Domain Name News

Feds Arrest Owner of Seized Sports Streaming Domain

In the past several months, U.S. authorities have seized several domain names that were allegedly facilitating copyright infringement, and yesterday U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced the first arrest. The 32-year-old Texan Bryan McCarthy was arrested and has been charged with criminal copyright infringement. Meanwhile, the site associated with these criminal charges remains active.

Qatar Launches Country Specific Internet Domain Names

Officials from the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQatar) have launched the Qatar Domains Registry (QDR). Qatar-specific internet domain names will be made available to the public in the Gulf state by August, it has been announced.

A Landmark Showdown at World Intellectual Property Organization

Case represents a big victory against radical UDRP ideology. A World Intellectual Property Forum panel handed down a UDRP decision on March 1 that could reverberate for a while and finally put to rest some recent shenanigans with UDRP. If you aren’t a UDRP junkie you may not appreciate it. But if you are, read on…

Wales Calls On ICANN to Unleash .cymru

Welsh deputy first minister Ieuan Wyn Jones has complained about delays to ICANN’s new generic top-level domains programme, which are holding up a plan to offer citizens “.cymru” domain names.

Apple Now Owns Facetime.com (But Still Doesn't Own iPad.com)

When Apple first announced its video calling application FaceTime on June 7, 2010 at the WWDC event, in conjunction with the iPhone 4, it quickly became apparent that there was a potential trademark conflict with a company called FaceTime Communications.

But Apple struck a deal with the company to transfer said trademark over to them, and FaceTime Communications subsequently changed its company name to Actiance.

As of yesterday, ownership of the domain name FaceTime.com was also transferred over to the Cupertino company.

Google and Myob Announce Free Websites and Domain Names for 50000 Small Businesses

Google and accounting software provider MYOB have announced an initiative to get 50,000 Australian businesses online for free. “Getting Aussie Business Online” (www.gettingbusinessonline.com.au) aims to provide free websites to small businesses in Australia using the MYOB Atlas website creation tool.

Internationalised Domain Names Being Exploited

Internationalised domain names (IDNs) are being exploited by spammers who are buying domains which feature non-Latin characters for a low cost. According to a warning from Symantec.cloud’s MessageLabs team, spammers are using these IDNs to redirect people clicking on emails links to spam sites.

New Domain Extension .us.org Debuts With Six Year Complimentary Registration

“The mission of .US.ORG is to embody higher standards of social responsibility and ethical behavior. CentralNic has elected to introduce protections and benefits for trademark holders that far exceed the measures currently proposed by ICANN for new top-level domains, and practiced by other domains and registries,” said Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic.

Survey: Domain Name Marketplaces

Major domain marketplaces continue to innovate and grow. The number of domain name sales venues is expanding. More importantly, the way these venues syndicate sales listings is leading to a more fluid domain aftermarket. Domainers use a number of domain marketplaces beyond the usual suspects. Still, the big three dominate: Sedo received the …

Help Wanted: Go Daddy Hits Hiring Milestone

Go Daddy, the world’s top Web hosting provider and domain name registrar, now employs more than 3,000 people and is looking to hire at least 350 more in the weeks ahead. A majority of Go Daddy’s employees work in the legendary Customer Care centers, all based in the U.S. These are the people standing by the phones to help any of Go Daddy’s nearly nine million customers.