Every Friday, DomainSherpa.com provides you with a hand-selected, editorially-based review of the weekly news. In this summary, you will find the latest articles and videos produced by DomainSherpa staff and contributors. You will also find links to the best news articles in the domain name industry – so you don’t have to spend your time searching for news or reading something that was not worth your time.
This Week’s DomainSherpa Interview
This Week’s News in Review
Oversee.net Names Joanna McFarland as General Manager, Consumer Finance Group – 25-Jul-13
Oversee.net®, which owns and operates a portfolio of websites and mobile apps designed to help consumers make smart, informed purchase decisions, announced today that it has hired Joanna McFarland as General Manager, Consumer Finance Group. McFarland will initially be focused on enhancing the user experience and product offerings of consumer finance websites, such as CreditCards.org…
Verisign: Ends 2Q With 124.3 Million .com/.net; Domain Revenue Up 12% & $2 Billion in The Bank – 25-Jul-13
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2013 after the market closed. As of the quarter ending June 30 there were 124.3 million .com/.net domain names an increase of 4.9%…
.song and .yellowpages New TLD Objections Denied – 25-Jul-13
Two more objections fail, bringing total to 18. World Intellectual Property Organization panelists have denied two more Legal Rights Objections to new top level domain name applications. The latest failed objections are for .song and .yellowpages. Of the 18 determined cases so far, the objectors have lost in each of them. That has a lot […]
4 More Legal Rights Objections Denied at WIPO: 17 Objections, 17 Thrown Out: .song; .yellowpages; .cam – 25-Jul-13
Earlier today we wrote about two Legal Right Objections (LRO) that were denied at WIPO one for .GMBH and the 5th objection filed be Defender against an applicant for .Home
Since then three more decisions came out all against the objectors on the strings .Song; .YellowPages and .Cam…
Demand Media Successfully Defends .cam TLD Against Objection – 25-Jul-13
Company defends one objection for .cam, still faces a string confusion objection. Demand Media subsidiary United TLD Holdco Ltd has defended itself against a legal rights objection over its .cam top level domain name application. AC Webconnecting Holding B.V., a competing applicant for the string, based its objection on community trademark registrations for “.cam” as […]
Sports Training Company Fouls Out in D1.com Domain Name Grab – 25-Jul-13
Company fails to take D1.com domain name from rightful owner. D1 Sports Holdings, LLC has lost a UDRP complaint it filed against the domain name D1.com. As you can imagine, D1.com was registered a long time ago. It was registered in 1995 and belongs to New Dimension One Spas, Inc, which acquired the assets of […]
Trademark Frontrunner TLDOT GmbH Loses .gmbh Objection – 25-Jul-13
Company that trademarked .GMBH loses legal rights objection to competing applicant. TLDDOT GmbH, an applicant for the .gmbh domain name that has tried to “frontrun” the new TLD process with trademarks, has lost a legal rights objection against competing applicant InterNetWire Web-Development GmbH. TLDDOT’s objection was quite amazing, really. The company basically told the panel […]
Wipo Rejects 13th & 14th Legal Rights Objections to New Gtld’s On .gmbh & Another The 5th On .home – 25-Jul-13
WIPO today released two more Legal Rights Objections (LRO) decisions today and for the 13th and 14th time ruled against the Objector…
Afternic to Provide New gTLD .kiwi Reserve Lists of Premium Domains – 25-Jul-13
Afternic, today announced a strategic partnership with Dot Kiwi Ltd, the applicant for the new Top Level Domain (TLD) .KIWI. Afternic has been selected by Dot Kiwi to to create reserve lists for their new TLD and “provide definition and valuation services for .KIWI premium domains, expected to launch in late 2013″…
PNC Bank Loses UDRP On 9 Ptcbank Domains Going to Parked Pages With a Similar Logo to The Bank – 24-Jul-13
The UDRP rulings get nutier and more inconsistent by the day and today a one member panel denied PNC Financial Services Group, Inc which owns and operates PNC Bank on 9 domains all containing the term PTCbank even though the domains were parked and the domain owner used a logo on the parked domains that a copy of Complainant’s “PowerLink” logo and has the same colors as those used in Complainant’s design…
Judge Says GoDaddy is Not Entitled to Safe Harbor Protection On Parked Pages Program – 24-Jul-13
In a 29 page ruling a California Federal Court denied Godaddy’s motion to have the case filed by the ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURES ARTS AND SCIENCES, (the Oscars) which was filed in 2010, thrown out, denying Godaddy.com the Safe Harbor that domain name registrars typically enjoy…
Royal Baby is Named & Domains Registered in Seconds: Georgealexanderlouis.com; Princegeorgealexanderlouis.com – 24-Jul-13
Cnn.com just reported that the Royal baby has been names George Alexander Louis and within seconds the domain names GeorgeAlexanderLouis.com and PrinceGeorgeAlexanderLouis.com were registered…
Google Announces Chromecast Without Owning Chromecast.com But Did Just Register Chromecast.tv – 24-Jul-13
Google announced a new product today called Chrome Cast which is described as something like Apple TV which allows users to stream videos from a phone or tablet to their TV using Chrome…
Royal Baby Domain Name Registrations Spike – 24-Jul-13
GoDaddy reports increase in domain registrations related to baby. I have to admit, I don’t really get this royal baby nonsense. But it’s still the top news story today, even on the U.S. version of CNN.com. Punters* are lining up to cash in on the name of Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s baby. GoDaddy reports […]
Frank Schiling’s Name Administration & Berryhill Beat Back UDRP On Spielwarenmesse.com (Toyfair in German) – 24-Jul-13
Spielwarenmesse eG of Nürnberg, Germany, has lost its bid to grab the domain name spielwarenmesse.com which is ToyFair in German in a UDRP away from Frank Schilling’s Name Administration which was represented as always by John Berryhill…
Aptus Tech Nailed for Trying to Hijack Domain Name From Frank Schilling – 24-Jul-13
Panel determines that Aptus Tech engaged in reverse domain name hijacking. Last month I asked why people didn’t do a bit of research before filing a UDRP against Frank Schilling. The specific case that prompted my article was Klipz.com, which had just been filed. The decision is in, and it’s clear that, not only did […]
Yahoo! Wins 33 Domains in 1 UDRP – 24-Jul-13
Yahoo! was awarded 33 domain names today in a single UDRP. The decision issued by one of the newer UDRP providers, the Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) and included many typos of Yahoo products including Rocket Mail, a company Yahoo acquired fro $92 million; Ymail and Flickr as well as a few non-typo domain names including LoveYahoo.com; YahooPhoto.com and YahooArticle.com:..
WowWe Loses UDRP Bid On 14 Year Old Domain WowWe.com – 24-Jul-13
WowWe, Inc. of The Woodlands, Texas, just lost a UDRP decision on the domain name wowwe.com…
Microsoft and Others Join London gTLD Strategy Conference Line – 24-Jul-13
Momentum Event Group has updated its agenda for the forthcoming Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress, with additional speakers from Microsoft and the new Domain Name Association joining the line-up. Dave Coplin, “chief envisioning officer” of Microsoft UK, has been tapped to deliver a keynote entitled “What Lies Ahead. Looking Forward to the Future of […]
New Jersey Loses Again: UDRP Panel Says They Don’t Even Have Rights to GardenStateParkway.com & Njturk – 23-Jul-13
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority just lost a UDRP on the domain names GardenStateParkway.com and NYturnpike.com because the panelist found the Authority did not have “common law rights” to the terms Garden State Parkway or and NJ Turnpike and for some reason the state didn’t apply for a trademark on either roadway until 2001 and 2011 respectively…
Back to The Future: UDRP Filed On Gongshow.com – 23-Jul-13
Long before American Idol, and America’s Got Talent, there was The Gong Show.
The last time original episode on of the Gong show appeared on Network Television it was 1989, well before the Internet, and well before the 1st domain name was registered.
Today an UDRP was filed on the domain name GongShow.com…
Go Daddy Joins The New gTLD Pre-Reg Game, Kinda – 23-Jul-13
Go Daddy has become the latest domain name registrar to start accepting expressions of interest from prospective new gTLD registrants. A “watch list” service launched yesterday allows customers to indicate gTLDs that they are interested in using in future and receive alerts when they launch. Unlike other registrars, Go Daddy does not appear to be […]
Senators Slate NTIA, to Demand Answers On New gTLD Security – 23-Jul-13
Did Verisign get to the US Congress? That’s the intriguing question emerging from a new Senate appropriations bill. In notes attached to the bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee delivers a brief but scathing assessment of the National Telecommunication and Information Administration’s performance on ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee. It says it believes the NTIA has “not […]
Fox Sports 1 Network Launches Next Month; Files UDRP Seeking 22 Domains Including Foxsports1.com/.tv – 22-Jul-13
Fox Sports is launching a new sports network called Fox Sports 1 next month and today filed a UDRP seeking control over 22 domain names, including FoxSports1.com and FoxSports1.Tv as well as FoxSportsone.com and FoxSportsone.tv…
ICANN Backtracks On URS Contracts – 22-Jul-13
ICANN seems to have changed its mind about requiring Uniform Rapid Suspension providers to sign enforceable contracts, angering the Internet Commerce Association. As we reported in May, the ICA claimed a victory when ICANN said in a written answer to its persistent inquiries that URS providers would be bound by contract. An ICANN Q&A, referring […]
Reflecting on Three Years of .CO: Where We’ve Come From; Where We’re Going – Juan Calle – 22-Jul-13
Juan Diego Calle, Founder and CEO of .CO, reflects on the first 3 years of .CO domain general availability.
Google Drops Hints in Domain Name Registry Trademark Filing – 22-Jul-13
Trademark application includes domain escrow and domain valuation . Google has filed a trademark application for “Charleston Road Registry”, the name of its subsidiary that is applying for nearly 100 top level domain names. The filing (pdf) may include subtle clues as to what Google’s plans are for domain names such as .fun, .play, and […]
“Extortion” Claims Over New gTLD Objection Fees – 22-Jul-13
The International Chamber of Commerce came in for quite a bit of criticism at ICANN 47 last week over claims that it is asking for deposits in excess of a million dollars to handle new gTLD objections. Critics are worried that these high fees to arbitrate Community Objections will create a “chilling effect” that will […]
ICANN Ombudsman Lahatte Reappointed to Second Term – 22-Jul-13
Chris LaHatte appointed to second term. ICANN’s Board of Directors has reappointed Chris LaHatte as Ombudsman to another two year term. The ombudsman serves as an intermediary between ICANN and its constituents on matters related to things done by ICANN, its board, its staff, and constituent bodies. Some of LaHatte’s recent decisions have been about […]
Domainsponsor Versus Internettraffic.com – Two Month Test Yields Shocking Results: DS Wins – 22-Jul-13
Back in April we were approached by DomainSponsor.com to do a test on their parking system. DomainSponsor.com said they had spent a lot of time and money on revamping their parking system, had all new people working for them and wanted to know how their new and improved system would stack up against Frank Schilling’s InternetTraffic.com…
14 Year Old Domain Wala.com Saved in UDRP Desipte Trademarks & a $5 Million Dollar Price Tag – 22-Jul-13
A three member UDRP panel just rejected the attempt of WALA-Heilmittel GmbH of Bad Boll, Germany, to grab the domain name Wala.com…
Freshdrop’s Pheenix Changes On Aug 1 to Accept Multiple Back Orders & Provide for Drop Auctions – 22-Jul-13
Freshdrop which officially rolled out their back order program out of Beta on April 23rd under the name of Pheenix, announced today that it will be changing their back order system effective August 1st from a one domain per back order system to one which will accept multiple back orders on the same dropping domain…
What New gTLD’s Can Learn From Namejet .PW Auctions & Godaddy’s .LA Auction This Week – 22-Jul-13
Over this past week both Namejet.com and Godaddy.com ran auctions of re-branded ccTLD’s and I think the results are a preview of what’s to come for new gTLD’s that attempt the same strategy.
Shop.org Study: U.S. Companies to Spend 40% of Marketing Budget On Paid Search & 14% On SEO – 21-Jul-13
As study cited by MediaPost.com conducted by Shop.org and Forrester Research entitled: State Of Retailing Online 2013: Marketing &; Merchandising, found that “U.S. companies will invest about 40% of their $7.6 million aggregate marketing budget in paid search and 14% to organic search.”…
Apple Files 2 UDRP Seeking 28 Domains Including Findmyipad.com & Macbook7.com – 21-Jul-13
Apple Computers filed two UDRP’s today seeking 28 domain names in total with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)…
“Risky” gTLDs Could Be Sacrificed to Avoid Delay – 19-Jul-13
Google and other members of the New gTLD Applicant Group are happy to let ICANN put their applications on hold in response to security concerns raised by Verisign. During the ICANN 46 Public Forum in Durban on Thursday, NTAG’s Alex Stamos — CTO of .secure applicant Artemis — said that agreement had been reached that […]
90 New gTLDs Pass IE. Two More Withdrawals – 19-Jul-13
ICANN has published its weekly run-down of new gTLD Initial Evaluation results and this week 90 applications have passed. There have also been two withdrawals, both made by Uniregistry. It’s withdrawn its bids for .media and .country, leaving Tucows and Donuts duking it out for .media and Top Level Domain Holdings as the sole remaining […]
Shocker? Publisher of Vogue Loses UDRP On The Domain Name VogueFashionModels.com – 19-Jul-13
In one of the more interesting UDRP decision of the year the publisher of Vogue Magazine, Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. of New York, lost a UDRP on the domain VogueFashionModels.com which is owned by Premier Models International Inc of New York…
USPS Loses to Amazon.com On .mail Top Level Domain Objection – 19-Jul-13
U.S. mail service tried to argue .mail infringed on its rights for “U.S. Mail”. The United States Postal Services’ Legal Rights Objection to Amazon.com’s bid to run the .mail top level domain name has been denied by a World Intellectual Property Organization panelist. The USPS’ objection to all seven applications for .mail was one of […]
RSS.com Sold for $135,000 – 19-Jul-13
Ron Sheridan just informed TheDomains.com that he has sold the domain name RSS.com for $135,000…
Network Solutions Recovering From DDOS – 19-Jul-13
Company faced multiple outtages this week. Network Solutions customers experienced outtages this week due to a DDoS attack. The problems appeared to start on Monday. On Tuesday, Network Solutions reported that “On [Monday], some Network Solutions customer sites were compromised.” Then on Wednesday, the company posted to its Facebook page that it was facing a […]
2 Weeks After Seizing 46 Domains, Feds Allow Domains to Expire & Can They Can Go Back to The Previous Owner – 19-Jul-13
On July 5th we told you that some agency of the federal government seized 46 domain names. We noted at the time all 46 were very close to expiration…
After Losing UDRP for Wiiu.com, Nintendo Allows Domain Like Wiisport.com Gamesforwii.com to Drop – 19-Jul-13
After losing a well publicized UDRP decision on WiiU.com, Nintendo allowed other bang on Wii domain names to drop this week only to sit by and watch them be re-registered by companies other than Nintendo…
ICANN Still Considering IGO Protections, But Adds Deadline to Discussions – 19-Jul-13
No acronym protections if IGO protections not resolved by Buenos Aires. One of the Governmental Advisory Committee’s (GAC) requests for new top level domain names is that both the names and acronyms of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) be protected from second level registrations. This is, I imagine, because of the grave damage that would be inflicted […]
Marchex Sells TheRack.com, Probably to Nordstrom – 19-Jul-13
Mark Monitor group acquires retail domain name. Based on whois records, it appears that Marchex has sold the domain name TheRack.com. My money is on Nordstrom buying it for its Nordstrom Rack outlet stores, sometimes called “The Rack”. Although the whois information for the domain shows Name Advisers Inc. as the owner, Name Advisers is […]
In The Wake of .amazon, IP Interests Turn On The GAC – 19-Jul-13
Intellectual property interests got a wake-up call at ICANN 47 in Durban this week, when it became clear that they can no longer rely upon the Governmental Advisory Committee as a natural ally. The GAC’s decision to file a formal consensus objection against Amazon’s application for the .amazon gTLD prompted a line of IP lawyers […]
Huntingmoon Updates Its Site to Allows Domains to Be Listed for Sale for Free & Opens Marketplace for Apps – 19-Jul-13
With over ten million dollars of domains and developed sites sales since 2006, HuntingMoon.com has made a dramatic update to its selling policies, enabling domain owners to list their domain names for sale and auction for free…
Frank Schilling’s Uniregistry Withdraws Two More New gTLD Applications: .media & .country – 18-Jul-13
Frank Schilling’s Uniregistry withdrew applications for two new gTLD’s today reflected on ICANN’s site. The application were for .Media and .Country…
Google Reports Miss On Revenue & Earnings: Paid Clicks Up 23%; Cost Per Click Down 6% Stock Sinks Over 5% – 18-Jul-13
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 after the market closed but missed expectations for both revenue and earnings per share, sending shares down more than 5% or $50 a share in after hours trading. Google reported consolidated revenues of $14.11 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, an increase of 19% compared to the second quarter of 2012…
Over €1m Deposit Required to File a New gTLD Objection With The ICC, Partridge IP Law Tells ICANN – 18-Jul-13
At the ICANN Open Forum today at Durban An attorney Mark Partridge took the floor to tell ICANN how much money an objector has to tie up to get their objection heard by the ICC.
The ICC hear objections to new gTLD’s that are based on limited public interest objections and community objections…
Pinterest Loses Fight With Amazon.com Over .pin Domain Name – 18-Jul-13
Social site loses objection for .pin top level domain name. Social networking site Pinterest has lost an objection it filed with World Intellectual Property Organization over Amazon.com’s bid to get the .pin top level domain name. One of Pinterest’s challenges was showing some sort of rights and secondary meaning in the term “pin”. Amazon.com pointed […]
Mike Mann’s Domain Asset Holdings Loses UDRP On Tracyanderson.com – 18-Jul-13
Tracy Anderson Mind and Body LLC of Studio City, California, just won a UDRP against Mike Mann’s Domain Asset Holdings on the domain name tracyanderson.com
This marked the 6th UDRP in a row that Domain Asset Holdings has lost…
.amazon May Not Be Dead Yet As Trademark Groups Urge ICANN to Follow International Law Not Gac Advice – 18-Jul-13
Trademark Groups urged ICANN to follow International Law not GAC advice and to approves the new gTLD application for .Amazon…
Canadian Real Estate Association Loses Objection to Afilias’ .mls New Top Level Domain – 18-Jul-13
Competing application loses objection over .mls top level domain name. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has lost its Legal Rights Objection against Afilias’ application to run the .mls domain name. CREA is a competing applicant for the .mls string. It filed two applications for the string, one of which seeks community designation. Afilias tried […]
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