News
Most Wanted Domains to report domain sales in realtime, buys mwd.com
According to a post on Most Wanted Domains newly launched Facebook page and a corresponding tweet, Michael Berken’s company is going to be reporting information on their domain sales through social media in real time, starting next week. It also appears that the company bought mwd.com for an undisclosed price – the domain currently redirects to MostWantedDomains.com. The domain used to host a blog called “Mixed Web Data”.
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Categories: Domains
A “monster” acquisition, iPhone 5, and Vanity.com
A look at a few stories I haven’t covered this week…
There are a few notable stories in the domain name industry that I missed writing about over the past week, so here’s a quick run down.
A “monster” of an acquisition – Mesh Digital, which owns domain name registrar DomainMonster, has been acquired by Host Europe Group for an undisclosed sum. DomainMonster isn’t a huge registrar, but it has proven quite adept at mastering domain registrations when new top level domains enter their “general availability period”. This will come in handing with hundreds of TLDs coming on line in the next couple years.
iPhone5.com – Apple filed a UDRP to get iPhone5.com earlier this month. The owners put up an initial fight before deciding to hand the domain over the Apple this week.
Vanity.com – Quite a stink going on over at TheDomains about this UDRP filing. I hope there’s more to this story than meets the eye. For what it’s worth, the owner of the domain has had it since at least 2005. The company was formed in Nevada.
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Categories: Domains
Moniker Spring auction results
Moniker auction nets close to $20,000 in sales.
The Moniker Premium Spring Auction at SnapNames just concluded. Here are the (unofficial) results:
drivinggloves.com 6450 – this is a recently developed site. Auction included Facebook page (with 2,000+ likes) and Twitter handle.
florists.info 3050 – good keyword, but not a bad price given how marketplace for secondary TLDs like this will change in coming years.
loaninterestrates.com 2000
obese.net 1650 – 5 bidders duked it out for this one. It was the last auction to close due to extensions.
scubadivinglessons.com 1267
bearings.net 770
alumn.com 590 – not a very common spelling of the term
njlawfirms.com 575
grilled.net 500
32a.com 470
wyvn.com 300
upcbarcodes.com 300
overnightpriority.com 300 – not to be confused with Fedex’s Priority Overnight
joggingshorts.com 300 – definitely falls under the “niche” category
attempt.net 300
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Categories: Domains
Dotster moves domains to Domain.com credentials
Company transfers domains between registrar accreditations.
If you start to see domain name registrar Domain.com growing in registrar ranking reports, there’s a good explanation for that.
Dotster, which owns Domain.com, has transferred the domain names from its Dotster accreditation to the Domain.com one.
I was alerted to this change when I received a DomainTools whois change alert on a friend’s domain name that I helped her register. My first thought was that her domain had been stolen, until I remembered that Dotster owns Domain.com.
I reached out to Dotster to find out what was going on. Brian Unruh, General Manager at Dotster, told Domain Name Wire:
Through acquisitions, Dotster historically has owned many registrar credentials. We consolidated them to deliver a higher quality customer experience and better efficiency. In fact this change is just one of many that we’re making to improve the services we provide our customers. While Dotster.com’s registrations are now using the Domain.com credential, Dotster customers will remain Dotster customers and continue to receive industry leading service and care.
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SnapNames Spring Auction ends in 1 1/2 hours
The SnapNames Moniker Spring Auction is set to end in less than 1 1/2 hours – here are the current domains and their bids:
Domain NameBiddersCurrent BidOrder ByStatusReserveRangeReserveStatus 1800business.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met 1800cruiseship.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met 32a.com3470May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$201 - $500Reserve Met 4gtablets.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met alumn.com2590May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$501 - $1,000Reserve Met applicationhealth.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met approved.org00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met artdecolighting.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met attempt.net1300May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Met bearings.net1510May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$501 - $1,000Reserve Not Met bloody.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met boards.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$250,001 - $500,000Reserve Not Met brisket.co.uk00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met certifiedjewelers.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met civilunions.co.uk00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met companies.org14005May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met creditadvance.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met curlyfries.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met customrobes.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met datingonline.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$50,001 - $100,000Reserve Not Met dietarysupplement.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met drivinggloves.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met dvet.org00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met endusers.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met families.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met federalmarshals.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$501 - $1,000Reserve Not Met femalecompanion.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met florists.info21400May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met freedomtower.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$50,001 - $100,000Reserve Not Met fva.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met gpsdevice.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met grilled.net3425May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Met hdcamcorder.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met homemortgageloans.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met hqzs.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met hurricaneseason.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$25,001 - $50,000Reserve Not Met identitytheft.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$750,001 - $1MMReserve Not Met iipo.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met italiandinnerrecipes.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met itrust.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$25,001 - $50,000Reserve Not Met izy.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met jobcity.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met joggingshorts.com1300May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Met knittingyarn.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met kpin.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met licencednurses.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met livetrend.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met loaninterestrates.com11100May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met mahogany.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$25,001 - $50,000Reserve Not Met makeanoffer.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met mama.com2155000May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$500,001 - $750,000Reserve Not Met medicalwarnings.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met mensproducts.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met metalfabrication.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met metalsigns.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$50,001 - $100,000Reserve Not Met minidisc.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met minivan.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met movingcompany.com1150000May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$100,001 - $250,000Reserve Not Met muld.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$501 - $1,000Reserve Not Met newyorkattorneys.net1300May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$201 - $500Reserve Not Met newyorktouristcenter.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met njlawfirms.com3575May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Met nutmix.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met nxmd.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met nydefenselawyer.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met nytalentagents.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met oayb.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met obese.net2325May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Met osp.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met overnightpriority.com1300May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Met panic.org00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met partyline.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$50,001 - $100,000Reserve Not Met permatemp.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met petpal.org00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met platinum.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$250,001 - $500,000Reserve Not Met promo.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1MM - $5MMReserve Not Met puppyland.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met qmvu.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met scubadivinglessons.com3702May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$501 - $1,000Reserve Met security.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1MM - $5MMReserve Not Met sly.com150000May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$50,001 - $100,000Reserve Not Met snare.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met sportinggoodsstore.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$25,001 - $50,000Reserve Not Met swf.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met taxpreparer.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met tourbus.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$10,001 - $25,000Reserve Not Met tourpackages.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$2,501 - $5,000Reserve Not Met tujb.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met unplugged.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$50,001 - $100,000Reserve Not Met upcbarcodes.com1300May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Met vapa.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$50,001 - $100,000Reserve Not Met vco.net00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$501 - $1,000Reserve Not Met vegasflights.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$5,001 - $10,000Reserve Not Met vtyr.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met wasnt.org00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met weddingpictures.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$25,001 - $50,000Reserve Not Met winded.org00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met worldseriesapparel.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met wqhi.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met wqvj.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met wyvf.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met wyvn.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$201 - $500Reserve Not Met xabe.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn Auction$1,001 - $2,500Reserve Not Met xelz.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met zqof.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met zvzw.com00May 17, 2012 12:15:00 PMIn AuctionNo ReserveReserve Not Met
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Categories: Domains
HEXONET announces more than 1 Million domains under management
German based HEXONET, a domain technology solutions provider, recently announced that they are now managing over a million domains for clients, resellers and partners. The one millionth domain milestone is a goal that many registrars strive for and HEXONET reached this goal last month.
The company empowers resellers to privately brand many unique internet services, including domain names available in hundreds of ccTLD’s via an API and web at wholesale prices. This is all done through 1API, an ICANN accredited registrar operated by HEXONET. Today thousands of resellers, startups, and service providers world-wide make HEXONET their solution provider of choice when it comes to registering domains, web hosting, private label dns services and ssl certificates.
HEXONET is headquartered in Homburg, Germany and has a North American subsidiary, HEXONET Services Inc. based out of Vancouver, Canada. It was in February of 2009 when Robert Birkner founded HEXONET Services Inc., the North American arm of HEXONET GmbH with former Key-Systems CEO and founder Jens Wagner.
Before joining HEXONET, Robert held important posts throughout the domain industry including General Manager of Hostway Canada, General Manager of Domainpeople Inc., Director of Global Domains at Hostway Corporation, and Director of Sales and International Business at Key-Systems GmbH.
Robert is known throughout the domain industry for his expertise on the industry’s business policy, market insight, product development, and especially for understanding the needs of end users and registrars. Robert also consulted on the re-launch of the .ME domain registry in 2008.
In recent years, the company has had a strong presence in domain conferences such as Domainfest and DNCruise, as well as ICANN meetings. Getting some big domain investment companies and professional domainers to come on board and use HEXONET’s platform has surely helped the company reach the 1 millionth milestone much faster than they probably expected.
After the jump you can find some of the highlights from the recent blog post announcement by Robert Birkner, Chief Strategy Officer at HEXONET Global, and founder & president of HEXONET Services Inc. in Vancouver, Canada.
A Hard Journey to 1 Million Domains:
1. Like any expanding company we have seen growing pains when it came to our employees. Looking back on both the good and the bad, HEXONET has definitely seen the benefit of bringing in new ideas and minds into our organization. New blood in the company exposed areas we were weak and helped us identify where we could improve. Today the team is as talented and as strong as ever. And we are now looking to add even more amazing people to our team. Many lessons learned and many issues overcome.
2. Handling security as we grow has been a challenge, but we are on top of it. Our biggest attack was about a year ago when HEXONET was hit with a massive DDOS. The attack was on a unprecedented scale with over 2 million queries per second on all our servers generating over 80 Gbits of bandwidth. This DDOS even saturated our upstream provider’s datacenter, one of Europe’s largest Internet hubs. We are happy to announce that through proactive measures and procedures no DDOS attacks has affected HEXONET since this last incident.
Many Successes Along the Way:
1. Our reseller and partner network is growing exponentially. Hosting companies, registrar service providers, domain resellers, domainers, and small businesses are now realizing the strength of HEXONET’s advanced and PROVEN technology platform. In our opinion, for TLDs and especially ccTLDs, no other platform or service compares.
More than a decade ago, nearly all companies designed their systems for a handful of dominant TLDs (COM/NET), HEXONET on the contrary believed that eventually hundreds if not thousands of TLDs would be the norm. So today, while others struggle and even hack every new TLD into their in-congruent systems, HEXONET seamlessly adds new TLDs, as our platform was designed to scale from the very beginning. Even more important is the many years of engineering and operational knowledge held by our staff and engineers. We can answer questions about the smallest operational and architectural nuisances for TLDs, a skill that only reveals itself when working with a registry system for years and years.
2. Our Registrar Operations Center platform (RegistrarOC), has also been garnering a lot of interest as well as clients among large corporate customers. These clients with their own accreditations and a large number of domains now realize that there is a huge cost (time and salaries) to update and maintain their own registrar platform. This is where RegistrarOC steps in and not only saves these companies money, but eliminates a huge operational and engineering burden. Interestingly enough, prominent law firms are now becoming ICANN accredited to manage their clients domains. Since law firms are typically not technical, many have turned to RegistrarOC and HEXONET to manage their accreditations.
3. With HEXONET’s platforms gaining popularity, many newTLDs have even come to us asking for help with running a house registrar of their own. As a result, some .BRAND TLDs have committed to running their own house registrar service through 1API (HEXONET’s house registrar) or through utilizing RegistrarOC.
The Journey Continues – What to Expect:
1. A new and more friendly website launching this summer.
2. A newer and easier to use “orderform” to be progressively released throughout the year. With each release new features will be available for clients.
3. More Control Panel enhancements and upgrades. All these updates are from direct feedback and requests from our clients. Some cool new bulk management features are coming!
4. General public “Domain for Sale” listing service on HEXONET’s domain auction platform PremiumSale.com. The site and auction service at PremiumSale.com has received tremendous feedback and now we are going to opening it up for members to auction off their own domains through the platform.
Even though we surpassed the 1 million domain goal for the company, we are not resting. HEXONET continues to work hard for our customers. Again to all our customers, resellers, and partners, thank you for your support and patronage.
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Categories: Domains
Oversee.net hires GM for $40M+ travel vertical
Oversee.net hires GM from online travel industry to run its travel network.
Oversee.net has hired Raj Beri as General Manager of its travel vertical, the company announced today. Beri was previously Director and COO of IgoUgo, a travel site owned by Travelocity.
The travel vertical is part of Oversee.net’s “vertical markets” business that includes fully developed web sites. Oversee.net is best known to domainers for its DomainSponsor domain parking service.
Oversee.net’s travel properties include LowFares.com, FareSpotter.net, AboutAirportParking.com and AirportParking.com. These are big sites; LowFares.com has a US Quantcast rank of 1,492 and FareSpotter.net is ranked 2,973.
So just how big is Oversee.net’s travel vertical? According to Beri’s LinkedIn profile, it’s a $40MM+ business.
Other vertical markets at Oversee.net include consumer finance (CreditCards.org, IdentityTheft.com) and shopping (ShopWiki.com).
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Categories: Domains
14 funniest domain registrar names
From dessert names to rather unflattering names, here are 14 odd domain registrar names.
People get creative when coming up with domain names. Even registrars sometimes get into the act when naming their registrars.
Many registrar names are created by companies creating drop catching registrars. Since they aren’t public facing registrars, they get really creative. Here are some of the more amusing registrar names (both drop catching registrars and regular ones):
Afterdark Domains, Inc (eNom) – what is this, a registrar for porn names?
Backslap Domains, Inc. – just a really funny name for a domain registrar
BearTrapDomains.com LLC (Moniker) – I guess the visual makes sense for one of SnapNames’ domain registrars.
Betterthanaveragedomains.com LLC (Moniker) – Sell it to me!
Decentdomains, LLC (Dotster) – I’m having a tough time choosing between Better Than Average Domains and Decent Domains as my domain registrar.
Chocolatecovereddomains,LLC (Dotster) – Yeah, I’ll take a dozen.
Domainsouffle.com LLC (Moniker) – or maybe I want a souffle instead.
Dontaskwhy.ca Inc. – I won’t ask why. Forwards to NameScout.
DuckBilledDomains.com LLC (Moniker) – uh, ok.
eNom’s numbered registrars enom1008 Inc., enom1009 Inc (enom) – eNom didn’t have the all night drug induced namestorming session that SnapNames apparently had
EurotrashNames.com LLC (Moniker) – Love it!
Microbreweddomains.com LLC (Moniker) – Little know fact: name was brainstormed at a microbrewery.
NotSoFamousNames.com LLC (Moniker) – No thanks, I’ll keep my business at DecentDomains.
Wild West Domains (GoDaddy) – got to wonder what GoDaddy was thinking when it named its reseller division. Nothing says “lack of trust” more than the Wild West.
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Categories: Domains
MLB buys Athletics.com domain name
Major League Baseball makes another big domain acquisition.
Just a couple days ago I was revisiting a post I wrote in 2010 about Major League Baseball’s domain names. The only change to the list since I posted was MLB picking up Angels.com.
But this week MLB picked up another one. Jamie Zoch of dotWeekly discovered that the league just bought Athletics.com.
That leaves just five teams that MLB doesn’t own the “exact” domain name for. Of the remaining domains, Rockies.com and Twins.com seem like they would be the most “available” given their current use and owner.
Now, let’s go back to something I tweeted about on Monday:
MLB has been paying a couple hundred grand per domain it acquires. It also got a late start with domain names. Itwasn’t the original owner of MLB.com. MLB.com was owned by one of the league’s law firms. (You can read the fascinating story of its transfer here.
All things considered, I bet Major League Baseball applies for .mlb. I don’t know if they’ll use it, but it’s relatively inexpensive and worth picking up just in case. And this just may be one of those cases where a brand needs to apply for a domain to keep someone else from getting it, since MLB could stand for multiple things. Like a law firm.
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Categories: Domains
Intuit buys Apps.net for 24,100 EUR among 25 end user domain sales
Intuit picks up Apps.net domain name and other notable domain purchases.
The biggest name on this week’s end user domain sales report is Intuit. The company (of Quicken and Quickbooks fame) bought Apps.net for EUR 21,400 at Sedo. It already owns Apps.com. It offers Intuit Apps for many of its products.
Here are other domain name purchases by end users over the past week.
Sedo
Ad network Multi-View, Inc. made this week’s big $112,000 purchase of AHHA.com.
Travel Networks Europe Ltd, owner of rental car finder CarJet.com, paid 3,000 GPB for CarHirecover.com
Jasper Engines & Transmissions paid $2,000 for MyJapser.com.
The restaurant data company behind FoodServiceReport.com bought RestaurantData.com for $1,299.
Travel services company HOTELBEDS SPAIN, S.L.U. bought AttractionStore.com for $1,895 and ResortActivities.com for $1,295.
University of Toronto mathematician James Colliander bought CrowdMark.com for $995. It will be interesting to see what he does with it.
Afternic
Westport, Connecticut cycling/spin studio JoyRide Cycling Studio picked up JoyrideStudio.com for $1,495. It currently owns Joyride-Cycling.com and JoyrideWestport.com.
Embassy Loans bought the singular version of its domain name — EmbassyLoan.com — for $1,500.
Healthcare company Primary Care Partners in South Florida bought HealthyPartners.com for $3,788.
The Catamaran Company, seller of catamarans (a type of boat), paid $2,088 for LagoonCatamarans.com
Elite Estate Buyers Inc, which already owns EliteAuction.com, bought EliteConsignment.com for $2,088.
Business intelligence company Third Time dropped the hyphen in its domain name for $1,200 by picking up ThirdTime.com. Nice purchase.
Book publisher Health Communications, Inc, whose slogan is “The Life Issues Publisher”, bought LifeIssues.com for $8,800. Nice sale.
Godat Landscape Construction Company paid $1,388 for Godat.net.
ShortTermStays.com, an L.A. short term rental referral service, bought ShortTermStay.com for $2,100.
It appears that Lufthansa Technik has purchased LTCS.com for $2,500. The whois record for the domain doesn’t mention the company, but the registrant’s email address is LTCS.aero, which is owned by Lufthansa. The actual registrant is Gordon Weller, Sr. Director Customer Service & Account Management for the company.
Max New York Life bought MaxLifeInsurance.com for a whopping $21,000.
Affordable Power, L.P., which goes by the name APG&E, picked up APGE.com for $5,088.
The owner of Waverlyhomes.ca bought Waverlyhomes.com for $2,000.
Calgary Co-operative Association Ltd. bought YourCoop.com for $2,655.
A brand new company called Canada Carbon has purchased none other than CanadaCarbon.com for $1,995.
Instant Home Loans, Inc. d.b.a. Instant Capital, bought InstantCapital.com for a strong $14,500. Its web site is MyInstantCapital.com.
American Trash Management, a unique company whose mission is to “reduce the environmental impact, costs and problems of trash”, bought SmartTrash.com for $2,188.
Production company Flatland Pictures bought MusicProfessor.com for $1,888. Perhaps the title of an upcoming film?
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UK insurer first to lose .xxx dispute
Request for .xxx domain name denied.
United Kingdom insurance company BGL Group Limited, better known as CompareTheMarket.com, is the first complainant to lose a UDRP for a .xxx domain name.
The company filed the complaint against UK resident Jon Watkins, who registered the domain back in December when .xxx became generally available.
But as I’ve argued previously, it can be rather difficult to prove bad faith in the registration of a .xxx domain name. Most complainants aren’t in the adult entertainment business. And few .xxx domain names will be parked, which could have result in PPC ads related to a complainant. So unless the mark is very famous (and not descriptive/generic) or the owner of the domain tries to sell the domain to the complainant, proving registration in bad faith isn’t easy.
That’s what happened here. A Czech Arbitration Court panel wrote:
But Complainant fails to prove bad faith registration or use of the domain. Complainant states that the domain is “completely inactive”. Complainant does not show that Respondent tried to sell the domain to Complainant, has registered other infringing names, or otherwise has tried to profit from the domain or cause any other harm to Complainant. Respondent is not shown to have had prior UDRP cases in which he has been an unsuccessful Defendant. Clearly, “compare the market” could relate to myriad different types of markets and myriad different comparisons within each one, as demonstrated by a simple web search.
I’m not quite sure why BGL went after this domain name. If it were an active domain name with porn on it and it was getting search rankings I’d understand. Otherwise this seems like a waste of money.
Companies have filed over 20 UDRP cases against .xxx domain names. None had lost prior to this case.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Categories: Domains
Zimbabwe.com seller takes huge loss
Zimbabwe.com sells for a fraction of what it sold for in 2007.
We always hear stories about people who bought domains and flipped them for many times their purchase price. But the opposite also happens.
Take the case of Zimbabwe.com, which just sold for $42,500 at Sedo.
The last time this domain (reported) sold was in 2007. Purchase price: $130,000.
It’s possible the domain also changed hands in 2008. Regardless of if it has changed hands since 2007, the domain took a total haircut of $87,500 during that period.
Not pretty.
There’s not a whole lot you can do with Zimbabwe.com from a commerce perspective other than offer elephant hunting trips.
Ideally a buyer would use the domain to help shed more light on Robert Mugabe’s atrocities.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Categories: Domains
Sedo sells over $2.1M USD in domains the previous week
Sedo sales just reported their domain sales for the week ending on May 14th, 2012.
This past week, 947 transactions took place on Sedo’s marketplace and via SedoMLS, totaling over $2.1 million. 41% of total sales were the result of Buy Now listings. Highlights of public sales include:
- Top .com: ahha.com at 112,000 USD
- Top ccTLD: w.to at 53,000 USD
- Top “other” TLD: bangkok.net at 25,000 USD
See the all of the reported sales at Sedo for the previous week after the jump.
Domain nameTLDDatePriceCurrencySource ahha.comcom2012-05-14112,000USDSedo onlinefreegames.comcom2012-05-0790,000USDSedo w.toto2012-05-0853,000USDSedo zimbabwe.comcom2012-05-1442,500USDSedo bangkok.netnet2012-05-0825,000USDSedo apps.netnet2012-05-0924,100EURSedo yali.comcom2012-05-1023,000USDSedo zuvo.comcom2012-05-1417,500USDSedo actionfigure.comcom2012-05-1017,000USDSedo insure.itit2012-05-0913,250USDSedo denim-shop.comcom2012-05-0712,250EURSedo ko.netnet2012-05-0912,000USDSedo mopo.comcom2012-05-0912,000USDSedo imprentaonline.eses2012-05-1111,800EURSedo allthingsi.comcom2012-05-1110,700USDSedo xee.comcom2012-05-1110,510USDSedo hobby.tvtv2012-05-1110,000USDSedo messageme.comcom2012-05-0910,000USDSedo ruletka.plpl2012-05-119,000EURSedo go2.dede2012-05-118,925EURSedo unwall.comcom2012-05-107,900USDSedo r4e.comcom2012-05-077,500USDSedo brandtone.comcom2012-05-106,000EURSedo gpswatch.comcom2012-05-116,000USDSedo summercamp.netnet2012-05-095,500USDSedo fastcapital.comcom2012-05-085,100USDSedo 1cake.comcom2012-05-105,000USDSedo bodykey.comcom2012-05-145,000USDSedo dixon-agency.comcom2012-05-115,000USDSedo esume.comcom2012-05-085,000USDSedo meupet.comcom2012-05-085,000USDSedo redchapter.comcom2012-05-115,000USDSedo theproteinbar.comcom2012-05-145,000USDSedo 25c.comcom2012-05-074,950USDSedo mobile-hotspot.comcom2012-05-074,950EURSedo lawsuit.usus2012-05-094,750USDSedo sixsteps.comcom2012-05-114,750USDSedo 3dz.comcom2012-05-144,600USDSedo madein.eueu2012-05-094,250EURSedo bip.itit2012-05-104,235EURSedo blog.nono2012-05-084,000EURSedo cosmeticdentist.org.ukorg.uk2012-05-084,000GBPSedo shopit.co.ukco.uk2012-05-144,000GBPSedo ymas.comcom2012-05-103,995USDSedo trademogul.comcom2012-05-073,975USDSedo yougive.comcom2012-05-083,800USDSedo mymission.comcom2012-05-103,760EURSedo eroshop.dede2012-05-093,600EURSedo amorenlinea.eses2012-05-083,500EURSedo kd1.comcom2012-05-143,500EURSedo moment.meme2012-05-073,500EURSedo panneausolaire.comcom2012-05-143,500EURSedo paved.comcom2012-05-093,500USDSedo badheizkoerper.dede2012-05-093,450EURSedo onlinebookmarking.comcom2012-05-143,450USDSedo swapstock.comcom2012-05-143,250USDSedo virginoliveoil.comcom2012-05-143,200EURSedo babet.comcom2012-05-103,100USDSedo carhirecover.co.ukco.uk2012-05-083,000GBPSedo carhirecover.comcom2012-05-093,000GBPSedo generaldomain.comcom2012-05-113,000USDSedo littlebit.dede2012-05-143,000EURSedo mydog.tvtv2012-05-143,000USDSedo mylens.netnet2012-05-093,000EURSedo regiospot.dede2012-05-103,000EURSedo supremacy.orgorg2012-05-083,000USDSedo tagg.meme2012-05-103,000USDSedo teatronazionale.itit2012-05-093,000EURSedo thinkful.comcom2012-05-083,000USDSedo traders-home.dede2012-05-143,000EURSedo oakstream.comcom2012-05-082,999USDSedo nutrition.dede2012-05-082,800USDSedo planetario.eses2012-05-142,800EURSedo howtogetridofacne.comcom2012-05-092,700USDSedo shopt.comcom2012-05-092,700USDSedo cellphonebooster.comcom2012-05-102,550USDSedo epic.bizbiz2012-05-082,500USDSedo fairstory.comcom2012-05-102,500USDSedo home24.grgr2012-05-092,500EURSedo ishot.netnet2012-05-112,500EURSedo max-team.comcom2012-05-082,500USDSedo oval.nlnl2012-05-072,500EURSedo sardinia.coco2012-05-142,500EURSedo schmuckgalerie.atat2012-05-112,500EURSedo telecommandes.comcom2012-05-112,500EURSedo carteanniversaire.frfr2012-05-142,400EURSedo exxi.comcom2012-05-142,350USDSedo vot.eses2012-05-142,280EURSedo 18hd.comcom2012-05-092,250USDSedo aero-bilet.ruru2012-05-142,000USDSedo cam4.co.ilco.il2012-05-092,000USDSedo capology.comcom2012-05-102,000EURSedo doctorin.comcom2012-05-142,000USDSedo essaywritingservices.comcom2012-05-092,000USDSedo eticaretci.netnet2012-05-112,000USDSedo itjobs.frfr2012-05-082,000EURSedo maxcorp.comcom2012-05-092,000USDSedo moralcapitalism.orgorg2012-05-102,000USDSedo mundosat.comcom2012-05-092,000USDSedo myjasper.comcom2012-05-072,000USDSedo onlineschool.infoinfo2012-05-082,000USDSedo pierrenanterme.comcom2012-05-082,000USDSedo rovinj.orgorg2012-05-112,000USDSedo schlafstoerungen.comcom2012-05-142,000EURSedo themonarch.comcom2012-05-142,000USDSedo transport.orgorg2012-05-142,000USDSedo virage.netnet2012-05-112,000USDSedo werkzeug.bizbiz2012-05-142,000EURSedo gosmokes.comcom2012-05-081,999USDSedo supremeflooring.comcom2012-05-111,999USDSedo behandeln.comcom2012-05-101,909USDSedo endometriose.infoinfo2012-05-091,900EURSedo telescope.eses2012-05-141,900EURSedo privacytest.comcom2012-05-081,899USDSedo attractionstore.comcom2012-05-071,895USDSedo specialistseating.comcom2012-05-141,895USDSedo adves.comcom2012-05-081,850USDSedo markt.itit2012-05-081,850EURSedo adderley.comcom2012-05-111,800USDSedo antarus.comcom2012-05-091,800USDSedo darkium.comcom2012-05-091,800USDSedo despensas.comcom2012-05-111,800USDSedo franklin.tvtv2012-05-071,800USDSedo i-clip.comcom2012-05-101,800USDSedo mode360.comcom2012-05-091,800USDSedo shirtly.comcom2012-05-141,800USDSedo sitian.comcom2012-05-101,800USDSedo highbooks.comcom2012-05-071,795USDSedo relationshipwisdom.comcom2012-05-071,788USDSedo feroglobin.comcom2012-05-091,775USDSedo echi.comcom2012-05-091,750EURSedo sxin.comcom2012-05-071,750USDSedo bellearti.eueu2012-05-111,747EURSedo cenis.comcom2012-05-101,700USDSedo sfcard.comcom2012-05-081,600EURSedo swissreserve.comcom2012-05-091,595USDSedo pricesgold.comcom2012-05-141,550USDSedo ја.comcom2012-05-101,550USDSedo binary360.comcom2012-05-081,500USDSedo bza.chch2012-05-091,500EURSedo housedirect.comcom2012-05-081,500GBPSedo mobileinsurance.netnet2012-05-141,500USDSedo mondoguerra.comcom2012-05-141,500EURSedo mypsy.comcom2012-05-081,500EURSedo smartwatch.eses2012-05-091,500EURSedo vie.orgorg2012-05-141,500EURSedo speakeasier.comcom2012-05-091,490USDSedo m.htht2012-05-111,450USDSedo u.htht2012-05-101,450USDSedo crystalium.comcom2012-05-081,400USDSedo lottotipps.comcom2012-05-071,395USDSedo propertyhere.comcom2012-05-091,350USDSedo brainpro.comcom2012-05-091,300USDSedo cvconsultants.comcom2012-05-101,300USDSedo duello.comcom2012-05-071,300USDSedo peace21.comcom2012-05-111,300USDSedo restaurantdata.comcom2012-05-141,299USDSedo resortactivities.comcom2012-05-121,295USDSedo buffalobayoupark.orgorg2012-05-101,250USDSedo conferencesupplies.comcom2012-05-101,250USDSedo howtobecomeabountyhunter.comcom2012-05-091,250USDSedo redwoodenergy.comcom2012-05-101,250USDSedo simulationrachatcredit.frfr2012-05-081,250EURSedo top-escort.chch2012-05-071,250EURSedo cosmeticdentist.infoinfo2012-05-091,246USDSedo thinkbits.dede2012-05-141,211EURSedo chatroulett.dede2012-05-081,200EURSedo energie.inin2012-05-101,200EURSedo everyquote.comcom2012-05-091,200USDSedo heilpraktikerberlin.orgorg2012-05-141,200USDSedo muse.co.ukco.uk2012-05-101,200GBPSedo open-your-mind.comcom2012-05-141,200EURSedo pizzadealz.comcom2012-05-081,200USDSedo resortsproperties.comcom2012-05-101,125USDSedo socially.coco2012-05-141,100USDSedo tastingnote.comcom2012-05-141,095USDSedo buy.propro2012-05-101,010USDSedo 10044.comcom2012-05-081,000EURSedo 1c3.comcom2012-05-091,000USDSedo autokoop.comcom2012-05-141,000USDSedo be-cloud.comcom2012-05-111,000EURSedo body-solid.itit2012-05-101,000EURSedo cyphercon.comcom2012-05-101,000USDSedo grow2.comcom2012-05-081,000USDSedo handypreisvergleich.dede2012-05-081,000EURSedo ira.cccc2012-05-081,000USDSedo jagdgewehr.dede2012-05-111,000EURSedo jones-fashion.atat2012-05-141,000EURSedo lottojackpot24.dede2012-05-141,000EURSedo mimall.comcom2012-05-081,000USDSedo seekinglocals.comcom2012-05-091,000USDSedo startvideo.comcom2012-05-101,000USDSedo toetanchamon.comcom2012-05-111,000EURSedo trendy.frfr2012-05-101,000EURSedo webcom.frfr2012-05-141,000EURSedo x-mas.netnet2012-05-141,000USDSedo haustueren24.dede2012-05-08999EURSedo hghbenefits.comcom2012-05-07999USDSedo jetzt-im-tv.dede2012-05-10999EURSedo newportricheyhomes.comcom2012-05-14999USDSedo venturecapitalfirms.comcom2012-05-07999USDSedo crowdmark.comcom2012-05-09995USDSedo liveonly.comcom2012-05-10995USDSedo paystick.comcom2012-05-09995USDSedo sealy.inin2012-05-14995USDSedo transformtomorrow.comcom2012-05-14995USDSedo app.stst2012-05-14990USDSedo heimchen.dede2012-05-14990EURSedo jsondata.comcom2012-05-09979USDSedo hotinvest.comcom2012-05-07975USDSedo purificadordaikin.eses2012-05-08975EURSedo artex.itit2012-05-14950EURSedo schloessle.atat2012-05-08950EURSedo wedding360.comcom2012-05-08950USDSedo propertybay.comcom2012-05-14915EURSedo tungs.comcom2012-05-11900USDSedo onlinewebinars.comcom2012-05-08888USDSedo urlauctions.comcom2012-05-08888USDSedo demonocracy.comcom2012-05-08850USDSedo livebeauties.comcom2012-05-10850USDSedo pokerpals.netnet2012-05-11849USDSedo broadbandcarrier.netnet2012-05-11800USDSedo deliversafe.comcom2012-05-10800USDSedo diki.dede2012-05-08800EURSedo expert-center.chch2012-05-07800EURSedo immonova.dede2012-05-08800EURSedo reviewscenter.comcom2012-05-07800USDSedo videogaming.orgorg2012-05-07797USDSedo bewegungstherapie.dede2012-05-11789EURSedo bellearti.tvtv2012-05-08780EURSedo das-billige-kaufhaus.dede2012-05-08750EURSedo handelregister.dede2012-05-10750EURSedo homegate.infoinfo2012-05-11750EURSedo howtotrade.co.ukco.uk2012-05-08750GBPSedo letsgogolf.comcom2012-05-08750USDSedo mietwagenvergleich.orgorg2012-05-08750EURSedo oneresource.comcom2012-05-11750USDSedo psengineering.comcom2012-05-14750USDSedo seattlepersonalinjurylawyer.netnet2012-05-11750USDSedo smallenginespares.comcom2012-05-08750USDSedo wha.amam2012-05-08750USDSedo grillbasket.comcom2012-05-14740USDSedo signupsheet.comcom2012-05-08718USDSedo top-escort.dede2012-05-10714EURSedo 7fs.comcom2012-05-14700USDSedo bettingbonus.co.ukco.uk2012-05-11700GBPSedo footfetishcams.comcom2012-05-10700USDSedo midway.sese2012-05-11700EURSedo performance-marketing.chch2012-05-10700EURSedo rari.eueu2012-05-09700EURSedo
Related posts:
- Sedo Sales for the Week up to May 7th, 2012 – 845 domains for over $1.6M USD
- Sedo & Afternic Sales Report of the Previous Week
- Sedo Sales for the Previous Week Including GamesForGirls.com at $500,000
- Domains Sales of the Previous Week, lead by Navidad.com
- Domain Name Sales Report for the Previous Week
Categories: Domains
Here’s what law enforcement wants you to do before registering a domain…
Registering a domain name might become a lot more time intensive in the future.
Negotiations between ICANN and registrars to amend the registrar accreditation agreement are ongoing, and law enforcement agencies are asking for some pretty big changes to how domains are registered today.
Law enforcement proposals relate to verifying whois information and tracking more information about registrants. Law enforcement agencies that have been involved in consultations include:
Australian Federal Police
Department of Justice (US)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (US)
New Zealand Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Serious Organised Crime Agency (UK)
The latest recommendations from law enforcement agencies are:
* In order to register a domain name you’ll need to phone and email verify. First you’ll receive an email with a link to a verification page. When you go to the page you’ll enter more information including verifying your phone number. You will then get an SMS code or voice message to your phone with a PIN, which you will then need to enter at the registrar’s web site before your domain is added to the zone.
* Law enforcement wants your IP address recorded at time of registration/verification.
* For annual whois updates, registrants will have to take action by completing some sort of verification. If you don’t verify/confirm your details, your domain might be suspended. This verification step will also record the registrant’s IP address.
* An alternative suggestion from law enforcement agencies is for ICANN to run a central verification system.
The silly thing about all of this is it won’t stop a criminal from doing what he or she does today. Sidestepping these systems is very easy. Just ask anyone who has created a phone verification system how many bogus requests they get from Google Voice phone numbers.
Adding these verification steps will certainly increase the cost of domain registrations and lead to massive cart abandonment at domain registrars.
Of course, this is merely a wish list from law enforcement. We’ll see what happens. You can follow the RAA negotiations here.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Categories: Domains
Bari Meyerson latest to change jobs within domain industry
Meyerson lands at eNom.
Once people discover the domain industry and all it has to offer, it’s hard to move to any other industry.
The latest move comes courtesy of Bari Meyerson. Meyerson left her long-time post at Moniker as it was being sold to Key Drive. Today eNom announced that it has hired Meyerson to work with domainers.
Here are some other people who have recently (some more recently than others) changed jobs within the industry:
Jim Grace – from DomainSponsor to Domain Holdings
Frank Aiello – from Sedo to Domain Holdings
Peter Dengate Thrush – from ICANN’s board to Top Level Domain Holdings (sure, we’ll call the board position a job)
Kamila Sekiewicz – from Sedo to NameDrive
Tessa Holcomb – from Sedo to PPX
Jeff Gabriel – from Sedo to PPX
Lisa Box – from iREIT to Oversee.net (now Moniker:SnapNames)
Who else have I missed?
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Categories: Domains
Review: Twitter self service advertising tool
A great way to boost your social presence, but light on analytics.
I have a confession to make: I’ve been buying Twitter followers. 87 of them to date.
It all started when I saw a promotional tweet from American Express offering $100 in Twitter advertising credits to small business owners that wanted to try out Twitter’s new self-serve tool. Never one to turn down free advertising, I followed Amex and responded to the offer.
Twitter’s self serve advertising tool offers two ways to boost your social presence: Promoted Accounts (pay-per-follower) and Promoted Tweets (pay-per-click).
With Promoted Accounts, Twitter features your account under the “Who to Follow” section. You pay each time someone follows you, but only if they follow you because you showed up as a Promoted Account.
Here’s how Twitter support described it to me:
You are only charged when someone clicks the Follow button from the Ad itself. Your Promoted Account will appear in the ‘Who to Follow’ section, and if someone follows you from this location, you will be charged.
If a user finds you by other means, or if your account is displayed in ‘Who to Follow’, but not as an Ad, you won’t be charged for Follows.
I guess the big question is if Twitter highlights you as a promoted account in “Who to Follow” when your account would have shown up anyway. That would mean you’re paying for followers you could have gotten anyway.
Stats are quite limited, too. You can’t see which followers were paid versus free. You can’t change the date range of your stats, either. Basically, this is what you get:
At a minimum of 50 cents per follower, Promoted Accounts makes sense for some types of Twitter users. Frankly, it would even be worth it to me if it attracted good followers. But I don’t know who I’m paying for and who is following me organically, so it’s hard to evaluate the results.
The other advertising option is the Promoted Tweet. You’ve undoubtedly seen promoted tweets in your twitter stream from time to time.
These are pay-per-click. But here’s the rub: advertisers don’t get to pick which of their tweets get promoted. Instead, Twitter picks “5 of your most engaging, recent Tweets”. You have the option to block tweets from the list, but this requires quite a bit of management.
It’s not a problem for companies trying to promote their products if they don’t also tweet about other things. In my case, I frequently tweet links to other interesting domain articles. I don’t want to pay 50 cents per click to send traffic to these other sites.
I think Twitter advertising will be a gold mine for certain companies. I’ll continue to play around with it as well, but until Twitter offers more analytics it will be difficult to determine an ROI.
In the mean time, feel free to follow me (for free) @DomainNameWire
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Categories: Domains
Like I said, TAS problems doom Digital Archery
IPC questions ICANN’s ability to execute digital archery.
Digital archery is doomed.
The clever way ICANN plans to “batch” applications for new top level domains will either be killed, or it will be subject to accusations and lawsuits.
Shortly after the bug in ICANN’s new TLD application system was revealed I wrote about how this was going to cast a shadow of doubt on digital archery.
Then, as the number of applications slowly trickled out and delays mounted, I mentioned it again.
Now ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) is sharing the same concern:
The “digital archery” batching method announced by the ICANN Board on March 28 is complex, untried, and readily subject to gaming. The paralysis of ICANN’s new gTLD application system (TAS), resulting from a so-called “glitch” that ICANN failed to detect in testing the TAS, has now persisted for nearly a month, with no defined end in sight. This episode inescapably casts doubt on ICANN’s capacity to implement another technically complex system for batching evaluation of applications. Another such “glitch” in the earliest stages of the most ambitious and far-reaching project ICANN has ever undertaken would permanently damage the organization’s credibility, and likely call into question its continued viability as the steward of the domain name system.
Now, I understand that the IPC comes up with a lot of stuff to complain about. But it’s right in this case.
If ICANN goes forward with digital archery, applicants who end up in later batches will rightfully distrust the system after what happened with TAS.
The only way to make digital archery work is to have someone like PWC manage it. It simply cannot be done in house at ICANN.
My recommendation: find a creative economic way to persuade some applicants to wait for a later batch. With over 2,000 applications and $350 million in the bank, there’s plenty of money in the war chest.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Categories: Domains
The inside story of Mama.com
Mamma.com owner selling Mama.com.
I was originally a bit surprised to see mama.com in Moniker’s Spring Auction ending this week.
Then I realized the domain on auction is actually a typo of the once popular search engine Mamma.com — not the search engine itself. Well, sort of a typo, as I later found out.
I reached out to the founder of Mama.com owner Empresario, Omar Solis. As it turns out, his company bought the Mamma.com search engine in a deal completed in 2011. I asked him for the back story on the domain and he wrote a good explanation. Rather than chop it up, I’ve decided to publish it in full here….
The back-story:
Mamma.com was once a promising search engine from the “.com-bubble” era. It was founded in 1996 by a graduate student from Quebec Canada named Herman Tumurcuoglu. Eventually it got funded and taken public, ultimately merging with a desktop search company named Copernic in 2005. They also wanted to own the single ” m” version of their brand name and an Executive at the company acquired mama.com from a small us-based organization sometime around 2000-2001.
In 2009 we acquired the Mamma.com search and ad network assets from Copernic, which included the two domain names. Originally the deal was for $5 million, but we ended up paying $500,000 for all the assets. We took over the business in 2009, but did not take ownership until Sept 2011 when the sale was finalized with the assistance from a well-known American investor.
Although mamma.com didn’t make it to the big stage as a search engine, it still enjoyed a loyal user base from the US, Canada (especially French CA), France, and Asia. The Ad Network business was also profitable, generating several million dollars a year in revenue. Plus it came with the mama.com domain, which I knew had plenty of value in itself.
Present day:
Today we continue to operate the ad network and monetize the search engine traffic from mamma.com, which has proven to be a steady revenue business. In addition we operate a business incubator called Empresario.com, where we work with nimble entrepreneurs to create new value from our business platforms. Predominately working with online publishers, advertisers, and agencies that leverage our resources to advance their own business.
Our plan this year is to develop our incubator business further, so we decided to systematically dismantle and sell assets that did not directly support our current goals. After the mamma.com deal was finalized in Sept, we took a step back and evaluated the business from top to bottom. What we uncovered was a nice cache of Internet assets that no longer supported our objectives, but had tremendous value.
A good portion of these assets came in the form of premium domain names that we acquired over the years and have been sitting on parked pages. A while back we did well in domain parking but after 2009 our revenue channels became more diverse and parking was overlooked. In regards to selling domains, we have always entertained offers and have sold many domain names over the years, but have never made it a full-blown effort like we are doing now.
Coincidentally, at the end of 2011 we started receiving serious 6-figure offers for mama.com, mostly interest from China and Japan where our largest offers have originated. As we drilled further into the analysis, we figured out that all the type-in users that went to mama.com, were looking for “female/maternal” topics and not a search engine. Separating and selling mama.com from mamma.com started making sense.
Also the sale includes the Twitter handle @mama, which will give this deal a unique twist. I have have not heard of many domain sales that also included the related Twitter handle, which these days is an excellent value-add.
Currently we are focused on the mama.com sale, but we have also put up a sample of 36 premium domain names from our portfolio that are currently available for sale via our site. In the next few weeks will place the rest of our portfolio on Sedo & Snapnames, except for a few exclusives that will only be offered on our website.
Hopefully mama.com will sell via Moniker’s auction this week, but regardless we will continue to push the sale this year, as we are eager to focus on our core business.
You can reach Solis here.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Categories: Domains
.CA turns 25 years old today, nearing 2,000,000 registrations
The domain name registry that operates the .CA ccTLD, Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), announced today that the .CA domain is turning 25 years old. The very first .CA domain name was registered to the University of Prince Edward Island in 1988. Currently there are 1,925,775 domains registered under .CA.
It was on this day back in 1987 that the .CA domain extension was officially delegated by Jon Postel, operator of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), to John Demco at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
Demco and a group of volunteers ran the .CA domain registry for 13 years. From 1987 to 2000, those volunteers at UBC registered almost 60,000 domain names. Since 2000, the registry for .CA domain names has been run by the Ottawa-based Canadian Internet Registration Authority. CIRA’s President and CEO Byron Holland said:
“We owe a debt to the visionaries who set up .CA in the 1980s. While many people today may take the Internet for granted, the fact is, without the foresight of people like John Demco, the Internet might not have developed as we now know it… The growth in both the size of the registry and in the role .CA plays in Canadians’ lives bodes well for the next 25 years of .CA. As we move more and more of our lives online, .CA is becoming the ‘flag on the virtual backpack’ for hundreds of thousands of Canadians.”
Back in 1987 when the .CA ccTLD was introduced the world wide web was a very different place. Very few Canadians were online, and until 1990 only governments and the academic community were able to register .CA domains. Today, .CA is an integral part of the Canadian economic and social landscape. Now with more than 1.9 million domain names registered, .CA is the world’s 14th-largest domain registry, and it has the fourth-highest growth rate over the past five years.
On April 15, 2008, CIRA registered it’s one millionth .CA domain name. The next big celebration is right around the corner it seems. In another few weeks give or take, they will be celebrating the two millionth .CA domain registration which will be another huge milestone for the Canadian ccTLD.
The registry has also just opened their nominations for their 2012 Board Elections.
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Now this is a creative UDRP argument
You violated someone’s rights when you registered the domain, even if it wasn’t our rights.
Think you’ve seen them all?
Here’s a very creative argument from Stabilus GmbH, maker of electronic tailgate openers, on why a UDRP panel should give it the domain powerise.com.
Stabilus started using the “Powerise” term in commerce back in 2008. But the domain was been registered in 2002.
Under the guidelines of UDRP, the registrant couldn’t have registered the domain in bad faith since Stabilus didn’t have rights in the mark at the time of registration.
Hence this creativity:
The Complainant also indicates that other companies are using “Powerise” as name and trademark, such as the company Babcock Borsig (owning the trademark POWERISE POWERPLANT), and Powerise Consult, which, according to the Complainant’s verifications, would have been using the mark since 1998/99 and 2001, respectively. The Complainant contends that, therefore, the Respondent must have applied the disputed domain name on January 21, 2002 with knowledge of third parties’ rights in the name. The Complainant also states that the Respondent’s bad faith when it registered the disputed domain name must lead to a right for the transfer of it to the Complainant, even though the Complainant’s trademark registrations are more recent than the Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name.
In other words, when you registered the domain someone else had trademark rights in the term. You registered in bad faith on someone else’s rights, so you should transfer the domain to us.
In one blow Stabilus shows that its rights in Powerise aren’t all encompassing and makes a really dumb bad faith argument.
Needless to say, Stabilus GmbH lost.
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