Domain Name News: Week 1 of 2011 in Review

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How Houdini Museum Founders Became Domain Investors – 01-Jan-11
David Falchek of the Scranton Times Tribune in Scranton, Pennsylvania, had an interesting article this morning about the founders of the Houdini Museum, who…
Oprah Launches Oprah Winfrey Network, Settles for Own.tv, Doesn’t Own Own.com – 01-Jan-11
With the new year now here, Oprah Winfrey has officially launched her brand new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), a television network created by the popular talk…
Verizon Wireless Purchasing iPhone-related Domain Names – 02-Jan-11
If you needed any more proof that Verizon Wireless is getting an iPhone this year, here it is. A company by the name of \’Verizon Trademark Services LLC\’ is…
Gossimer Welcomes 2011 With The Hottest Domain Transfer-in Promotion – Only $0.99 – 03-Jan-11
Gossimer, one of the top 25 most famous web hosting companies, isbidding farewell to 2010 with wha,Gossimer Welcomes 2011 With The Hottest Domain Transfer-In Promotion
Most Expected to Miss Deadline to Re-register Internet Domains – 03-Jan-11
The country’s leading domain name registrar estimates that over one-half of Estonian .ee domains will not be re-registered in time.
Homeland Security Finally Files for Civil Forfeiture of Domains Seized Back in June – 03-Jan-11
While we’ve been paying a lot of attention to the domain seizures by Homeland Security’s ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) group in November, we also covered a similar operation that took place back in June. It’s been noted that no actual charges have been filed against the operators of those sites. But in early December, without most people noticing, apparently ICE finally filed to officially commence civil forfeiture procedures against those domains…
Convoy (.com) Saved From Attack in Hong Kong – 03-Jan-11
Generic domain name registration stays with rightful owner. The domain name Convoy.com has been successfully defended against an attack in a Hong Kong UDRP. The case was brought by Convoy Financial Services, a company incorporated in Hong Kong, against Rainforest Consulting of Tennessee. The respondent was represented by domain name attorney …
Is Godaddy Spurning Domaintools On WHOIS Lookups to Sell Domain Names? – 03-Jan-11
I’ve noticed something when performing Whois lookups at DomainTools for domain names registered at Godaddy, and I believe it is a fairly recent change.
The Name of The Game: Verizon’s iPhone Domain Name Buying Spree – 03-Jan-11
Verizon is quietly buying up iPhone-related URLs — and, as it turns out, has been for some time now.
Gambling.com Domain Name On Market for $10 Million – 03-Jan-11
Media Corp., a closely held U.K. online casino and advertising company, hopes to make more than $10 million when it puts the Internet domain name www.gambling.com up for sale, the London-based Times reported.
North Korea Domain Name Restored After Server Problem – 04-Jan-11
The dot kp domain name of North Korea has been restored after server problems…
Sedo Ups Personal Brokerage Fee to 15% – 04-Jan-11
Fees increase today, but only for small subset of sales. Today Sedo will increase its fee on personally brokered domain name sales to 15% from 10%. This fee increase only applies to sales that involve a human broker and does not apply to self-serve sales in which buyers and sellers transact on Sedo.com. I had a feeling this change was in …
Lazy Complainants Lose Two Cases to Serial Cybersquatter in One Week – 04-Jan-11
If domain name is registered before a trademark is filed, complainants need to provide good evidence of common law rights. So you’re legal counsel for a company that feels that someone is cybersquatting on your trademark. That someone is "Purple Bucquet" of Panama, which has lost twenty-six UDRP cases since April 2010 to companies as…
So You Just Bought Sex.com for $13 Million – Now What? Р04-Jan-11
Sex.com. It’s a domain name with quite a history – heck, it was rocky enough for a book to be written solely about it. TechCrunch had an exclusive interview with the guy who currently owns the valuable domain name…
Linking to Copyrighted Material Enough for Domain Seizure – 04-Jan-11
Complaint for Forfeiture filed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement reveals that many are merely sites that link to copyrighted material hosted elsewhere, yet…
Web Host Hostgator Exceeds 4 Million Hosted Domain Names – 04-Jan-11
Web host HostGator recently reached over 4 million domain names for shared, reseller and dedicated hosting. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, HostGator has more than 225,000 shared, reseller and dedicated customers.
Dnw’s Thoughts On The Moniker WHOIS Privacy Incident – 04-Jan-11
It’s an unfortunate incident. Not a scandal. I’ve waited a few days to write about the Moniker whois privacy flap. My first reaction was that this whole thing was being blown way out of proportion, so I wanted to wait and see how I felt in a few days. But I still feel the same way. What happened I really don’t know all the details…
Yes, The Legal & Technical Errors in Homeland Security’s Domain Seizure – 04-Jan-11

Groupon Files Lawsuit Against Australian Clone Scoopon – 04-Jan-11
An interesting post just went up on the Groupon blog announcing a lawsuit filed against Australian Groupon clone Scoopon. The post explains the unprecedented move of taking legal action against a Groupon clone, which apparently is squatting on the Groupon.com.au domain name
Groupon Claims Australian Rival Scoopon Reneged On Deal to Sell Domain Name – 04-Jan-11
Groupon slams local rival, Scoopon, accusing the site of cyber squatting on the Groupon.com.au domain name and then rejecting an offer from Groupon to buy it for $286,000.
Go Daddy Explains WHOIS Blocking – 05-Jan-11
Company explains access restrictions on third party sites. Users of third party whois search tools have been frustrated in the past few days whenever they look up a domain name registered at Go Daddy. Instead of seeing who owns the domain name, they are given a URL to look up the whois information directly at Go Daddy. Here’s an example from …
Verizon Seeks iPhone Related Domain Names – Wireless Federation – 05-Jan-11
If reports are to be believed, Verizon Wireless has been buying up website domain names containing variations of its brand name and Apple’s iPhone, although it later emerged that rather than being a recent move to herald the launch of a CDMA iPhone, the purchases had actually taken place back in late 2008.
About 4,000 Domain Names Registered in Azerbaijan Over The Last Year – 05-Jan-11
According to www.whois.az statistics for the present the number of active domain names operating in the national segment of Internet global network makes 10887. Over the last month their number increased by 335 domains.
Domain Name Gambling.com Goes On The Market for $9 Million – 05-Jan-11
Gambling dot com has been placed on the market and is reportedly attracting interest from a number of betting companies…
For Lorillard, The Best Defense is a Handful of Domain Names – 05-Jan-11
The maker of the minority-targeted cigarette brand Newport shrewdly anticipates an Internet-based battle over menthol cigarettes.
Previously Chatty Homeland Security Clams Up After Errors in Domain Seizures – 05-Jan-11
As you’re probably aware, we’ve been covering the many serious legal questions raised by Homeland Security’s decision to use its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) group to seize a bunch of domain names.
ICANN Wants to Make Millions From SF Meeting – 05-Jan-11
ICANN hopes to sign millions of dollars in sponsorship deals for its San Francisco meeting in March. The organization has revamped its sponsorship options, adding new Diamond and Platinum Elite tiers (together worth up to $1.5 million) and doubling the price of its existing opportunities. ICANN is looking for two companies to act as Diamond sponsors, paying $500,000 each, and two more to sign up for the Platinum Elite deal, each paying $250,000.
Gambling.com Put Up for Sale – 06-Jan-11
The domain name Gambling.com owned by Media Corporation is up for auction by Sedo. Bet365 and Playtech have shown interest in the gambling portal. Though Media Corporation has indicated a reserve price of $9 million, its CEO Justin Drummond is expecting something upwards of $10 million.
Lcn.com ”says No to Vat” On Domain and Web Hosting Packages – 06-Jan-11
Leading domain registration and web hosting company, LCN.com has today announced a new promotional campaign called, “Say NO to VAT”, which offers 20 per cent discount on the cost of any new domain registration or web hosting package.
Pepsi Goes After Arabic Bebsi.com Web Site – 06-Jan-11
Company filed domain name dispute. PepsiCo, Inc. has filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain name Bebsi.com. This isn’t just a typo of Pepsi as it may appear. In fact, ‘b’ is far away from ‘p’ on the keyboard. Bebsi is actually an Arabic way of saying Pepsi. Bebsi.com hosts a large forum, and one…
Domaintools Turns On “Recent Whois‚” for Go Daddy Domain Names – 07-Jan-11
Site begins showing older whois records. DomainTools has come up with a (perhaps interim) solution after Go Daddy started blocking some whois services from accessing its full records. Searches at DomainTools for domain names registered at Go Daddy now include a "recent whois record" with the note "We provide this record when…
It’s All in The Name – Gambling.com Sale – 07-Jan-11
Nora Nanayakkara, business development director at Sedo, the company brokering the sale of gambling.com, discusses the reasons behind the interest around the domain name‚ upcoming sale.
Domain Roundtable Bahamas Q & A – 07-Jan-11
What you need to know about this year’s Domain Roundtable Conference. After taking a year off in 2010, Domain Roundtable is back this March. And it’s back in style, traveling to The Atlantis in the Bahamas. I checked in with the Domain Roundtable (DRT) to get the scoop. DNW: Your last Domain Roundtable was in Washington, DC in 2009. Why did…
Sexbeerandmoney.com — The Ten Most Expensive Domain Names – 07-Jan-11
There was a time when a million bucks was a lot of money for a domain name. That’s exactly what Cool.com went for back in 2000. Today, that’s chump change when you are talking about the most expensive domain names on the web. Keep in mind that these purchases are just for the name.