Domain Name Wire
News and Views for the Domain Name Industry
Updated: 37 min 10 sec ago
Occupy.com domain name sells
Domain has new owner but identity is unknown.
Occupy.com, which was pitched for sale to the Occupy Movement last year, has sold.
It’s not clear who purchased the domain name since its whois record is protected by whois privacy.
But the buyer definitely wants to capitalize on the movement.
It started a logo design contest on 99designs that states:
This logo will live on occupy.com and @occupy on twitter. It will go on billboards, on TV, in magazines, on sidewalks, street walls, T-shirts, hats, postcards, on everything you can imagine — all over the world.
We are challenging designers to think beyond the iconic Clenched Fist and create a new iconic symbol for resistance, solidarity and empowerment in the 21st century. It should appeal to a broad base and reflect the diversity of the 99%, while encompassing the values of the Occupy Movement – among them, integrity, justice, freedom, equality, compassion, community and true democracy.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
No related posts.
Categories: News and Updates
How Twitter was named and bought Twitter.com for $7,500
Biz Stone discusses the naming of his company.
Today at DOMAINfest in Santa Monica, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone talked about how they named the company and bought the domain for $7,500.
Stone and his co-founders wanted a name that showed “urgency”. They came up with Jitter, but thought that sounded negative.
One of his partners was paging through a dictionary and found Twitter. Since Stone’s wife worked with animals, he immediately liked the name and knew its connotation.
Since Twitter.com was taken, the company started with Twttr.com.
When Twitter started to take off they contacted the owner of Twitter.com, who was a bird enthusiast.
“We offered him $7500 or something and he was like ‘holy crap, payday!’”
Stone said, in his defense for offering what now seems like a small amount, they had no idea how big it was going to get. At the time he said $7,500 was a lot of money for them.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
Tucows launches Ting mobile phone service
Tucows branches out, enters mobile phone business.
Tucows, which owns one of the world’s largest domain registrars, officially launched mobile phone service Ting today.
In a press release, Tucows CEO Elliot Noss said:
“What people are forced to put up with from mobile service providers just doesn’t make sense. It’s too complicated, too opaque, too adversarial, too expensive and frankly too inhuman.”
Ting offers simplified phone plans where you can purchase talk, text, and mobile allotments. If you use less of your allotment during the month you get a credit. If you go over you pay for the extra usage but not at a penalty rate.
The simplified service reminds me a lot of what Tucows did with Hover, a simple domain registration service.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
James Brown estate doesn’t “feel good” after domain dispute
Godfather of Soul’s domain name can stay with management company.
The estate of James Brown has lost a domain arbitration case for the domain name JamesBrown.com.
The domain is owned by LAC Management, Inc., which manages “RJ & The James Brown Band”. LAC argued that James Brown gave at least his tacit consent for it to register the domain name. In its pleadings, the estate even admitted that Brown may have consented to the domain registration while he was alive.
The estate made a number of legal arguments that aren’t typically considered by a UDRP panel and the panel decided to ignore them.
That makes sense. Even if the estate does have a legal argument to get this domain name, it’s certainly too complex to be handled by the UDRP mechanism.
LAC Management was represented by Ari Goldberger of ESQwire.com.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
KeyDrive acquires Moniker and SnapNames
Oversee.net sells off domain marketplace, expiring domain, and registrar companies.
KeyDrive, which owns domain name registrar Key-Systems as well as NameDrive, has acquired SnapNames and Moniker from Oversee.net.
Combined, KeyDrive says it is now the sixth largest ICANN accredited registrar.
Rumors about the acquisition have been swirling around DOMAINfest this week. KeyDrive has now updated its web site to confirm the acquisition.
Both SnapNames and Moniker were challenging acquisitions for Oversee.net. SnapNames lost its most important domain registrar, Network Solutions, shortly after the acquisition in 2007. It then dealt with the so-called “halvarez” scandal where a SnapNames employee was found shill bidding in auctions.
Moniker was also a challenge, primarily because it was purchased at the peak in early 2008. Oversee.net paid about $24 million for the domain registrar. Although the sale price hasn’t been disclosed, you can bet it took a sizable loss on the sale.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
National Car Rental sues over National.com typo – a domain it doesn’t even own
Car rental company demands typo of National.com, a domain it doesn’t even own.
Vanguard Trademark Holdings, which owns the National car rental brand, has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit (pdf) against the domain name Natiional.com.
The company filed a UDRP against the domain name already. It lost that case in June. On the same day it won a similar case for another typo, Nationnal.com.
Part of the reason it lost the Natiional.com case is because the panel ruled it’s OK to own a typo of a generic word.
But what I find most interesting is that the company doesn’t even own National.com. It’s owned by National Semiconductor. So Vanguard is asking a court to hand over a typo of a domain it doesn’t even own!
I also get a kick out of the convoluted way Vanguard found links to car rentals on Natiional.com, basically saying that if you go a few pages into the directory-like parked page you can find links to car rental companies, including National.
Vanguard says that Natiional.com, although protected with a whois privacy service, actually belongs to Kevin Ham’s Vertical Axis.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
Last chance to take 2012 Domain Name Wire survey
12 hours left to take this year’s domain industry survey.
Time is running out to take the seventh annual Domain Name Wire survey.
The survey, which asks users to answer questions about domain name registrars, domain parking, and expired domains, concludes January 31. Results will be published in February.
Participants from 47 countries have already completed the survey. It takes about five minutes and is anonymous. You may opt to provide your name and email address at the end of the survey if you wish to be entered to win a copy of David Kesmodel’s “The Domain Game” book.
Based on results to date, it looks like there might be some shakeup in the domain registrar rankings as well as domain parking.
If you want your voice heard, complete the survey today.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
Another new TLD application round within one year?
ICANN wants to open another new TLD application round early next year. Is this plausible?
A lot of companies are applying for dot brand top level domains not because they want to right now, but because they think it might be their only chance. At least for the foreseeable future.
But is this the case?
The applicant guidebook states:
ICANN’s goal is to launch subsequent gTLD application rounds as quickly as possible. The exact timing will be based on experiences gained and changes required after this round is completed. The goal is for the next application round to begin within one year of the close of the application submission period for the initial round.
ICANN has committed to reviewing the effects of the New gTLD Program on the operations of the root zone system
after the first application round, and will defer the delegations in a second application round until it is
determined that the delegations resulting from the first round did not jeopardize root zone system security or
stability.
It is the policy of ICANN that there be subsequent application rounds, and that a systemized manner of
applying for gTLDs be developed in the long term.
ICANN may be a little too optimistic here. As Kevin Murphy points out, ICANN has made a lot of commitments to review its program before proceeding with more top level domains.
But the guidebook clearly states a goal of one year after the current application submission period ends. That would be only about 14 months from today.
Why is this important? A number of brands are waiting until the last minute with hopes of getting clarification.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
6 questions to be answered at DOMAINFest this week
A preview of the week ahead in Santa Monica.
The largest domain name conference, DOMAINfest, takes place in Santa Monica this week. There’s a lot to look for in the 2012 edition. Here are six questions that will be answered before the end of the week.
1. How will Oversee.net’s new leadership present itself?
Oversee.net branded itself largely with former CEO Jeff Kupietzky. Now Oversee.net has new leadership with co-presidents Debra Domeyer and Scott Morrow. Domeyer attended TRAFFIC last Fall, but for most people this conference will be the first introduction to the pair.
2. Will Oversee.net address Moniker?
It’s one of the industry’s worst kept secrets that Oversee.net has been shopping around Moniker. Also this month we saw the departure of some of Moniker’s longtime account managers. As a Moniker customer, I received no notice of the account manager changes.
Will Oversee continue to be silent about Moniker? Or will it address the changes head on to instill confidence. Confidence, after all, is one of the most important things people consider when selecting a registrar.
3. Will the new parties make up for the (lack of) Playboy Mansion?
There’s no trip to the Playboy Mansion this year. After over 100 people got sick last year I think that’s probably OK with most people.
But there will still be a Playboy element. .Co is sponsoring a party at Petersen Automotive Museum that will include some playmates as well as the star of the GoDaddy .co Super Bowl commercial Natalia Velez.
The final night party will be at House of Blue and includes “edgy, sexy and interactive entertainment”. It will be interesting.
4. How many people will be there?
DOMAINfest has attracted 700 people in recent years. That’s about the peak I could imagine if it’s mostly domainers. But the show is shifting — just like the company — and is attracting more from the lead gen, affiliate, and SEO spaces.
5. Can DOMAINfest successfully include topics outside the typical domainer realm?
This year you’ll hear a lot more about lead gen, SEO, and affiliate marketing at the show. It will be interesting to see how this shift is managed.
6. What big company announcements will be made?
Domain companies tend to make big announcements during domain conferences. Already this morning Sedo announced a deal with GoDaddy. What big deals and announcements will we hear this week?
There you have it. Six big questions that we’ll know the answer to by the end of the week.
See you in Santa Monica.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
Shuzi seller loses battle for Shuzi.com
A Shuzi bracelet is supposed to work miracles, but it doesn’t have powers to “steal” domain names.
ShuziQi, which sells “Shuzi” bracelets, has lost a domain dispute over the domain Shuzi.com.
The details of the case aren’t as entertaining as what Shuzi is, so I’ll be brief on the case. Basically, the owner of the domain registered it four years before ShuziQi existed, and Shuzi’s English transliteration can mean “digital”. The domain owner registered several other domains that had generic transliterations. The panel ruled in favor of the respondent.
OK, now on to Shuzi.
ShuziQi offers bracelets you wear that apparently have awesome powers. Here’s how they describe them:
Programmed using our own proprietary process to resonate with your cells’ natural frequency to improve your bio-system balance. Reinforces your cells’ natural frequency energy level which reduces erratic cell behavior, allowing your body to work more efficiently.
Hmm. I was a little skeptical until I read the reviews on the web site. The first doctor’s review:
Earlier today I received a Shuzi bracelet to try out. I support the philosophy behind the Shuzi and would recommend it to anyone who is looking to improve their overall quality of life.
Sweet. If a doctor hasn’t tried it yet but just got one in the mail, I’m all for it. I think I should get one for my dog, too, after reading this testimonial:
I wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t for my daughters little dog Tammy. The kids jumped on the bed and didn’t see little Tammy. She spent a week in the vets with a very severe back injury. They gave her anti inflammatory shots and sent her home with pills. A week at home and she still had difficulty walking. My daughter put the PHD tag on the Tammy on Monday night and on Tuesday the she was scampering down the driveway. Dogs can’t lie, I’m sold. I’ve ordered a ring and can’t wait to put it on.
If you start using a ShuziQi bracelet and experience dizziness for the first few days, don’t be alarmed. Apparently this is caused by “a “detox” in which your body is flushing out toxins in your blood stream.”
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
No related posts.
Categories: News and Updates
VeriSign plans to apply for about 12 new top level domain names
Company will apply for about a dozen TLDs, mostly transliterations of .com.
VeriSign plans to apply for “about 12″ top level domain names this year, Pat Kane, Senior Vice President and General Manager of VeriSign Naming Services, said on VeriSign’s investor conference call this evening. Most of these will be transliterations of .com. In other words, internationalized domain names (IDNs).
Although he did not elaborate on what those domains would be, Kane previously told Domain Name Wire that you can expect .com equivalents in Japanese, Hangul, Chinese, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Hebrew.
The company also said that VeriSign has already been selected as the registry provider by several brands that will apply for new top level domains. It did not reveal any numbers, although the company has predicted there will be 1,000 to 1,500 total new TLD applications.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
No related posts.
Categories: News and Updates
2011 was record breaking year for .com and .net domain registrations
Over 32 million new domain registrations in .com and .net last year.
2011 set a record for new .com/.net domain registrations with over 32 million registration, VeriSign announced on its investor conference call this afternoon:
In the fourth quarter, we added 1.9 million net names to the domain name base, and we processed 7.9 million new registrations, which is about a 4% increase over the same period a year ago. The fourth quarter was our strongest Q4 for new registrations on record. In fact, that’s true for each of the quarters in 2011, thus, making it our strongest year for new registrations with over 32 million new registrations processed.
There were 113.8 million combined domain names registered at the end of December.
According to DomainTools, there are now over 100 million .com domains registered, although VeriSign did not announce this milestone on its investor conference call today.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
No related posts.
Categories: News and Updates
GoDaddy reveals Super Bowl commercial featuring the Pussycat Dolls
You won’t have to wait until the Super Bowl to see this year’s commercials.
It’s likely you’ve already seen GoDaddy’s Super Bowl commercial featuring .co. GoDaddy has linked to it from its home page for about a week.
Now the company is releasing its second half commercial on the web, too.
The spot, dubbed “CLOUD”, features the new Pussycat Dolls. It also stars Danica Patrick.
Patrick has officially been in more Super Bowl ads than any other celebrity, according to GoDaddy. She’ll be up to ten after this year’s Super Bowl airs. This is GoDaddy’s eighth consecutive Super Bowl ad campaign.
I think releasing this commercials before the big game makes sense. There will still be the “continuations” after the commercials air during the game, so it will draw people back. Also, most people who see the commercials during the game will not have seen the early releases.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
VeriSign likely to announce 100M .com milestone today
DomainTools claims milestone reached; VeriSign earnings call on tap for today.
At the end of October VeriSign was very, very close to hitting the 100 million .com domain name milestone.
Now, according to DomainTools, there are officially 100 million .com domain names registered, not including those going through the redemption process or pending delete.
Given that VeriSign has its earnings call today at 4:30 PM EST, I’m betting the company will announce this milestone today.
According to DomainTools, yesterday’s .com zone file had 99,837,548 domain names. This doesn’t include 2.1 million domain names in redemption or pending delete status. More importantly, the company says it doesn’t include so-called “dark domains” that are not pointed to nameservers and aren’t listed in the zone file.
Add the dark domains in (but exclude the expiring ones) and you get 100.2 million.
Update: VeriSign announced it earnings but didn’t mention the milestone.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
LeadRefs.com helps you find buyers for your domains
Free service finds potential buyers for your domain names.
Sure, you can sit on your domain portfolio and wait for the right buyer to come along. But you’ll sell a lot more domains if you actually try to sell them.
The big challenge is finding qualified buyers for your domains.
That’s a problem that LeadRefs.com is trying to solve.
Just plug in a domain name and it searches for potential buyers of your domain name. For example, plug in TradingDerivatives.com and some of the leads returned are emails for ertradingderivatives.com and starttradingderivatives.com.
Most of the hits are for owners of similar domain names. However, the site also finds Twitter users that may be interested in your domains.
Estibot offers a similar lead generation service, which finds owners of similar domains as well as advertisers bidding on the key term.
Now before I recommend LeadRefs.com I want to discuss a big caveat: be careful about domain sales spam.
It’s becoming a big problem. Some of it is misleading (especially regarding expired domains) while other is just annoying. The problem, as I see it, is when people use automated systems to email potential buyers of domain names. They don’t check the quality of the leads and send out what is essentially spam to dozens of unqualified leads.
I’d also be careful about contacting someone on Twitter. I’ve received solicitations for domains before and usually report the user as spam.
I’m all for proactive selling of domains. Just don’t take shortcuts.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
GoDaddy .Co Super Bowl commercial model Natalia Velez to attend DOMAINfest
Colombian model to attend dinner party on February 1.
DOMAINfest organizers have just announced that Columbian model Natalia Velez, who stars along with Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels in a GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial this year, will attend the conference taking place in Santa Monica next week.
Velez will be in person at the Petersen Automotive Museum for the conference’s SuperCars dinner party sponsored by .Co on February 1.
Velez was recently unveiled as the star of one of GoDaddy’s commercials that highlights the .co domain name. The commercial has already been released and will be aired during the SuperCars party.
And for those that are bummed about the conference not returning to the Playboy Mansion this year, take note: there will be Playboy Playmates at the SuperCars event.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
WIPO gives Twitter popular typo Twittr.com
Twitter gets typo of its Twitter.com domain name.
A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has awarded Twitter the domain name Twittr.com in a uniform domain name dispute resolution policy (UDRP) proceeding.
Twittr.com was originally registered before Twitter’s “first use in commerce” date on its trademark for “Twitter”. Although Twitter says it actually started the service prior to this first use date, it was a moot point in this case because the current owner purchased the domain after the first use date.
The owner of the domain, identified as 21562719 Ont Ltd a/k/a Galt Networks Inc., did not respond to Twitter’s complaint. The registrant acquired the domain after Twitter purchased the Twitter.com domain name.
Twittr.com receives nearly 10,000 unique views a month according to Compete.com.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
Is Marchex considering selling its domain name portfolio?
Company considering what to do with its domain name portfolio.
Marchex is often cited as starting a wave of acquisitions of domain portfolios when it announced the purchase of Ultimate Search from Yun Ye in 2004 for $164 million.
Now it is looking at “strategic alternatives” for its domain name portfolio.
From a press release issued today announcing preliminary earnings for Q4:
Marchex is also announcing that it is evaluating potential strategic alternatives for its non-call-driven products and assets, including its domain name assets, with a goal of further focusing on the products and opportunities that can drive business growth.
“The exploration of alternatives for our non-call advertising products and assets is driven by our goals to enhance shareholder value and to sharpen our strategic and financial focus,” said Mr. Horowitz. “As we have stated previously, we believe that we have a very rich asset base that is not being properly valued, and whether achieved through select development of these assets, sales of these assets, or a combination of both, we should more aggressively pursue how best to get this value realized.”
Marchex is betting the company on paid calls and is considering what to do with its domain portfolio.
The company already sells a couple million worth of domains from its portfolio each quarter. But it has a high median price tag on them.
A good purchase for someone like NameMedia?
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
115 Top level domain trademarks and their current status
I’ve made plenty of commotion about companies filing for trademarks on future top level domain names. It always seems that they’re successfully pulling a fast one on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
But after an exhaustive analysis of 115 trademark applications, I’ve actually found that the U.S.P.T.O. is mostly on top of things when it comes to this trademarking game.
In almost all cases, the trademark examiner has sent an office action to the applicant questioning if the use is for top level domain names.
There’s only one case where it looks like the examiner dropped the ball: .ping. Karsten Manufacturing (PING Golf) applied for this domain and said it was for registry services. Yet it’s proceeding to publication with no office action.
Another brand is having more trouble. Schott AG wants to trademark .schott and is clear in its application that it’s for a top level domain. It was refused. Schott is drawing comparison to other trademarks, and the response to the company is a good explanation of exceptions:
The applicant argues that the applicant’s mark should be registered on the Principal Register because the marks DOTVEGAS and .NUDOMAIN were registered by the Office. However, the DOTVEGAS mark is not being used as a top-level domain name extension based on the specimen of record. With respect to the .NUDOMAIN mark, this mark was registered in February, 2005. The Office’s policy with respect to the registrability of top-level domain name extension has changed since 2005. Thus, the existence of this mark on the Principal Register is irrelevant with respect to the case at hand.
Below is a list of 115 trademark applications potentially related to new top level domains.
- The “status” column shows the current status of the application. Pending typically means it’s still undergoing initial review. Note that most responses have brought up the issue of not granting trademarks for top level domains.
- This probably isn’t an exhaustive list. Some of the trickier applications don’t mention “domains” at all in their class of service, as with a series of five applications from theDot Communications Network to trademark .music.
- If a mark is listed twice for the same applicant, that means the applicant filed twice under different classes of service.
- These are just U.S. trademarks. Some companies have been granted TLD trademarks by other countries.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates
Best Buy buys PhoneFreedom.com and other end user domain sales
A big retailer makes a small domain purchase.
Electronics retailer Best Buy is the biggest name on this week’s end user domain sales report.
The company paid $2,588 for PhoneFreedom.com through Sedo. This domain is intuitive for one of the largest mobile phone sellers.
The rest of this week’s end user domain sales took place through Afternic:
Skydex, which makes materials to mitigate shock and blasts (think military uses), bought BlastMitigation.com for $2,500.
PowerSoak, which offers a washing system that eliminates scrubbing, bought PowerMelt.com for $1,500.
Childrens book seller Palm Publishing paid $1,400 for readytoread.com and $2,100 for readytolearn.com.
Music lessons company In Bloom Music bought RockInstitute.com for $1,200.
Ontario’s Clarington Toyota bought MyAutoMall.com for $1,583.50.
Payroll services company Employer Services Online, Inc, which owns EmployeeMax.com, bought Payamax.com for $3,000.
Dallas based SteelTex Fabricators shortened its domain from SteelTexFabricators.com to SteelTex.com for $2,500.
National Restaurant Association bought ChefsatHome.com for $3,388.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.
Related posts:
Categories: News and Updates