Harry Potter Shows Some Domain Name Wizardry - J.K. Rowling just released the name of the last Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, and also registered many of the relevant domain names. If there’s anything J.K. Rowling and her legal team hasn’t been about domain names, it’s proactive. Combined with Time Warner, Rowling has filed a number of disputes for domain names that include the “Harry Potter” name in them. Finally, as she introduced the title of the last book in the ... read more ...

MGM Goes After WarGames.com - “Popesquatter” in fight with MGM Studios. I was reading an article today from the International Herald Tribune about a fight between MGM studios and the owner of the domain WarGames.com. “War Games” is a generic name that also happens to be the name of a 1983 movie starring Matthew Broderick. But something in the article caught my eye. The owner of WarGames.com is one Rogers Cadenhead. Name ring a bell? It did for me, so I searched the archives of Domain ... read more ...

Domain Tasting in a Spotlight - An article in BusinessWeek discusses “domain tasting” and its effects on major brands. The article, titled “The Great Internet Brand Rip-Off“, discusses so-called “domain tasting” and how major brands are being exploited through domain tasting combined with typosquatting. Domain tasting is the practice of registering a domain, checking its traffic and revenue, and returning it for a full refund within 5 days if it doesn’t meet certain criteria. Once ... read more ...

Donating Domains to Charity Isn’t an Instant Tax Break - Want to donate a domain name to charity to take a deduction on your tax return? Not so fast… As the end of the year approaches many United States residents are receiving solicitations for donations before the end-of-year cut off for tax deductions. Some people think donating domain names is a nifty way to get a tax break. But it isn’t. In March of this year the domain name Farm.com was donated to Boston Foundation, a non-profit which later sold the domain name ... read more ...

Sex.com Battle Becomes Deadly - The lawyer for the thief of Sex.com domain name survives assasination attempt. The lawyer for Stephen Cohen, who stole the domain name Sex.com in 1995, has survived a gangland style assasination attempt in Mexico. This is the latest twist in what is perhaps the biggest criminal saga in the history of domain names; one that will soon be documented in a book. Here’s a quick recap: -1994: Gary Kremen registers Sex.com -1995: Stephen Cohen calls Network Solutions and ... read more ...

Where do Country Code Domain Names Go to Die? - ICANN seeks to update policy on country codes no longer in use. Country code domain names are surging in popularity. .de, Germany’s domain name, is the second most popular domain behind .com. .UK is more popular than .org. Five country code domains saw double digit growth in the last quarter: at (Austria), .es (Spain), .fr (France), .ru (Russia), and .us (United States). Major companies, including Volvo, are advertising sites based on the .us domain. But what ... read more ...

Louis Vuitton loses box for LV.com - Designer Louis Vuitton has lost a UDRP case for the domain LV.com. In what can only be described as a case of reverse domain hijacking, French fashion designer Louis Vuitton has lost a UDRP case for LV.com. Louis Vuitton was clearly overstepping its bounds, trying to gain rights to a generic domain name registered over 10 years ago in 1995 by Manifest Information Services. The designer claimed to have rights to the trademark “LV”. Manifest Information Services ... read more ...

ICANN Seeks Comments on Whois Task Force Report - The Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is seeking public comments about the latest report from its Whois task force. The public is invited to comment on the Preliminary Task Force Report on Whois Services, which discusses a number of findings and recommendations about the domain name Whois database. The report was issued on November 22. The public comment period will continue until January 15, 2007. After the public comment period, the Whois ... read more ...

ICANN Denies .Travel DNS Wildcard Request - The Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has denied Tralliance Inc.’s request for a DNS wildcard for the .travel domain. Tralliance is the registry in charge of the .travel domain, a rarely used top level domain name. The company requested clearance to introduce a DNS wildcard. A DNS wildcard would basically redirect any traffic to non-existent .travel domains to parking pages. This idea is similar to VeriSign’s (NASDAQ: VRSN) controversial ... read more ...

Marchex might have $24M in heading domains - Domain name giant Marchex may be holding up to $24M in trademark-infringing domains. David Kesmodel’s expose on domain company Marchex (NASD: MCHX) continues to dig up dirt. After discovering that the company was monetizing a number of trademark typos through its parking program, Kesmodel has now uncovered a number of potentially trademark-infringing domains that the company actually owns. These include ibmlaptops.com, ibestbuy.com, chasemortgagega.com, cheapdisneytickets.com ... read more ...

DNForum cracks down on copyright domains - DNForum, the largest online forum for domain name owners, is cracking down on trademark-infringing domains sold on its site. Last week the forum announced that it will begin deleting posts for selling “obvious” trademarks and trademark typos, such as mikrosoft.com or samsunng.com. Sales of trademarks and trademark typos have been rampant on DNForum and I suspect the heat has been on owner Adam Dicker to stop this. In some ways DNForum could be compared to the ... read more ...

Advocacy groups convene opposite general net governance - As certain countries ask for the internet to be pryed from U.S. control, advocacy groups argue this may diminish free speech. Just this month the U.S. Department of Commerce loosened its grip on ICANN, allowing for a review in 18 months to determine if the entity should become free of U.S. oversight. But apparently that isn’t enough for some of the world’s repressive countries, whose dictators feel freedom of speech on the internet is undermining their stability. ... read more ...

.Asia moves forward - ICANN has approved .asia. Domain.asia appears to be on the horizon, as ICANN gave approval to DotAsia Organization Ltd.’s application for .asia at its board meeting yesterday: Whereas, on 4 December 5, 2005, the board authorized the President and General Counsel to enter into negotiations relating to proposed commercial and technical terms for the .ASIA sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) with the applicant, DotAsia Organisation Limited, Whereas, on 18 July, 2006, ... read more ...

Gambling domains out-of-favor - The U.S. is cracking down on internet gambling, causing the value of gambling domains to drop. A number of domainers have been selling off their portfolios of gambling domains over the past few months. First, some advertising feeds dropped support for gambling domains. Many major advertising services, like Google, already do not promote gambling. Second, the U.S. government is cracking down on internet gambling. Internet gambling has long been a questionable area ... read more ...

U.S. loosens hold on ICANN - The United States Commerce Department has renewed its agreement with ICANN, but has installed provisions to give ICANN more autonomy. The issue of the United State’s control over the internet and ICANN has been heated over the past couple years. Although the United States was instrumental in inventing the internet and web as we know it, many countries have become cocerned that the U.S. has too much control over what is now an institutional medium. The Commerce ... read more ...

Why .mobi creates sense - The new .mobi domain extension will add value to the web. .mobi was officially opened to the public for registration today. Not everyone thinks this new TLD adds value to the web. Vmunet has an article titled “‘Pointless’ .mobi landrush launched”. The article quotes Rachel Lashford, senior analyst and research manager at Canalys saying “Having another top level domain is a completely pointless exercise.” Most of the time new TLDs are a pointless exercise. ... read more ...

.travel wants a DNS wildcard - .travel registry Tralliance Inc. wants to introduce a Site-Finder-esque service. Tralliance runs the .travel domain name, much like VeriSign manages .net and .com. According to Computer Business Review Online, Tralliance wants to start a DNS wildcard similar to VeriSign’s infamous “Site Finder Service”. Whenever someone typed in a .travel domain that didn’t exist, such as domainnamewire.travel, it would forward to a web site owned by Tralliance. In order ... read more ...

Political domain hurdles on a uptick - With elections in the US quickly approaching, candidates are finding their domain names are already registered. Politicians aren’t always the most web-savvy individuals. (Just ask Alaska’s Ted Stevens how the internet operates.) As the next set of elections quickly approaching, many people running for office are finding their domains are taken by their opponents or squatters. Here’s another example from a small town race in Texas. The brother-in-law of ... read more ...