Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson.
SnapNames
Shill Bidding Scandal Leads to Another Class Action
Lawsuit Against Oversee.net
The
insider shill bidding scandalat SnapNames.com
has resulted in a second class action lawsuit being
filed against SnapName's current owner, Oversee.net. The
shill bidding activity
allegedly
conducted by former SnapNames VP Nelson Brady began
a couple of years before Oversee bought SnapNames in 2007
and it was Oversee who discovered it and made it public earlier
this month. Even so, as the company left
holding the extremely hot SnapNames potato when the scheme
was uncovered, Oversee now has to deal with the legal
aftermath.
Though
they have extended a restitution offer to those victimized
by the shill bidding activity, the offer has not satisfied
some customers and they have instituted class actions
lawsuits as a result. The first
one was filed in Florida on November
9th with the
second one (PDF file), as reported by Andrew
Allemann this morning, following this past
Tuesday (November 18th) in the U.S. District Court
in Los Angeles, California. Both the plaintiff in
the California action, Stewart Resmer, and
Oversee.net are located in Los Angeles. Resmer is being
represented by the law firm of KamberEdelson LLC.
Nelson
Brady The former SnapNames VP who allegedly
operated a massive shill-bidding scheme.
After
citing a number of laws allegedly violated during the
class action period from 2005-2009, the suit closes by
asking for unspecified damages and reimbursement of legal
expenses and, in what would be an especially big financial
blow to Oversee if awarded, a request that the court
"disgorge Defendants of all revenue earned
from SnapNames.com Internet domain name auctions during
the Class period."
The SnapNames
imbroglio won't stop Oversee from proceeding with
its 4th annual DOMAINfest
Global conference, coming up January
26-28 in Santa Monica, California. On
Friday show organizers announced
a couple of new contests for this year's show: PITCHfest
and LAUNCHfest.
PITCHfest aims to
uncover new, innovative products or services
designed to enhance the value of parked or
developed domain names by driving increased
traffic and/or revenue. Up to five finalists will
present a five-minute summary of their offering to
the DOMAINfest audience and a panel of expert
judges (you can apply to present here).
The DOMAINfest Global 2010 PITCHfest Service
Innovator trophy will be awarded for "the
idea with the most creativity, viability,
originality, and revenue potential."
The
LAUNCHfest contest will reward the most
innovative and viable plan for building
an online business around one of ten
undeveloped, premium domain names that
will be made available by Oversee.net.
Contestants will select one name, as
listed on the
contest site, and submit an online
application with key business
plan elements. Up to five entries will be
selected as LAUNCHfest finalists and the finalists
will present a five-minute summary of
their business plans to the DOMAINfest
audience and a panel of expert judges.
Judging will be based on creativity,
viability, originality, and revenue
potential.
The
LAUNCHfest winner will have the
opportunity to develop their business on
the domain, subject to a pre-determined
lease arrangement. Oversee.net will waive
the first year of the lease payments to
help the winner focus his/her cash flow on
launching and growing the business.
The winner
has the right to lease the chosen domain
name for five years for the annual rate
shown on the contest site. At any point
during the five-year lease, the winner
will be able to purchase the domain name
for a pre-determined price. Entries are
restricted to U.S. residents, and must be
received by January 15, 2010.
(L to R) Michael
Castello, Extravaganza owner Alan
Shayne and David Castello in
Santa Monica Friday night.
In
some other news from Santa Monica (where
DOMAINfest Global will be held) a couple
of guys who have a lot of experience in
launching successful websites, brothers
Michael and David Castello, were in
the beautiful oceanfront city Friday night
promoting one of their biggest
developments - Whisky.com.
The Castellos
attended the 16th Annual Single Malt
& Scotch Whisky Extravaganza at
the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel.
The
Castello
Brothers (from Castello
Cities Internet Network) may
be best known for their geodomain sites
like PalmSprings.com, Nashville.com
and Acapulco.com, but they also
operate sites on several top notch generic
domains including Whisky.com and Daycare.com.
The Castellos treat each of their sites as
a full-blown business and put in
the hours necessary to promote their
properties and make key contacts in the
industries served by their sites. As
owners of the category killing Whisky.com
website, they have received a warm welcome
among whisky producers and aficionados
around the world.
Elsewhere,
Steve Morales, who operates the
geodomain informational websites at SimplyGeo.com
and GeoDomainer.com
is making potential advertisers an offer
they can't refuse. Free ads from
now until January 31, 2010.
Morales
laid out the no strings attached offer in
a post
at SimplyGeo.com today. He
wrote, "This is a first come,
first served promotion." You have
until Friday of this week (November
27) to secure your position by sending an
email to info @ simplygeo.com.
Eight spots are being made available on
SimplyGeo.com and ten on GeoDomainer.com.
Morales said, "it is the time of year
to give thanks and additionally
Steve
Morales
SimplyGeo.com & GeoDomainer.com
Give.
So we want to give and say Thank You to
our readers and business owners for all
the support throughout the years by giving
away free advertising."
While some like
Morales have gotten into the spirit of giving as
this holiday season begins, others feel no shame
in taking, stooping to outright theft of property
belonging to others. Andrew Rosener of MediaOptions.com
reports that someone stole CFJ.com from his
registrar account this morning. Rosener wants to
alert others in case the thief tries to sell them
the stolen asset before he recovers it. Another
reader, Nasser Himed, says
three domains were taken from his account at
another registrar last month (33Z.com, 8RB.com
and Ksacam.com) and he is still trying to
recover them.
One final
note today, Rick Latona has
announced a change of dates for the June
2010T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference
that his company will be staging in Vancouver,
Canada. Latona, who will produce five
of next year's six T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows,
had originally
announced
that the first T.R.A.F.F.I.C. event in
Vancouver would be held June 15-18. In his
latest newsletter, Latona said the dates
have been moved up one week and the
Vancouver show will now run June 8-10.
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Lowdown, so please email [email protected]with any interesting information you might have. If possible,
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