged trade mark owners a couple of hundred dollars to apply for domains matching their trade marks during Sunrise Periods. To apply during any registry's Sunrise ... read more ...

Right to Criticize Gets a Bigger Public Platform on the Internet with the … - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, more commonly known as ICANN, has recently approved more than a thousand new general top-level domains (gTLDs), which are anticipated to launch over the next few years. Challenging the stalwart gTLDs (.com, .net, .org, .gov and .edu), one of the recently approved gTLDs that will have a significant impact on trademark owners everywhere is the “.sucks” or “dotSucks” gTLD. According to promotional materials: An easy-to-locate, ... read more ...

New ".trademark" gTLD is Here - Few Brands have noticed it yet but a company has applied for a domain name extension which literally means ".trademark". The company is based in Hong-Kong and its name is "Huyi Global .商标 Domain Registry”. The ".商标" is what we call an International Domain Name extension (IDN) and it means ".trademark" in Simplified Chinese. It is pronounced: "Shang Biao". Confusion around .TRADEMARK new gTLDs In the first Round of the ICANN new gTLD program, many companies were offered to register ... read more ...

Right to criticize gets a bigger public platform on the internet with the introduction … - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, more commonly known as ICANN, has recently approved more than a thousand new general top-level domains (gTLDs), which are anticipated to launch over the next few years. Challenging the stalwart gTLDs (.com, .net, .org, .gov and .edu), one of the recently approved gTLDs that will have a significant impact on trademark owners everywhere is the “.sucks” or “dotSucks” gTLD. According to promotional materials: An easy-to-locate, ... read more ...

eMarketer Report Says Success of New gTLDs May Depend on Promotion By … - eMarketer, a major market research firm, has released a new study on the introduction of new gTLDs and their chances for success. eMarketer releases over 200 analyst reports per year, which are ... read more ...

ICANN.WTF? FTC & OCA Asked Whether .SUCKS is a Law Breaker (Part II) - The first part of this article reviewed the actions taken by ICANN in response to a March 27th letter from the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) alleging that the pricing of Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) registered terms by the .Sucks registry were "predatory, exploitative and coercive" and requesting that ICANN halt the registry's rollout. This second part explores additional ramifications of ICANN's decision to request two national regulators to review the legality of the registry's ... read more ...

Framing New gTLDs’ Marketing Message - In an earlier essay, I outlined a focused, cooperative marketing strategy that would be a first step for marketing new gTLDs. After that first initiative, gTLD registries' marketing strategy must focus on the complementarities between .com, and new neutral (such as .global and .web) and branding and labeling gTLDs. The legacy domains and the newcomers can work together nicely. If we don't realize this, all Internet users will lose out. Unfortunately, registries of new gTLDs are less focused ... read more ...

ICANN.WTF? FTC & OCA Asked Whether .SUCKS is a Law Breaker (Part I) - On April 9, 2015 ICANN took the unprecedented step of asking two national consumer protection agencies whether the .Sucks registry, one of the new gTLDs it has approved and which is currently in its sunrise registration period, has a business plan which violates any laws or regulations those agencies enforce. This is the equivalent of sending a message stating, "Dear Regulator: We have lit a fuse. Can you please tell us whether it is connected to a bomb?" With this action ICANN has opened ... read more ...

eMarketer Report: The Domain Name Explosion: Hundreds of New Choices … - eMarketer.com has put out a research paper on the new gtlds titled, “The Domain Name Explosion: Hundreds of New Choices Beyond .com Mean New Marketing Considerations” This report was a paid report, as I called the company about referencing it they also included it in the newsletter section which is available to everyone.(thank you Priscilla) The report draws on data from the Domain Name Association and ntldstats as well as a few others. From the report: ... read more ...

Beating the Trolls: Celebrities, Companies Rush to Buy .porn Domain Name - Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are the part of a web link that appears after the dot, like.gov or.com. In 2011, there were only 22 of those in existence, until the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided that there needed to be more. There are now more than 547 and, pretty soon, the list will include gTLDs like.sucks,.porn, and.adult. The controversial gTLDs will be available for anyone in the public to buy on a first-come-first-served basis by June ... read more ...

How ICANN enabled legal Website extortion - I turned 21 in a medium-sized Massachusetts town (not that one) that shall remain nameless. Though I may have tasted the sweet nectar of alcohol prior to the legal line in the sand, it in no way lessened my enthusiasm for the day.For the audacious occasion, I imbibed a local vintage called State Vodka. In our one and only encounter, we established a level of intimacy I’ve rarely found in other parts of my life. Our evening together began early, accompanied by friends and food, but as our ... read more ...

Big brands buy .porn domain - A new development in the quest for brand security online sees companies purchasing potentially harmful new web domain names such as .porn, .sucks and .adult. The new gTLDs will become available on June 1 and brands are already rushing to secure the domain names before internet trolls gain access. Taking ownership of these potentially damaging domain names can prevent companies from becoming vulnerable to undesirable associations ... read more ...