Domain Name News: June 14 Week in Review

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.

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This Week’s DomainSherpa Interview

• VIDEO: 7 Inspiring Interviews to Listen to on Your Summer Vacation

  My family is going to be doing a little traveling this summer, so I’ve decided to take the month of June off from recording new interviews. It’s a first for me to take that much time off, and I may decide later that I’m stir crazy – but we’ll see.

  As you prepare for your summer vacations and staycations, whether they are in June, July or August, I wanted to provide you with a list of some of the most useful and popular interviews from the past two years of 118 recorded interviews and tutorials.

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This Week’s News in Review

.org Domain & Trademark Holder Denied UDRP On .com – 13-Jun-13
The domain name degreesearch.com was just saved in a UDRP brought by the holder of the .org verison of the domain which also owned a trademark on the DegreeSearch.org.
Donuts Explains Auction Results to Date – 13-Jun-13
Donuts discusses first new TLD auction results. New TLD applicant Donuts participated in six private auctions to resolve contention sets. It won one of the auctions and lost the other five. Here is a statement from the company about the results so far. Donuts won the bidding for .PHOTOGRAPHY. According to the auction agreement terms, […]
Web.com Q1 Results: Revenue Up 26% – 13-Jun-13
Web.com Group, Inc. released its Q1 results for 2013. Revenue was up 26% year-over-year to $115.5 million. Web.com is the company that owns two top ten domain registrars – Network Solutions and Register.com. Operating loss was $2.5MM from $18.5MM in last year’s Q1. Net loss from continuing operations was $46.5MM compared to $29.8MM in 2012…
Pocket Domain Dropped 700+ .info Domains From Its Alfena Registrar – 13-Jun-13
Pocket Domain dropped 700+ .info domains from its Alfena registrar a few weeks back. Most of the domains were registered during the 2003-2009 period. Most of the domains were owned by PocketDomain that used to run a small backorder service …
.co is Not Just for Tech Startups – 13-Jun-13
A lawn care company uses a great .co domain name. It seems like every day TechCrunch is covering a startup using a .co domain. But it’s not just tech companies that have taken an eye to the domain. On the way to work yesterday I passed a lawn company truck with the domain name Mow.co […]
STRAAT Investments (.Co) Registry Buys 16,000 Sq Ft Building in Miami for HQ – 13-Jun-13
According to Florida Trend a popular business publication in the State of Florida, CO Internet’s parent company, STRAAT Investments, purchased a 16,000-sq.-ft. building in Miami’s Brickell area to house its growing headquarters which is named Building.Co
It expects to move in by the end of this year and will devote part of the building to space for entrepreneurs…
Kim Dotcom Buys K.im Domain Name for $20,000 – 13-Jun-13
Mega Upload founder buys short (and expensive) domain name. Last month I wrote about how k.im had received a $20,000 bid at Sedo, and suggested that Mega Upload founder Kim Dotcom might be the buyer. I was right. The Sedo auction closed for $20,000 and Kim Dotcom is now the owner listed in whois. The […]
Sedo Rolls Out Updates to The Buyer Control Panel – 13-Jun-13
Sedo rolled out some updates to the “Buyer Control Panel” but this feels more like a bug fix than an update. Sedo’s goal was to make buying a domain name easier, so they just made some updates to their Buyer …
Microsoft Registers Domains to Thwart Botnets – 13-Jun-13
Microsoft registers domains previously used by Citadel malware. Microsoft has registered a number of domain names to thwart a cybercrime ring credited with over a half billion dollars in financial fraud. The action aims to thwart Citadel malware, which installs keyloggers on users’ machines. The malware and crime ring had over 1,000 botnets. Although Microsoft’s […]
Donuts Loses Five of The First Six New gTLD Auctions – 13-Jun-13
The full results of the first six new gTLD auctions are now known. Donuts lost five of them, raising millions of dollars in the process. Here are the winners of last week’s auctions, which were managed by Innovative Auctions: .club — .CLUB Domains. .college — XYZ.COM. .luxury — Luxury Partners. .photography — Donuts. .red — […]
Donuts Loses 2 More Private Auctions As .red Becomes 1st New gTLD to Be Withdrawn After Ie – 12-Jun-13
According to the ICANN website tonight Donuts has withdrawn two more applications as a result of the private auctions held last week. Donuts withdrew both its new gTLD applications for .Red and .Luxury. Donuts application for .Red was filed under Steel Keep, LLC had a prioritization number of 332 and had already passed ICANN Initial Evaluation, meaning that Donuts application for .Red is the first to be withdrawn after passing IE and is eligible for only a 35% refund of its application fee…
Company Ordered to Pay $5,000 After Reverse Domain Name Hijacking Charge – 12-Jun-13
Panel believe complainant was trying to use arbitration as a “short cut” to acquire domain. Domain name attorney Zak Muscovitch has helped the owner of ClevelandCyclewerks.ca save his domain name in a cybersquatting arbitration case. Not only that, but the arbitration panel found the complainant guilty of reverse domain name hijacking and ordered it to […]
Google Issues Recommendations for Sites to Rank On Smartphone Search – 12-Jun-13
According to a post on Google published their recommendations and the most common configuration mistakes for websites looking to engage smartphone users and benefit from mobile search results…
Yu.com Has One Interesting UDRP – 12-Jun-13
The case for Yu.com was much more complicated than it should have been. All the facts of the UDRP for Yu.com point to an slam dunk, open-and-shut victory for the respondent. Yet getting to that determination – a win for the respondent – was apparently anything but simple. Michael has opined a bit on the […]
ICANN Hires Former ARI Exec to Head gTLD Relations – 12-Jun-13
Krista Papac, formerly chief strategy officer with AusRegistry and ARI Registry Services, has joined ICANN as gTLD registry services director. It appears to be a newly created job title at ICANN, though it sounds a little similar to the gTLD “liaison” role vacated by Craig Schwartz a couple of years ago. Papac, a familiar face […]
Marchex Releases More Details About Archeo Spinoff – 12-Jun-13
SEC filing details plans for spin-off of domain business. Later this year, Marchex hopes to spin off its pay-per-click and domain name business into a new publicly traded business called Archeo. It will trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker ACHX. It released more information about Archeo in a June 7 SEC filing. On the […]
Wanna Lawsuit? Wannado Battles Wannado in Court, Claims Cybersquatting – 12-Jun-13
App creator sues event ticketing site over Wannado name and domain name. Two businesses offer relatively similar services at a about the same time and use the same name: WannaDo. One secures the best domain name for the service. Wanna bet that results in a lawsuit? Yep. Wannado, Inc. has sued The Active Network, Inc […]
Hong Kong Telco Drops Dot-brand gTLD Bid – 11-Jun-13
Hong Kong Telecom has withdrawn its application for the new gTLD .香港電訊, the Chinese-script version of its brand. The proposed single-registrant gTLD was uncontested, with no objections or Governmental Advisory Committee advice. It’s the 76th application to be withdrawn. It was a defensive application. Under the heading “Goals”, HKT said: “An important goal of the […]
86 Civil Liberties Group and Internet Companies Launch Stopwatching.us in Wake of Nsa Revelations – 11-Jun-13
Group chooses .us domain name to launch campaign against government surveillance. 86 civil liberties organizations and internet companies today launched a campaign to demand congress to act in light of recent National Security Administration spying program revelations. The coalition decided to launch its campaign on the web on a .us domain, StopWatching.us. Although .us can […]
Registrar May Lose Accreditation for Failing to Provide Transfer Authorization Code – 11-Jun-13
PacNames didn’t provide AuthInfo code within 5 days, according to breach notice. ICANN is threatening to cancel accreditation of New Zealand domain name registrar PacNames Ltd for the registrar’s failure to provide a domain transfer out code. In a breach notice dated June 10 (pdf), ICANN says PacNames has repeatedly failed to provide copies of […]
Domain Industry Heads to Austin for Hostingcon – 11-Jun-13
Ten domain name companies are exhibiting at HostingCon 2013, and many of them will be pitching new TLDs. Next week a number of domain name companies are headed to Austin for HostinCon. Whereas in previous years most of the companies were reseller registrars and the like, there’s a bit of a shift this year as […]
Microsoft Objects to Google’s Dotless Domains Plan – 11-Jun-13
Microsoft has strongly urged ICANN to reject Google’s plan for a “dotless” .search gTLD. In a letter sent a couple of weeks ago and published last night, the company says that Google risks putting the security and stability of the internet at risk if its .search idea goes ahead. David Tennenhouse, corporate vice president of […]
Directi launches pre-reg site for .host gTLD – 11-Jun-13
Directi is to offer preregistration for its uncontested gTLD applications, and it’s starting with .host. The company will accept expressions of interest from potential registrants from June 17, where it has a booth at the HostingCon show in Austin, Texas, according to business head Sandeep Ramchandani. Directi’s other two uncontested bids — .press and .space […]
Uniregistry is Too .sexy for New gTLD Objection – 10-Jun-13
.SX Registry has asked for its formal objection to Uniregistry’s .sexy gTLD application to be withdrawn, we understand. It’s believed to be among the four objections, according to ICANN, that have been dismissed by the dispute resolution providers following withdrawal requests from the objectors. The ccTLD registry had filed String Confusion Objections to .sexy and […]
7 Reasons You Should Withdraw Your .brand Application – 10-Jun-13
If you’re rethinking your .brand top level domain strategy, here are some things to think about. A relatively small number of .brand new TLD applicants have abandoned the process so far. Some of them are big, such as GM, which withdrew all of its applications. Others have only dropped one or two of their applications. […]
China Pushes .pw to Over 250,000 Names – 10-Jun-13
Directi’s .PW Registry has taken over 250,000 domain registrations in the two and a half months since it launched, largely thanks to growth in China. According to recent DomainTools research, Chinese registrars such as DNSPod and Xin Net lead .pw sales, and .PW business head Sandeep Ramchandani told DI today that this trend is now […]
Late New gTLD Objections “Not Unfair” – 10-Jun-13
ICANN Ombudsman Chris LaHatte has ruled that the decision to accept formal new gTLD objections sent one minute after the filing deadline “does not create unfairness”. The decision is a blow to at least one applicant, which had tried to have an objection against it kicked out for being late. LaHatte received a complaint from […]
Xyz.com Wins .college Top Level Domain Auction – 08-Jun-13
Donuts withdraws application after XYZ.com wins private domain auction. Domain name investor Daniel Negari, through his company XYZ.com, has won the private top level domain name auction for .college. Negari tells Domain Name Wire “I look forward to truly innovating the namespace with one of the best gTLD’s out there.” The string was in contention […]
Watch .club Win Its New gTLD for $[Censored] – 08-Jun-13
As we reported earlier in the week, .CLUB Domains was one of the first companies to win its new gTLD auction and now the company has published a short video of the moment the auction closed. The first reaction of CEO Colin Campbell is to put out a press release announcing the win, followed by […]
Donuts Wins .photography Auction – 07-Jun-13
Donuts won the private auction for the .photography top level domain name. Of the six new top level domain name auctions Donuts participated in this past week, the company walked away with at least one top bid. Domain Name Wire has confirmed that Donuts won the auction for .photography. It was in contention with Top […]
6 New TLD Auctions Bring in Average of $1.5 Million Each – 07-Jun-13
How much do new TLD applicants think their strings are worth? We now have a rough idea on a half dozen. The first six private top level domain name auctions held by Innovative Auctions have closed, bringing in a total of $9.01 million in winning bids. The six domain names no longer in contention are […]
Big Week for New gTLDs As 114 Apps Pass – 07-Jun-13
ICANN has just released this week’s Initial Evaluation results and it’s the biggest dump to date, with 114 applications getting through to the next stage of the process. We’re now up to 628 passes, which is roughly one third of the original 1,930 applications. Applications for these strings achieved passing scores (links to DI PRO): […]
Six Private New gTLD Auctions Raise $9m – 06-Jun-13
We now know (roughly) how much a new gTLD is worth. The new gTLD contention sets for .club, .college, .luxury, .photography, .red, and .vote have been settled in a series of auctions this week that raised over $9 million. That’s an average price of $1.5 million per string. Writing on CircleID, Innovative Auctions project director […]
ICANN Hires New Coo, Moves Atallah – 06-Jun-13
ICANN shakes up leadership positions. ICANN has moved chief operating officer Akram Atallah to a new role and hired a replacement from outside the organization. Atallah has been named president of the Generic Domains Division. This new group will focus on generic domain operations, domain name industry engagement and web services for the community. The […]
ICANN Board rules on non-safeguard GAC advice – 06-Jun-13
Resolution doesn’t resolve much; uncertainty remains. The ICANN Board New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) has approved a resolution ruling on a number of items of advice from the Governmental Advisory Committee with regards to new top level domain names. The resolution is specifically limited to non-safeguard advice. You can see how it ruled on each […]
Kuek Yu-Chuang to Lead ICANN’s Asia Engagement Strategy – 06-Jun-13
Kuek Yu-Chuang, a leading executive in technology policy development has been named Vice President for Global Stakeholder Engagement for the Asia Region. He will assume the role on August 1st, 2013. Kuek has served most recently as a Senior Director …
27 Investors Chip $7 Million Into .club As It Wins Private TLD Auction – 06-Jun-13
.Club applicant eliminates competition and raises $7 million to launch top level domain. .Club Domains, LLC has raised a combined $7 million from 27 individual investors and has eliminated its competition for the .club top level domain through a private auction. The new top level domain applicant recently filed its SEC Form D to raise […]
.club Domains Wins The New gTLD .club “In Historic First Private Auction” – 06-Jun-13
.Club Domains, LLC announced today they have won the rights to the new generic top level domain (gTLD) name .CLUB. The .CLUB name was obtained in the first private auction to be completed since ICANN began the new gTLD process. The other applicants for .Club that participated in the private auction was Donuts and the Merchant Law Group LLP…
Heads Up, .gmbh Applicants: This Trademark Application is Slipping Through The Cracks – 06-Jun-13
.GMBH applicant’s trademark application approved for publishing. I’ve written numerous times about companies trying to trademark top level domain name strings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Although the USPTO won’t grant trademarks on top level domains, some applicants have been able to sneak their applications through at least part of the process. One […]
ICA Tells ICANN The Draft of RAA Agreement is “Deficient in Scope” – 06-Jun-13
The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) submitted comments to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) website, on the current draft statement of Registrants’ Rights and Responsibilities (RRR) calling it “deficient in scope”…