Domain Name News: Feb. 18 Week in Review

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Lionsden.com Owner Wins Domain Dispute
WIPO panel rules in favor of domain name owner. The owner of LionsDen.com since 1995 can keep his domain name, a World Intellectual Property Organization UDRP panel has decided. Mile, Inc., which owns The Lion’s Den retail brand of adult entertainment products, filed the complaint arguing that the domain name infringed on its rights. The …
Domain Names: The New Property Market?
As the business world increasingly moves online, company directors are frequently advised to anchor their digital identities with domain services and catchy website addresses. Memorable domain names make it easier for customers to search for a specific business online and, if carefully selected, the right address can also drive considerable returns in terms of search engine optimisation (SEO). But as firms invest in domain services to snap up their desired title and future-proof their online presence for years to come, by preventing anyone else from stealing their ideal URL, prices for virtual ‘real estate’ are soaring.
Senators Look at New Ways to Take Control of Websites
U.S senators are currently working on legislation to be introduced this year which will go after websites that offer access to digital piracy or counterfeit goods. The primary sponsor of a bill proposed in 2010 said it would give government agencies more authority to shut down those sites, according to an article.
After 5 Years an SEO Expert Finally Realizes The Value of Type in Domain Traffic
In a post just published by Stephen Chapman for ZDnet.com entitled: “Capitalizing on hidden sources of traffic: A tale of pure awesomeness”, hopefully will be an eye opener to all SEO types on the value of of domain type in traffic. According to his bio, Mr. Chapman has been involved with SEO for over 5 years. In his post, he he tells the story of how he hand registered a domain name that he saw inside of a comic strip which contained a picture of a computer monitor with a non-existent domain on it.
European Domain Centre Launches Social Media Brand Protection Service
While 2011 is expected to be the year where companies will embrace social media, most of them still haven’t got a brand protection strategy in place. Their rightful usernames on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. are being snatched up by 3rd parties, while they are watching it happen. This is exactly the same situation as with domain names, when they were launched. European Domain Centre provides a new social media brand protection service to give companies a map in the woods and secure their social usernames in time.
ICE Accidentally Takes Down 84000 Websites
As reported before, the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken to seizing domain names when it sees potential copyright infringement or other…
Survey: DNForum Still Top Domain Name Forum
Survey takers rank domain name forums. Once again DNForum is the highest rated domain name forum. That’s according to over 1,500 people who took the 6th Annual Domain Name Wire Survey. 48% selected DNForum as the top forum for discussing domain names, up from 37% last year. NamePros came in a distant second place with 21%, followed by …
100 Best, Inc Names GoDaddy Best Domain Registrar for 2011
100 Best Domain Names, a website where domain name registrar providers may have their domain name services reviewed and rated, has recently announced GoDaddy.com as the winner of their Best Domain Registrar for 2011. This honorary award is given to GoDaddy because of their dedication to providing not only some of the cheapest domain names in the industry, but also the best variety of domain name products and services.
Tucows Inc. Reports Financial Results for Fourth Quarter 2010
Tucows Inc. (NYSE AMEX: TCX) (TSX:TC), a global provider of domain names, email and other Internet services, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010. All figures are in U.S. dollars. Net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010 increased 8.6% to $22.1 million from $20.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2009. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $1.2 million, or $0.02 per share, compared with $1.7 million, or $0.03 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2009. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 benefited from an income tax recovery of $0.5 million.
South African Domain Name Service Launched
For individuals who find it complex to register co.za domain names, a company has developed an automated system of registrations that promises to make the process painless. The current system to register co.za domain names involves downloading a text file, and e-mailing it to Uniforum, the registration authority. Coreg.com automates the process, but Visser rejected suggestions that it was unsafe.
Two Big Domain Name Auctions to Close Tommorow: Domainfest & Sedo .co & Neither …
Two big auctions are set to close tomorrow and neither have many winning bids as of time of publication. SnapNames.com is holding the extended auction from Domainfest which ends tomorrow Feburary 17th at 3:15pm EST. There are around 500 domains including all of the domain names that were in the Live Domainfest auction. As of time of publication these are the only bids and all have meet reserve: uzy.com $7,310…
How to Make Domain-name Millions
Want to be a domain-name millionaire? Here’s your chance. The obscure California nonprofit that controls the domain names of the world‚Äîknown as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN‚Äîis about to authorize an unlimited number of new suffixes. Forget about “.com” and the 21 other suffixes that now exist. Companies, governments, and groups of all sorts will soon be able to apply for control of any suffix they dream up‚Äîfrom “.gay” to “.green,” two that already have been proposed. Then these domain-name bosses can get rich selling addresses with their suffixes.
DomainTools Debuts New Website & Membership Structure
DomainTools, the recognized leader in domain name research and monitoring, today launched a redesigned website that introduces improved navigation along with more customized service options. Still offering the most complete data on domain name research, the new DomainTools.com better organizes the company’s wide range of tools and services and the new ‘A la Carte’ membership options will fit any type of user, whether novice, professional or enterprise. As part of the relaunch effort, the company has increased membership and service pricing. This is the first time the company has raised prices in over five years.
US Government Shuts Down 84000 Websites, ‘by Mistake’
The US Government has yet again shuttered several domain names this week. The Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE office proudly announced that they had seized domains related to counterfeit goods and child pornography. What they failed to mention, however, is that one of the targeted domains belongs to a free DNS provider, and that 84,000 websites were wrongfully accused of links to child pornography crimes.
Easyspace Offer 30% Off .info Domain Names During February!
Easyspace is offering 30% off .info domain names to everyone during February. The offer which is valid till the 28th of February 2011 gives customers the opportunity to extend their domain portfolio and get experience of an established domain extension. All customers need to do is simply search for their preferred domain names, and add it to basket. At checkout simply enter the promotion code, INFO30 and the discount will be applied, saving 30%!
Judge: Gillece ‘Cybersquatting’ Aimed at Causing Confusion
A federal judge Tuesday pulled the plug on Gillece Plumbing & Heating Inc.’s practice of registering Internet domain names containing all or part of its competitors’ names, ruling the company did so to confuse customers.
Bad Bad Media, Facebook, Blogs and Shitty Journalism
ast week, I and some hundreds of other people went to Domain Fest. First off the conference was first class, amazing food, amazing venues, and culminated with a fantastic party at the Playboy mansion. My favorite moment was taking Andreas on a lightening fast tour of the grounds after the official tours were over. We all had a great time. The day after I got home, I got sick, really, really sick. In fact there was only one other time in my life that I ever remember even being close to that sick.
CDC & L.A. County Dept. of Public Health Now Investigating Illness That Felled Dozens of Domainers – N.Y. Post Looking Into It Too – Known Sick List Nearing 100
I was hoping this story would be over by now and that everyone who fell ill shortly after returning from last week’s DOMAINest Global conference would have recovered and gotten back to work. The good news is, a lot of people have gotten much better today (including my wife Diana) after getting antibiotics from their doctors. The bad news is that others are still having a very rough time. The sickest victim we are currently aware of – and the only one diagnosed with full blown pneumonia – Markus Schnermann – left a note on Nico Zeifang’s Post-Conference Sick List at Facebook today saying…
Who Gets to Decide Domain Names?
The Feb. 7 front-page article ” .controversy, anyone? ” spotlighted the potential changes to the Internet precipitated by the decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to introduce more than 400 generic top-level domains. But the article failed to address deeper issues: How…
Playboy: Don’t Blame Us for Illness
Playboy rep says its staff didn’t get sick at party. The New York Post wrote an article today about the illness outbreak after last week’s DOMAINfest conference. It quotes both Ron Jackson and Elliot Silver. The story asks if the Playboy Mansion was the source of the illness. (It wouldn’t be "New York Post-worthy" without the …
Blogspot Blocked in India?
Blogs with the domain name blogspot.com have been reported as inaccessible by users of certain internet service providers (ISPs) in India. Though other blogs powered by Google’s Blogger service, but having their own domain names are accessible. The block seems to be currently limited to only a few ISPs, with many users on other ISPs still being able to access blogspot.com freely.
.tel Pages Will Soon Look Like…
Contest for .tel facelift ends. Now for the winner… .Tel pages may soon get a facelift courtesy of a design competition. Telnic, which runs the .tel domain, ran a contest on 99Designs to get user submissions of a potential new template. It received 223 submissions as of Wednesday’s deadline. .Tel is a unique domain name created for …
SanDiego.com Dispute Goes to Court
Former owner files breach of contract claim. [Update: I now have a copy of the complaint (pdf). It focuses on mostly alleged verbal contracts between Burgess and DeuPree for total damages of $185,00. It also alleges that when DeuPree negotiated to buy the site that he "and unknown collaborators planned for force Burgess from sandiego.com, …
Nominet and Police Web Take-down Should Seek Judicial Oversight
Changes to the website takedown rules should be considered very carefully and there needs to be a full judicial oversight, the Open Rights Group has said. The comments from the organisation come as Nominet, the .uk domain name registrar, opens a consultation following a request by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) to be able to take down websites, which they believe to be used for criminal activities at a moment’s notice. However, in order to do this changes to the terms and conditions under which UK domain names operate are required.
Dotgay Llc Selects Neustar Registry Services
Dotgay LLC announced today it has selected Neustar, Inc. (NYSE: NSR), a leading domain name registry services provider, to provide the backend technology required to support the .gay generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD). Dotgay LLC expects to submit its application to manage the .gay gTLD to the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) later this year. Dotgay has endorsements from some of the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organizations in the world already in place (combined memberships of approximately two million).