|
The
Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA)
has issued a new report
on domain tasting calling, as we, the Internet
Commerce Association (ICA) and others have,
for ICANN to take action to end the practice.
The CADNA report comes out just days after the ICANN |
|
Domain
tasters wolf down everything in
sight but the gravy train will end soon. |
board passed a resolution
suggesting that a .20 per name fee be imposed on
domains returned within the 5-day grace period (AGP).
Most experts acknowledge that this would effectively end
the practice. An even smaller fee of .05 per
name accomplished the same goal with the .org
registry. Those fees work because of the millions of
domains scooped up by tasters, only a handful
produce enough profit (via monetizable traffic) to make
the names worth keeping. If tasters had to pay .20 on
every domain they grabbed they would soon be out of
business.
While we have the same
objective as CADNA, an organization that represents
trademark owners, we have a big problem with a proposal
in their |
|
new report. They
want ICANN to impose a 50% re-stocking
fee on any domain returned within the grace
period. That's not going to happen and I
think CADNA knows that. The grace period is
there so that people who make an honest
mistake when registering a domain (such as
mis-typing a name) can get their money back
within five days. There is a need for the
AGP to be there and to work in the way it was
intended. Unfortunately domain tasters have abused
that privilege mercilessly to taste names for
traffic before throwing them back for a full
refund. |
|
We have long been
dismayed by this rampant exploitation of a
loophole, but CADNA's "throw out the baby
with the bathwater" approach is not the way
to solve the problem. ICANN's proposal is a proven,
sensible method that will get the job done and
we would like to see it enacted as soon as
possible. |
|
By claiming that the ICANN
recommendation will not work before it has even been
implemented (when the .org record already shows that
it will work) we can only assume that there is an
ulterior motive to CADNA's proposal that we are
confident ICANN will (rightfully) reject. When their
proposal is rebuffed, I expect CADNA to then claim that
ICANN is not being responsive to the problem and that changes
to current trademark laws are needed - changes that
would make it easier for take away domain owner's
assets, whether or not they are guilty of trademark
abuse. In a nutshell - to make reverse hijacking
legal. I believe that is the ultimate end
game here.
|
|
Many industry
leaders have been warning about this as has the
ICA. The kind of overkill CADNA
repeatedly suggests to solve TM issues would
harm many ethical business owners - not just
the bad guys. It's why I think domain owners
need to support the ICA so that the organization
will have the resources necessary |
|
to fight for laws
and ICANN policies that are fair to all sides,
including trademark and domain owners alike.
Let's implement the ICANN proposal and see if it
solves the problem. If it does, it will also
prove that CADNA's preferred approach - using
a nuclear weapon where a rifle would suffice
- is unnecessary and indeed harmful to honest
business people. |
|
|
For
those who think the assault on domain owners
will go away if they just continue to ignore
the problem, here is another piece of news
for you. Nominet, who runs Great
Britain's .co.uk registry has just taken the
domain name myspace.co.uk away from its
owner and given it to the owner and operator or myspace.com.
Looks like a clear case of trademark
infringement on the surface doesn't it?
But the .co.uk owner happened to register the
domain six years before MySpace.com even
existed! Now, the UK uses different
standards than the UDRP - standards that
make it much easier for TM holders to take
away domains they should not be able to take.
There are people who want to make the same
kinds of changes to the UDRP so that taking
away your assets would be as easy as taking
candy from a baby. Unless these threats are
met head on, this form of domain name
abuse will be unstoppable. If you haven't
already, do yourself and your business a
favor and join
the ICA. |
|
(Posted
Jan. 31, 2008)
To refer others
to the post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-31-08 |
|
|
Talk
about dropping the ball! A European company
paid $75,000 for Video.us last April in
the largest .us transaction on record. Today the domain
was dropped and immediately picked up by |
|
drop catcher Pool.com
(through registrar Secura GMBH) who will now auction
the domain off to the highest bidder. Since the
original owner obviously would not willingly discard a
name they had recently paid $75,000 for, we have to
assume they ran afoul of the .us registry's |
|
|
Nexus
requirements. The rules state that you have to be a U.S.
citizen or have a business presence in the U.S. to hold
a .us domain. The fact that the name was cancelled and
returned to the registration pool (if only for a
millisecond) before it's original expiration date would
also support this scenario. Quite an expensive lesson to
learn!
(Posted
Jan. 31, 2008)
To refer others
to the post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-31-08-2 |
|
Here
is an update on ICANN's plan for ending domain tasting
(see our January 29 post below). In a new post on
his blog
today, attorney and veteran ICANN watcher Brett
Fausett |
|
|
reported that a liaison to
the ICANN board, Thomas Narten, says that last
week's ICANN board resolution
on domain tasting (that would impose a fee that would
severely limit the practice) "wasn't a statement of
new policy or a directive to staff, it was something
more like a trial balloon for discussion."
Fausett noted "If his interpretation is correct - and you should read it yourself
here
- ICANN won't impose the fee unless the ICANN community supports it and, even then, it won't go into effect until the next budget cycle, starting on
1 July 2008." So if you approve of |
|
the proposal you should let
ICANN know when the issue comes up for public discussion
this spring. ICANN has also issued their own press
release on the subject with more details on
the process.(Posted
(Jan. 30, 2008) To refer others
to the post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-30-08 |
|
ICANN
is about to effectively end domain tasting.
The minutes
from the most recent ICANN board meeting have
just been released and long-time ICANN observer Brett
Fausett |
|
immediately spotted a major
policy change that should stop the controversial
practice. Fausett wrote on his widely respected Lextext
blog that "the ICANN Board passed a new
resolution that will impose ICANN's per name fee on
all new registrations, regardless of whether they
are deleted in five days. This ought to stop domain
kiting dead in its tracks. Why? It changes
the economics of tasting. Four-day names now come with
the same ICANN fee as 365-day names. The resolution does
not say when it will take effect, but you can imagine it
will be soon."
I am personally happy to
see ICANN take this action (the vote was unanimous) as I
believe domain tasting is an unintended wholesale abuse
of the five-day grace period that has given the entire
domain industry a black eye. While no |
Attorney
Brett
Fausett
reported ICANN"s plan to end domain
tasting on his Lextext
blog today |
|
implementation
date is set, Fausett said the latest date it
would begin is with the next budget cycle, starting on
July 1, 2008.
(Posted
Jan. 29, 2008)
To refer others
to the post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-29-08 |
|
On
his Conceptulaist.com
blog today,
Sahar Sarid pointed people to an interesting
development at Richard
Rosenblatt's domain giant Demand Media
(the parent company of |
|
Lance
Armstrong |
registrars eNom and BulkRegister,
manager of the .TV registry and a partner (with Network
Solutions) in drop catching service NameJet).
The story (picked up from PaidContent.org)
revealed that world cycling legend Lance
Armstrong has taken an undisclosed equity interest
in Demand Media. As part of the deal
Demand is helping cancer survivor Armstrong launch a new
health and wellness site at LiveStrong.com.
The site is expected to launch in beta in the second
quarter of this year. Demand Media already operates
about 60 other websites in addition to the popular
domain business sites they are known for in this
inddustry. The booming domain conglomerate is believed
to be generating approximately $150 million in
annual revenues. |
|
(Posted
Jan. 28, 2008) |
|
The
.asia
sunrise period will end Thursday (Jan.
31) with open registration for all comers slated to
begin February 20. The sunrise period is for
trademark owners to claim names they feel |
|
they are entitled to. In
cases where there is more than one TM applicant for a
domain, the .asia registry has been auctioning off
the rights to those contested domains to the applicant
that places the highest bid (the first time this has
been done in a new extension sunrise launch). The
registry said it received approximately 15,000
sunrise applications with 600 domain names
receiving multiple applications. An auction for Tyco.asia |
|
|
ended at $7,600, one
for Parliament.asia is still underway with the
high bid at last report being $5,200. iPhones.asia
and Levis.asia are among other names that are
going on the block.
(Posted
Jan. 25, 2008) To refer others
to the post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-28-08 |
|
Fortune
Magazine senior writer Paul Sloan
was on a panel discussion called "Understanding
the Big Picture" that I moderated Wednesday
afternoon (Jan. 23) at the DOMAINfest Global |
|
Fortune
Magazine senior writer
Paul Sloan speaking at DOMAINfest
Global Wednesday (Jan. 23) |
conference in Hollywood,
California. In an article published this afternoon
on Fortune's CNN website Paul talked about the
show and the domain boom in an article titled "Are
Domain Names Recession-Proof?" Sloan
opened his piece by saying "Global markets are in a
state of panic. Credit markets are all but closed. And
recession fears are everywhere. But at the conference I
attended in Hollywood this week, called DomainFest,
you’d have little clue that the financial world was
melting down. The domain world - the people that
buy and sell names and make money from pay-per-click ads
on their websites - is booming. Downturn? Bring
it on."
I first met Sloan in 2005
when he started working on a landmark piece for Business
2.0 magazine called "Masters
of Their Domains" that was the first
major mainstream press article about this industry. I
think |
|
his story had a lot to do
with the remarkable influx of capital (and the wave of
consolidation) that we have seen in this business over
the past couple of years. Given his widely-read platform
at Fortune and his ability to make complex topics
understandable to the average investor, I would bet
Sloan's latest look at this business will turn interest
in the space up still another notch. With the general
economy in distress people are going to be seeking safe
havens. The fact that domains are now being viewed as
a good bet for riding out economic storms speaks
volumes about how far this business has come. As
I noted in a post yesterday, the Los
Angeles Times (free registration required)
also wrote about DOMAINfest and today I spoke with a New
York Times reporter who is gathering information
for a piece he is writing on the domain boom. His
interest was also piqued by news surrounding the show.
(Posted
Jan. 25, 2008) To refer others
to the post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-25-08-2 |
|
We're
back from this week's very successful DOMAINfest
Global conference in Hollywood,
California. Oversee.net
did a masterful job in staging this meeting and
everyone on |
|
their team should be
extremely proud of the product they produced. They
certainly represented their company well but more
importantly they pushed the entire industry forward, an
accomplishment that will benefit everyone in the
domain business, whether or not they were able to attend
the show.
We have a couple of
other notes to add to the daily posts we filed from the
conference. Oversee announced they would join EuroDNS
to stage a conference in Paris, France at the Meridien
Hotel June 19-20 (more information on this
show can be found at DomainerMeeting.com).
This event will dovetail nicely with the ICANN
meeting in Paris June 22-27. Also, we noted that
over $3.1 million in domains were sold during the
two-day SnapNames Live auctions at DOMAINfest. If
you would like to review the entire list of names sold,
those are available here. |
Oversee.net
CEO Lawrence Ng
welcoming
attendees to DOMAINfest Global
earlier this week in Hollywood, California |
|
Now that
we're back we will immediately start sifting through our
piles of show notes and hundreds of photographs to
produce our comprehensive conference wrap-up article
that we expect to post on our home page by this time
next week. We'll barely have our bags unpacked before it
is time to head out again to cover the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
West conference in Las Vegas February
18-21. That is always a great show and we plan to
publish a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. preview article within the week
to let you know what conference organizers Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu have in store for you
this time around.
(Posted
Jan. 25, 2008) To refer others
to the post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-25-08 |
|
The
DOMAINfest Global conference closed its
three-day run at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood,
California last night (Wed. Jan. 23). Final day
highlights included a second |
|
SnapNames
Live domain auction that yielded over $2.3
million in sales. Coupled with more than $817,000
in sales in the first auction Tuesday, the live twinbill
produced over $3.1 million in sales. The auction
caught the attention of the Los Angeles Times
who published a very positive article
(free subscription sign-up required to read) about the
event and the industry morning. The story's headline was
not so positive, but keep in mind that newspaper headlines
are written by an editor with the intent to grab
attention. The writer rarely even knows what the headline
will be. In this case author Joseph Menn wrote an
unbiased and informative piece that will be syndicated
around the world today - a very positive
development for our industry in my view. The top sellers
Wednesday were Porn.net ($400,000), Bookmarks.com
($300,000), Photograph.com ($195,000) and Yemen.com
($100,000). |
Auctioneer
Mark Buleziuk called the action
in two SnapNames Live domain auctions
that produced over $3.1 million in sales
at the DOMAINfest Global conference in Hollywood,
California this week. |
|
Other
highlights Wednesday included a very interesting keynote
speech from Wired Magazine co-founder and
best-selling author John Battelle, a closing round
of well-crafted seminars and panel discussions and the
grand finale, an evening dinner at which the first annual Domainers
Choice Awards were handed out. I have to run
for the airport in a few minutes to catch a flight from LA
back to our Florida base, so I will have to save details
of Batelle's thought-provoking talk and the Wednesday
panel sessions (the last of which I had the pleasure of
moderating) for our comprehensive show wrap-up article
that will be out next week.
Of course, I
can't go before revealing the winners of the
Domainers Choice Awards! They were selected in balloting
conducted over several weeks on the DCA website. All
visitors to the site were able to nominate and vote for
their favorites, making these honors analogous to the
entertainment industry's People's Choice Awards.
Without further ado, the envelopes please: |
|
Best
Domain Auctions: (co-winners) Moniker.com
and SnapNames.com
Best Domain Financial Services:
Escrow.com
Best Domain Marketplace:
Sedo.com
Best Domain Publication:
DNJournal.com
Best Domainer Tools:
DomainTools.com
Best Domainers Blog:
Elliot Silver for ElliotsBlog.com
Best Hosting Company:
GoDaddy.com
Best Industry Spokesperson:
Frank Schilling
Best Registrar:
Moniker.com
Domainers Rising Star:
The Castello Brothers (Michael and David)
Industry Achievement Award:
Kevin Ham
Industry Customer Service Rep:
Eben Smith of Sedo.com
Industry Trade Association:
The Internet
Commerce Association (ICA)
Best Parking Company:
TrafficZ
Domain Ambassador Award:
The Castello Brothers (Michael and David)
Congratulations to all of the
winners and a big thank you to CEO Lawrence Ng and
everyone at Oversee.net
for staging a superb conference and serving as such gracious
hosts to your more than 600 guests this week. Again,
our daily Lowdown posts from the show this week are just appetizers.
Our definitive wall to wall coverage of DOMAINfest
Global will be published by the end of next week (look
for the intro on our home page). We have reams of notes
and hundreds of photos to sift through so that we can
produce the comprehensive conference review you expect
from us. Now let's see if I can make that flight! |
CEO
Monte Cahn of double award winner Moniker.com
with DCA organizers Sally Letzer (left) and Donna
Mahony (right).
David
Castello (left) and Michael Castello won twice
so each will have an award to display on their trophy
shelf.
Sedo.com
CSO Matt Bentley with Sally and Donna after
collecting one of two awards claimed by the company (Sedo's
Eben Smith also won but was unable to
attend). |
|
(Posted
Jan. 24, 2008) To refer others
to the post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-24-08 |
|
The
first ever SnapNames
Live domain auction was among the
highlights of day two at the DOMAINfest
Global conference in Hollywood, California
Tuesday. Over $817,000 |
|
worth of domains were sold in
the impressive high energy atmosphere generated by
award-winning auctioneer Mark Buleziuk and his
tuxedo clad spotters. 86 domains were sold led by Alimony.com
($75,000), Butcher.com ($50,000) and DrinkRecipes.com
($35,000) and Cemetaries.com ($30,000). This
debut auction, held in front of a capacity crowd, was a
tasty appetizer for a second live auction event coming up
this afternoon from 4-7pm Pacific time that will
feature an even stronger list of domain names. Registered
bidders can participate in person at the Renaissance
Hotel or via the internet. |
Scene
from the SnapNames Live domain auction
Jan. 22 at the DOMAINfest Global conference
at
the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, California |
|
|
Frank
Schilling on stage during his
Town Hall meeting Tuesday (Jan. 22) |
The grand ballroom was
also packed wall to wall earlier in the day when
leading domain investor Frank
Schilling hosted a highly anticipated
"Town Hall" meeting. Frank has a
remarkably broad knowledge of the domain industry
and the economic forces that shape it - something he
has clearly demonstrated through hundreds of
insightful posts on his SevenMile.com
blog. That, coupled with an exceptionally engaging
and articulate way of sharing his knowledge
person-to-person made him the perfect choice for
introducing the Town Hall format.
Domain owners were able
to submit questions for Schilling in advance of the
event and more were posed live from the floor.
Schilling handled them all with aplomb in an
extremely satisfying one-man show that left everyone
better informed than when they arrived. We will
cover some of his specific responses in our
conference wrap up article that will be published on
our home page by the end of next week. |
|
|
|
The Tuesday schedule
also featured another round of informative seminars
and networking events. It was all capped off by
another great DomainSponsor party last night
at the Hollywood Highlands Night Club that
featured a "Night at the Bazaar"
theme complete with belly dancers and a performance
by the Purrfect
Angelz dance troupe.
The conference closes
with another full day today. Highlights will include
a late morning keynote speech from Wired
Magazine co-founder and best-selling author John
Batelle, an |
Part
of the Purrfect Angelz dance troupe
that
entertained at the DomaninSponsor Party last
night |
|
afternoon panel
discussion that I will moderate called "Understanding
the Big Picture," another live auction and
the show's grand finale - presentation of the first
annual Domainer's
Choice Awards at a dinner tonight.
(Posted
Jan. 23, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-23-08 |
|
|
My
first impression of the DOMAINfest
Global conference that opened yesterday
at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood,
California - one word - Wow! This second year
show made |
|
an impressive debut at the
same venue last year but this time out it has simply exploded.
Close to 400 people gathered here last year but by the end
of the day Monday more than 600 people had checked
in for the 2008 event that will continue through tomorrow
night.
At a time when we are hearing
so much news about a major slowdown in the general economy
it was very impressive to see that kind of growth at a
function that, even though it provides an
exceptional |
One
of several opening day seminars at
DOMAINfest Global in Hollywood, California |
|
value for the money spent,
requires a serious financial commitment (airline flights,
hotel rooms and registration fee) to attend. The most
amazing statistic I heard was that more than half of
the registrants at this conference said this is the first
time they have ever attended a domain show.
Conferences are one of the vital signs of an industry's
health and the evidence here shows the domain business is
still strong and growing at a remarkable clip.
|
Adventurer
Brent Bishop
delivering Monday's keynote speech |
In the first major
event of the day, Brent Bishop (who has
climbed Mount Everest twice) ably stepped in
as a last minute replacement for good friend and
fellow adventurer Peter Hillary who had to
bow out to attend the state funeral for his father,
the legendary Sir Edmund Hillary, held
yesterday in New Zealand. Bishop drew some
interesting parallels between climbing mountains and
succeeding with domains. I will have more details on
his talk and all of the seminars and events from
DOMAINfest in our comprehensive conference wrap up
article that will be published late next week. While
the event is underway activity is almost non-stop,
so it's a challenge to break away long enough to
post daily show highlights. You hate to be off the
floor because you don't want to miss anything that
is going on! |
Oversee.net,
who stages DOMAINfest, has put together a very ambitious
agenda that will include a domain Town Hall meeting led by
Frank Schilling
today and a second keynote speech from Wired
Magazine co-founder John Battelle tomorrow,
as well as two days of SnapNames
Live domain auctions (the first scheduled to
start at 4pm Pacific time today).
|
I think one of the
smartest innovations DOMAINfest implemented with
this event was making the sponsor exhibit hall the
place to hang out during the week. Without sponsor
support there would be no conferences but sponsors
often find that the location allocated for their
exhibits is "off the beaten track."
DOMAINfest cured that problem by filling the exhibit area with comfortable sofas and chairs and
multiple refreshment stations always stocked with
coffee, |
Attendees
take a break in the sponsor exhibit hall. |
|
soft drinks and snacks.
You also have to walk through the exhibit area to
get into two of the main seminar meeting rooms. As a
result, the area was constantly packed and there was
never a shortage of visitors to individual booths. I
spoke with many happy sponsors who appreciated that
and it will earn DOMAINfest a lot of repeat and new
sponsorship business. |
|
(L
to R) Michael Castello, Ron Jackson,
David Castello and Natalie Lambert
at
last night's DOMAINfest cocktail party |
Opening
day ended with a boisterous cocktail party at the
hotel's Twist Lounge that ran past the
scheduled 9:30pm closing time. This was another
great networking opportunity and attendees were out
in force to take advantage of it, as well as to
enjoy some great food and drink. It was a very
enjoyable warm-up for the main social event tonight
- the DomainSponsor party at the nearby Highlands
Hollywood Night Club that will run until at
least 2am Wednesday. That means there is an 18-hour
day ahead of me and it's starting in a few minutes
so I'll sign off for now. Wish you could all be
here, but for those who can't we will do our best to
document it for you and convey the show experience
as best we can. |
|
(Posted
Jan. 22, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-22-08 |
|
|
I'm currently
in Los Angeles where the DOMAINfest
Global conference will be getting underway today
at Noon (Pacific time). They have a busy day on tap,
including an afternoon keynote speech from Peter
Hillary. At the end of the day I'll post an updated
Lowdown item and |
|
|
photo from the show at the Renaissance
Hotel in Hollywood. Looks like it will be late
for our readers back east as the final event (an opening
night cocktail party) isn't due wrap-up until 9:30pm
Pacific, which will be after midnight in the Eastern U.S.
The conference continues through Wednesday night.
(Posted
Jan. 21, 2008) |
|
I'll
be heading out for Los Angeles tomorrow morning
to get settled in for the DOMAINfest
Global conference that runs Monday
through Wednesday (Jan. 21-23) at the Renaissance |
|
Hotel in Hollywood.
Before these trips I always gather as much reading
material as possible so I can get caught up during the
long coast-to-coast flight from our Florida base.
Just downloaded a two-part interview with Michael
and David Castello from SimplyGeo.com
that I know will be a worthwhile read. Michael and David
(who plan to be at DOMAINfest) are major proponents of domain development and always
have a lot of great tips for people interested in
building real businesses on their domain names. The two
halves of their interview are here: Part
1 and Part
2.
There are a lot of very
sharp guys and gals operating in the geo domain space
where the Castello brothers have prospered with PalmSprings.com,
Nashville.com and several other gems. Our
upcoming February Cover Story will be about
another giant in the geo field - Dan Pulcrano -
who owns the .com domains for 20 of the 30
largest cities in America including LosAngeles.com,
SanFrancisco.com and Dallas.com to name
just a few. I just checked out LosAngeles.com
again today in preparation for my LA trip. Dan and his
team at Boulevards New Media have done a great
job with that site and I am sure you will enjoy reading
about how he built his new media empire.
Another DOMAINfest note;
the complete catalog for the two-day SnapNames Live
auction at the show Jan. 22-23 has just been
released. You can download the
inventory list here. |
Michael
and David Castello
Dan
Pulcrano |
|
There won't be much
downtime at the DOMAINfest conference but I'll try to
break away from the action to post a daily Lowdown item
from the show starting Monday. Of course we will also
publish the definitive conference review soon after I get back.
Looks like they've put together a fabulous event.
Looking forward to seeing many of you there next week
and/or in Las Vegas next month for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
West 2008 conference at the Venetian
Hotel Feb. 18-21.
(Posted
Jan. 18, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-18-08 |
|
In
our latest weekly domain
sales report released Tuesday night
(Jan. 15) I noted that we had not yet seen the first
blockbuster domain sale of 2008. Well now we have. |
|
Rick
Scwhartz has reason to smile
after $750,000 sale of iReport.com |
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Conference co-founder and pioneer domain
investor Rick Schwartz has just completed the
sale of iReport.com to the Cable News Network for
$750,000. As the contract was being finalized
Schwartz was asked if he had any similar domains so he
told CNN he also owned the hyphenated version, i-Report.com.
When the cable TV company expressed interest in getting
that domain as well to protect their planned branding of
iReport.com, Schwartz said he decided to give them that
less desirable name at no charge rather than re-open
negotiations and delay closing of the deal for
iReport.com.
This deal gets the New Year
off to a good start. A $750,000 deal would have ranked
among the 12 largest sales of 2007. It is also
encouraging to see a major end user like CNN recognize
the key role a domain name can play as the platform for
launching a new product or service. |
|
(Posted
Jan. 17, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-17-08 |
|
Moniker.com's
latest live domain auction - an adult name
sale - ended yesterday at the Internext Expo in Las
Vegas with a little over $1 million in total
sales. The top individual domain was MaturePorn.com
at $130,000. All live auction results are
available here
(Warning: Adult content).
|
|
|
Next up on
the auction calendar is the first monthly GreatDomains
auction of the New Year which gets underway tomorrow (January
17) at 3pm (U.S. Eastern time). The auction
will run for one week, ending on January 24. The
names up for bid are to include |
|
flats.com,
Indian.com,
latest.com,
test.net
and other one-word premium domains. You can see a
complete list of available domains here.
(Posted
Jan. 16, 2008) |
|
Oversee.net,
the parent company of DomainSponsor.com, SnapNames.com
and Moniker.com (whom they purchased earlier this
month) has executed a definitive agreement with private equity
firm Oak Hill Capital Partners that allows Oak
Hill to make an investment of |
|
$150 million in Oversee.net’s holding company. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
According to Oversee, the funds will be used to augment organic growth and acquire technologies that will enhance its suite of services in the online marketing and domain name industries. The company will
also continue to evaluate possible acquisitions that
would extend its overall capabilities.
“Oak Hill understands that the online marketing, traffic and domain name sectors are rapidly growing, and they share our vision for establishing Oversee as a leading, trusted partner for domain owners and advertisers” said Oversee.net co-founder and CEO
Lawrence Ng. “Their commitment and support will add fuel for organic growth and will help us capitalize on opportunities to broaden our capabilities.” |
Lawrence
Ng
CEO and Co-Founder, Oversee.net |
|
Robert
Morse, a Partner at Oak Hill Capital Partners, added, “Oversee is an innovative company which we believe is well positioned for growth over the coming years. We’re looking forward to working with Lawrence and his talented team as they play a leadership role in this dynamic industry.”
The transaction is expected to close by the end of this
month.
(Posted
Jan. 15, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-15-08-2.htm |
|
The
DOMAINfest
Global Conference gets underway Monday
(Jan. 21) at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood,
California and we've gotten several bits of new
information from show organizers to supplement the
details included in the conference
preview article we |
|
|
published earlier this
month. If you are planning to attend you can save $200
by pre-registering
for the event. The fee will rise from $795 to $995
if you wait until opening day Monday to sign up
onsite.
Organizers just announced
an added attraction for the opening night cocktail
party, reporting that Playboy stars
|
|
Sara Underwood, Jennifer
Korbin and Brande Roderick will be on hand to
meet attendees and pose with those who would like to get
their picture snapped with a Playmate.
|
The conference will
be featuring live domain auctions both Tuesday
and Wednesday, Jan. 22-23 (conducted by SnapNames
Live). During those events, several names
will also be auctioned off |
|
to raise funds for Grassroots.org.
If you would be willing to donate a domain drop a note to domain-auction@grassroots.org,
giving then the domain name and auth code
so it can be |
|
|
transferred to Grassroots.org (be sure the
domain is unlocked). Also provide the name you
wish to appear on your IRS tax
receipt-of-donation letter that will acknowlede
the value of the donation for tax purposes,
based on an appraisal by Moniker
or auction value (domains estimated to be |
|
Frank
Schilling |
valued at or over $1000 will be appraised
for you. Those estimated to be valued under
$1000 can also be appraised if the donor wishes
to cover the appraisal fee). In a fun twist for
this election year, the charity list will also
include some fun domains like FrankSchillingForPresident.com.
Speaking of Frank,
another conference
highlight will be a Domainer Town Hall
Meeting Tuesday morning (Jan. 22) that will
be hosted by
famed domain investor Frank
Schilling. Attendees will be taking part in an interactive discussion on the domain industry and where it's going.
Schilling will field questions and share his insights on what the future holds for the industry as well as discuss significant trends affecting the space.
Even if you can't be there in person you can submit questions for the Town
Hall. Just send your submissions to info@domainfest.com by |
|
Thursday (Jan. 17) and be sure to include your full name and company name so
you can be acknowledged in the Town Hall if your question is selected.
(Posted
Jan. 15, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-15-08.htm |
|
|
Moniker.com's
next live domain auction will be held tomorrow
(Tuesday, Jan. 15) at the
Internext Expo (the world’s largest
business-to-business online and digital media adult
|
|
conference)
in Las Vegas. The premium adult domain name
auction will take place at the Palms Ballroom at
the Palms Resort and Casino
and will run from 4:00 pm–7:00 pm (Las
Vegas time).
More
than 250 domain names will be on the block during the
live event with an additional 2,000 domains up for bid
during a concurrent online auction that begins tomorrow
and continues throughout the week. The entire auction
inventory can be viewed here.
Those who can’t attend but are interested in watching
the live auction can view the auction through an online,
streaming video feed available on the Moniker website.
(Posted
Jan. 14, 2008) |
|
|
Over
the last 24 hours Network
Solutions has taken the fiercest
corporate beating I've seen in this industry since
the last big registrar debacle involving the now
disgraced Registerfly.com. I'm sad to say that
they deserve the nearly universal condemnation
they have received and they |
|
|
will continue to deserve
it until they reverse the outrageous policy that came
to light yesterday. When people visit the NetSol site
NetSol virtually peers over the visitor's shoulder (without
telling them they are being spied on) and immediately registers
every available domain the visitor conducts a search
for! They then lock that domain up for four days unless
you pay them $35 to let it go (in the meantime anyone
else can register the idea you entered in their search
bar providing they pay NetSol's ransom). Since they have
registered the domain it is no longer available to
register at any of the many registrars that charge far
less for better service. When they finally do get around
to letting the names go they will be instantly |
|
snapped up by domain
tasters so there is a very good chance that the person who
came up with the idea for the domain will never get it. NetSol is banking on that threat to
pry the sky high $35 fee out of the visitor's wallet.
|
To make matters
worse, NetSol then insulted everyone's
intelligence by labeling what they are doing as
a "customer service". They
explained that the only reason they are stealing
their visitor's ideas is to keep them from being
stolen by someone else (so called front
runners)!. Try doing that at your local bank.
"Honest officer, I only held them up to
make sure the money was |
|
safe from the real
bank robbers!" The irony is that NetSol,
contrary to their lame protestations, is now
committing front
running themselves - not to mention wholesale
trademark infringement as they are now the
registered owners of thousands of TM domains including
those bearing the brands of some of their
closest competitors. As just one example, as of
this writing they own www.dotsterdomainnames.com
and are displaying a Network Solutions banner on
that infringing domain. The fact that they
intend to drop it in four days (unless they can
sell it of course) doesn't absolve them of the
infringement on this and thousands of other
domains.
This spectacularly
unethical |
What
if McDonalds started registering
Burger King domain names and
putting
their own ads on those domains? |
|
practice has
understandably received virtually universal
condemnation across the web since it was
uncovered. Over the past 24 hours there have
been hundreds if not thousands of posts blasting
NetSol (talk about a public relations nightmare
for a company that was already held in low
regard to begin with - partly because they
charge 3-5 times more for a domain registration
than most popular registars do). We still fully
expect that Network Solutions will stop this
abuse of their potential customers. Until they
do, visiting their site is simply asking to
be mugged.
(Posted
Jan. 9, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-09-08.htm |
|
|
Warning
to Network Solutions customers! Emails we
have received from readers as well as posts at the DomainState.com
forum report that if you search to see if a domain name
is |
|
available at NetworkSolutions.com
they immediately register it themselves if it is
available and will charge you $35 if you still
want to get the domain you looked up! Unbelievable but
apparently true from all of the reports we |
|
|
are seeing. Since
they instantly take the name you will not be able
to go anywhere else to register it and will be stuck
paying NetSol more than triple the amount many
other popular registrars charge. In our opinion this is
blatantly unethical behavior on Network Solutions'
part and we would guess they will be forced to reverse
course as a firestorm of protest and negative publicity
is bound to result from this abuse of their customer's
trust.
(Posted
Jan. 8, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-08b-08.htm |
|
A
UK-based live event production company, Genesis
AV Consulting Ltd., is planning to stage a new domain conference,
the Euro Domain Forum, at London's Earls
Court |
|
Earls
Court Conference Centre - London
Site for Euro Domain Forum planned for May |
Conference Centre in
May 2008 (the exact dates have not yet been
released). Genesis director Jean-Paul de Beurges
said, "The meeting, planned exclusively to meet the needs of
domain industry professionals, will address the key issues facing the industry in 2008 and provide an informal networking opportunity for
domain industry professionals from around the globe."
de Beurges said a domain
auction will also be part of the event and added
"We think it’s time the domain industry had a properly |
|
organized networking event and business forum in the UK. We believe that by matching our skills in staging live events with the needs and demands of
domain professionals the Euro Domain Forum will become the must attend event of the year.”
de Beurges said the company
is currently lining up sponsors and will have an
informational site set up at EuroDomainForum.co.uk
(the site was not yet resolving at the time of this
post). Conference information is also available from
another Genesis director, Peter Sutton, via his
UK phone number - 01923 852165.
(Posted
Jan. 8, 2008) To
refer others to the post above only you can use
this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/2008/dailyposts/01-08-08.htm |
|
