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Domain Name News: February 8 Week in Review

Domain Name Week in ReviewEvery 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


  • VIDEO: What You Can Learn About Hand Registering Domain Names from the Domain King – With Rick Schwartz

    What You Can Learn About Hand Registering Domain Names from the Domain King – With Rick SchwartzMore often than not, hand registered domain name portfolios submitted to the DomainSherpa Review are not considered to be valuable by our panel of experts. Maybe there are a few domains worth keeping out of 50 submitted. Maybe.

    Today, we’re turning the tables on one of the regular reviewers on the DomainSherpa Review.

    Past Domain Sherpa and frequent DomainSherpa Review expert Rick Schwartz opens up his list of 390 recently hand registered domain names, and shares his thought process for how and why he registered the domains.

    Watch The Full Show Now »


Additional Resources


  • DomainSherpa Review – Feb 6, 2014

    DomainSherpa Review – Feb 6, 2014In this show:
    * 70 political domain names are discussed and valued
    * 20 nice .net domains in the pre-release at NameJet are reviewed
    * “Registered or Available” game — we crown two kings
    * A fantastic discussion in the After Show about keeping pairs of domains (.com, .net + .org)
    * Starting today as a new domain name investor for $80

    This is the show where we get into the minds of successful domain name investors and talk about the value of specific domain names. By listening to the Sherpas, we expand our thought process so we can become more successful investors ourselves.

    We’re joined by four Domain Sherpas: Adam Dicker, Michael Berkens, Page Howe and Rick Schwartz.

    Read/Watch »


This Week’s News in Review


Verisign Reports Revenue Growth and 8.2 Million New Domain Registrations in Q4 – 06-Feb-14
Verisign continues to grow and take in fat margins. .Com and .net domain name registry Verisign reported earnings after the bell today. Revenue for Q4 2013 was up 7% compared to the same quarter a year before, and overall 2013 revenue was up 10% compared to 2012. The operating margin in Q4 was down compared…
Versign Reports: 127.2 Million .com/.net Domains, Revenue Up 10%; Has $1.7 Billion in Bank & – 06-Feb-14
VeriSign, Inc. ( NASDAQ :VRSN ) reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2013 and year ended Dec. 31, 2013. VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries (“Verisign”) reported revenue of $246 million for the fourth quarter of 2013, up 7% from the same quarter in 2012…
GoDaddy Starts Using GoDaddy.uno Domain Name – 06-Feb-14
Domain name forwards to .uno registration page. Domain name registrar GoDaddy has started using GoDaddy.uno, although perhaps not in the way the .uno registry intends for it to be used: The domain name merely forwards to GoDaddy’s .uno registration page, which is all in English except for .uno’s slogan. .Uno founder Shaul Jolles told Domain…
IBM Files First Uniform Rapid Suspension Case for New TLDs – 06-Feb-14
Company wants IBM.guru and IBM.ventures domain names suspended. IBM has filed what I believe is the first dispute under Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) for new top level domain names. The company filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum for the domain names ibm.guru and ibm.ventures. Both domains were registered on January 31 at a premium…
IBM Files Urs Complaints Against Guy Who Spent $2,500 On Two Domains – 06-Feb-14
If you were a cybersquatter, would you spend $2,500 on just two domain names without doing even the most basic research into whether you’d get to keep the names? One individual from New Jersey has done precisely that, apparently, and has now been hit with what may well be the first new gTLD Uniform Rapid…
TMCH Sees Cybersquatting in 1&1′s Pre-reg Requests – 06-Feb-14
Would-be cybersquatters have pre-registered new gTLD domains matching many famous brands, according to the Trademark Clearinghouse. According to a bit of TMCH PR fluff coming out tomorrow, there are pre-registrations in .web for 40 out of the 50 most-valuable British brands. I gather that the data came from 1&1, the most aggressive registrar in its…
Google’s .search Top Level Domain Name Application Survives Objections – 06-Feb-14
Two objections against .search domain name fail. Google’s bid to run the .search top level domain name has survived community objections brought by competition groups. The objections were brought by FairSearch and Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace, both organizations made up of Google competitors. This is FairSearch’s third failed objection against Google. It also…
U.S. Government Weighs in On .wine Debate – 06-Feb-14
U.S. government advises against giving additional protections to second level .wine and .vin domain names. Lawrence Strickling, Administrator of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), has sent a letter to ICANN regarding additional protections for .wine and .vin domain names. Many governments have asked for additional safeguards around these domain names with protection…
Slam Strategy: “Dotcom Means Nothing to The Consumer” – 06-Feb-14
Shaun Le Cornu from Slam Strategy wrote a piece today on their blog about why a dotbrand is better than a brand.com. The article is worth a read as it shows the thought process that those consulting in the space are trying to get across. Obviously there is some bias because everyone wants to talk to brands about the hot new thing and get paid while doing it. That’s fine to get on board the dot whatever train, but make sure the advice is rooted in logic…
New gTLDs Take Over The Home Page of GoDaddy – 06-Feb-14
Godaddy has been changing their home page quite a bit over the last couple of months, with one blogger noticing that all references to new gTLD’s were dropped altogether from the home page 10 days ago. Look at Godaddy.com today and new gTLD’s have taken over the home page, the entire home page above the fold. The fact that Godaddy is pushing hard on the new gTLD’s isn’t surprising considering the high profit margins registrars can make from new gTLD’s well above and beyond .com domains…
MarkMonitor Allegedly Hacked By Syrian Electronic Army – 06-Feb-14
Group claims to hack leading brand management registrar and change Facebook’s whois, but Registry Lock thwarts its attempt to hijack Facebook.com nameservers. The Syrian Electronic Army claims it has hacked into the systems of MarkMonitor, the domain name registrar for many of the world’s biggest brands. It has a screenshot to prove it, too: A…
Yes, There is Cybersquatting in New gTLDs – 06-Feb-14
With new TLDs, comes cybersquatting. It’s inevitable. And it’s also true of the new gTLDs that hit general availability this week. The question of what is or is not cybersquatting is best left to a judge or UDRP panel, of course, but I’ve already come across plenty of newly registered domains that I do not…
First Eight gTLDs Have 26,000 Names So Far – 06-Feb-14
Well, we now have a new gTLD domain name market. After n years of debate, policy-making, delay, application, testing, delegation and newfangled launch processes, there are eight new gTLDs that are open for business. Donuts yesterday opened up its first seven gTLDs to their ‘proper’ general availability — by which I mean landrush pricing is…
.guru Rockets to Over 10,000 Domain Names – 05-Feb-14
.Guru tops 10,000 domain name registrations and Donuts now has around 25,000 registered second level domain names. People placed a lot of pre-orders for new top level domain names… On the first day of general availability, the .guru namespace grew to over 12,000 domain names, based on zone files published this evening. At over 10,000…
Kevin Newman Interviews Bill Sweetman About New TLDs On CTV – 05-Feb-14
Bill Sweetman discussed new top level domain names on CTV. I don’t know much about Canada, other than it’s a cold place where everyone plays hockey. Even though I don’t know much about it, I know CTV is a pretty big channel. That’s because Wikipedia tells me it is Canada’s largest privately owned network. I…
Twitter Reports Earnings First Time As a Public Company – Stock Down in After Hours Trading – 05-Feb-14
Today is the first earnings report from Twitter as a public company. They exceeded expectations as they were actually expected to lose about .02 a share and made .02 a share…
Teamwork.com Buyer Explains Why $675,000 Was a Smart Investment – 05-Feb-14
Company’s CEO says valuable .com domain gives it more credibility and help it grow sales. TeamworkPM recently bought the Teamwork.com domain name for $675,000 and is rebranding its business around the domain name. I previously caught up with Alex Lerman, who sold the domain name. This week I also had the chance to speak with…
17 Year Old Vernet.com Saved in UDRP – 05-Feb-14
Vernet, of Ollainville , France , just lost its bid to get the domain name Vernet.com in a UDRP which was registered back on April 9, 1997. The UDRP decision was handed down in French…
7 Year Old StableTable.com Saved in UDRP – 05-Feb-14
Hedera AB of Lund, Sweden, just lost its bid to grab the domain name stabletable.com in a UDRP which was registered back on November 24, 2007. The Panel basically threw the Complainants case out and only failed to find Reverse Domain Name Hijacking because they believed the owner of the domain changed in 2011…
New TLDs are Here But Domain Search Isn’t Ready Yet. Here are Four Examples. – 05-Feb-14
Domain name registrars aren’t ready to suggest new TLDs to customers. As of 11 am EST today, the first set of Latin script new top level domain names came to market. None of this “Early Access Program” stuff. Just show up, find the domain you want, and register it for regular prices just like other…
Insurance.pro Saved in UDRP – 05-Feb-14
Christopher Copeland (“Complainant”), just lost it bid to grab the domain name Insurance.Pro from Michael Silver who was represented by John Berryhil. Here are the relevant facts and findings by the three member panel…
Paris Hilton Wins Case to Take Down Sex Video Site – 05-Feb-14
Arbitration panel sides with celebrity in domain name dispute. Socialite Paris Hilton has won a cybersquatting case she filed against the owner of a site that offered her sex tapes. Hilton filed the case with World Intellectual Property Organization against the owner of parishiltonpornvideos.com last year. The decision was just handed down in her favor…
Rightside Announces They Have Over 40 Registrars On Board to Carry Their New gTLD’s – 05-Feb-14
Rightside™, the domain name services business of Demand Media (NYSE: DMD), today announced new partnerships with many of the world’s leading registrars to bring its portfolio of new Top Level Domains (TLDs) to market. More than 40 registrars – including GoDaddy, Web.com, 1&1 and Host Europe, and Rightside affiliates eNom and Name.com have signed registrar agreements with Rightside Registry, creating an expansive and global distribution network. This agreement allows each registrar partner the opportunity to provide domain name services for Rightside’s portfolio of desirable and memorable new domains. In addition, Rightside Registry TLDs, .DANCE and .DEMOCRAT, are now available for early registration, allowing trademark holders to safeguard the domain name that matches their trademark, as well as allowing registrar customers to pre-order domain names…
Donuts Made About $750,000 From Landrush So Far – 04-Feb-14
Donuts managed to sell well over $500,000 in new gTLD domain names over the first six days of its Early Access Program, according to our calculations. Our estimate, which is somewhere between back-of-the-envelope and hard analysis, is based on the latest zone files for its first seven live gTLDs — .bike, .clothing, .guru, .ventures, .holdings,…
European Commission Weights in On ICANN Last Resort Auction & They are Not Happy – 04-Feb-14
The European Commission filed a comment on the recently updated ICANN’s New gTLD Auction Rules. To summarize the European Commission is “deeply concerned about the implications that the Auction Rules in the gTLD program may have for the protection of public policy interests, competition, openness and innovation.” “ICANN should implement Auction Rules that are consistent with its Bylaws, its non-for profit status, the objectives of the new gTLD Program and the Applicant Guidebook to promote competition, diversity, innovation and consumer choice.”
For anyone that has interest the comment period with ICANN closes today at 23.59 UTC…
Donuts and Famous Four Lose .rugby Domain Name Match – 04-Feb-14
Donuts and Famous Four lose .rugby match. The International Rugby Board (IRB) has effectively killed off its two competitors for the .rugby top level domain name by winning a community objection. The IRB filed the objection against competitors Donuts and Famous Four media. IRB’s objection made similar arguments as those in .basketball, .ski, and .sport/sports…
Calzone Makes Monitoring New TLD Launches Easier – 04-Feb-14
Did you know that there are about 60 top level domain names in sunrise right now? Yes, 60. This many domain name launches at once is difficult to track. Add to it early access programs, landrush, general availability, trademark claims periods, etc., and it is quite confusing even for domain name experts. Enter Calzone, a…
Meet The First New gTLD Domainer – 04-Feb-14
Gary Schultheis has bought hundreds of new gTLD domain names already and plans to buy thousands more this year. The former venture capitalist doesn’t consider himself a domainer, but analysis of Whois records and zone files over the weekend shows he very likely spent more than anyone on Donuts’ seven newly launched gTLDs. At one…
UDRP Filed On Y8.net; Entouragemovie.com; Entouragefilm.com – 04-Feb-14
Web Entertainment, LLC filed a UDRP on the domain name y8.net. Y8.net is a gaming site, so is Y8.com which is owned under privacy. UDRP filed on Two character domain names are pretty rare so we will keep on our eye on this one…
Sedo Co-founders Invest in App Marketplace Apptopia – 04-Feb-14
Tim Schumacher and Ulrich Essmann invest in Apptopia. Tim Schumacher and Ulrich Essmann, two of Sedo’s founders, are no strangers to building a marketplace. The pair hope to put this background to good use by investing in Apptopia, which they describe as a “Sedo for Apps.” They led a bridge financing round that also includes…
Go Daddy Bodybuilder Ad Needed to Hit The Weights Harder – 03-Feb-14
Go Daddy and their Super Bowl ad did not fare too well on Sunday. According to the Admeter on USA Today the bodybuilder ad finished in the bottom five…
Domain Registration Agreements are Getting Longer Thanks to New TLDs – 03-Feb-14
There are a bunch of added terms specific to each new domain name. With the creation of dozens of new registries offering top level domain names, each of them having different rules (some of them even having different rules for each of their TLDs), domain name registration agreements are getting longer. These registration agreements have…
Super Bowl Ad Winners; Twitter Hash Tags: Losers Domain Names, Facebook – 02-Feb-14
As most of you, I just finished watching the Seattle blowout tonight in the Super Bowl and on the advertising front I’m going to declare Twitter Hash Tags the big winner and domain names and Facebook as the big losers…
How GoDaddy Found Gwen, The Woman Who Quit Her Job in a Super Bowl Commercial – 02-Feb-14
How GoDaddy found is puppet master. GoDaddy’s first half Super Bowl Commercial tonight featured Gwen Dean, who announced in the commercial that she was quitting her job to follow her dreams of running a puppeteer business. That’s a heck of a way to start a business, especially when 100 million people see your web address,…
GoDaddy Super Bowl Ads Once Against Put Domain Biz in The Spotlight – 02-Feb-14
GoDaddy’s Super Bowl commercials are very different this year. It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and that means the domain name industry will be getting some broad attention this evening. GoDaddy has been advertising in the Super Bowl since 2005, and will once again run two Super Bowl ads tonight. In the first half, GoDaddy will run…
DomainNameSales.com Average Sale $15k; Set Min Commission at $175 – 02-Feb-14
In an announcement today on DomainNameSales.com, they are setting a $175 minium commission on all domain sales starting on February 15th. However since the average sale is $15,000 according to the release the minimum commission shouldn’t be a big deal…
Go Daddy Tightens Security After @n Debacle – 02-Feb-14
In another move related to the social engineering that took place at Go Daddy and allegedly Paypal (Paypal stands by the position they did not give the hijacker anything and that it was a failed attempt) Go Daddy is now changing their security practices…
NC State University Loses Domain Name Dispute for Wolfpack.com – 31-Jan-14
Arbitration panel rules that NC State shouldn’t get Wolfpack.com domain name. North Carolina State University, whose athletic teams are called the Wolfpack, has lost a domain name arbitration case for the domain Wolfpack.com. The university filed the case against a company that registered the domain name in 1997. The university argued that the domain name…
Digging in On Donuts’ Sunrise: Amazon Tops The List, Gaming, and Top Registrars – 31-Jan-14
Here’s a look at the top registrants and registrars, plus details on possible gaming and EAP day one registrations. Last night I published initial data about Donuts’ sunrise period on its first seven domain names. This was based on names in the zone files that were published last night. As I mentioned in my previous…
TLDH Raises $33.6 Million for New Top Level Domain Name Auctions – 31-Jan-14
New TLD applicant building war chest to resolve contention sets. Top Level Domain Holdings, a publicly trade portfolio applicant for new TLDs, has conditionally raised £21 million (approximately US $33.6 million) to help it resolve new TLD contention sets. After the investment, the company will have over $48 million in cash available. This does not…
Nominet Names The Date for Shorter .UK Addresses – 31-Jan-14
Nominet is to start selling .uk domain names at the second level for the first time on June 10 this year. The controversial Direct.uk service will enable people to register example.uk names, rather than example.co.uk names. If you already own a .co.uk name, you’ll get five years to register the matching .uk before it is…
TLDH Raises $33.6m to Fight New gTLD Auctions – 31-Jan-14
Top Level Domain Holdings has raised £21 million with an institutional investor share placement to help it win some new gTLD contention set auctions. Its total war chest following the $33.6 million-ish placement will be about $63 million, albeit with $15 million of that earmarked for a single, as-yet-unspecified auction. The company is currently in…

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