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Friday, January 5. 2007
The December 26, 2006 earthquakes off Taiwan severed undersea cables and disabled millions of users from accessing the internet. As a result, Chinese internet users were unable to renew their domain names nor reregister the domain names after their expiry.
The domain names -- or Web site addresses -- vanished after Chinese users were unable to update them or failed to re-register them on their expiry, the official Xinhua news service said, citing China International Network Information Center.
However,
Domain name servers were not responsible for lost domain names if holders did not re-register in time, Xinhua quoted a center insider as saying, since the loss was an "act of God."
But domain name servers may compensate individuals and companies under a scheme yet to be finalized, Xinhua added.
The lesson learned here may be that domain names should be renewed in advance of the expiry date and not at the last moment since there may be unanticipated occurrences.
Source [Reuters]
Monday, January 1. 2007
The Irish discount airline Ryanair Holdings PLC has lost its battle against a former disgruntled customer who registered the domain name ryanaircampaign.org. Michael Coulston of London, the former disgruntled customer, had used the domain name to criticise Ryanair's business practices.
The Irish carrier complained to the World Intellectual Property Organization that the domain name infringed on its trademarks and should therefore be transferred into Ryanair's possession.
But a WIPO panel said there was no evidence that Coulston, who runs a private online campaign aimed at informing Ryanair customers of ways in which they can complain to the company about its service, was using the domain name in bad faith.
In another previous domain name dispute with Coulston, Ryanair had been successful in wrestling the domain name ryanair.org.uk by lodging a complaint with Nominet UK (an organization responsible for Web domains ending in the .UK suffix).
Source [Business Week]
Saturday, December 30. 2006
The domain name Announce.com sold for US$90,000 at the domain name sales site Sedo.com. Now that's something to announce!
Thursday, December 21. 2006
Until the middle of this year, the domain name wii.com was owned by Weyerhaeuser Co. of Federal Way, Washington. However, when the negotiations between Weyerhaeuser Co. and Nintendo Co. Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan were concluded, the domain name was in the possession of Nintendo. The final price paid by Nintendo for the domain name may never be known. That's because terms of the financial agreement between the two companies dated August 8 included a nondisclosure clause, demanded by Nintendo, to which Weyerhaeuser agreed.
According to the Tacoma News Tribune:
With the Nov. 19 U.S. launch of its Wii video game console looming — and gamers around the globe drooling in the blogosphere over its arrival — Nintendo wanted control of wii.com.
The domain name wii.com was originally registered in 1994 by Willamette Industries Inc. of Portland, Oregon, known by its stock ticker "wii". Willamette Industries Inc. was later acquired by Weyerhaeuser in 2002. When Weyerhaeuser acquired Willamette Industries Inc., the domain name wii.com was acquired as intellectual property. According to the the Whois.com directory, Weyerhaeuser renewed the domain name until 2009. Wii.com was redirected to guide users to the Weyerhaeuser main corporate website.
Interestingly, in public, Nintendo did not show any interest in the domain name. Indeed, to further reinforce their public non interest in the domain name, according to a May 26 report by vnunet.com, a global information and media company, a Nintendo spokeswoman was quoted as saying:
"To my understanding we are not planning on using that Web site."
However, in private, Nintendo went on a wild acquisition spree.
The company had registered more than 70 wii-related domain names, including WiiCommunication, WiiDiary and WiiKid. Nintendo registered WiiMap, WiiSenior, WiiWords, WiiWorld, NintendoWii - even WiiWii.
Then according to Weyerhaeuser spokesman Frank Mendizabal:
"in late May or early June," Mendizabal said, Nintendo sent an informal e-mail to Weyerhaeuser's public affairs department, asking about the availability of wii.com. "They made an offer. We made a counteroffer, then it went back and forth," Mendizabal said.
But the negotiations stayed within the public affairs and law departments at Weyerhaeuser. The deal, Mendizabal said, never involved an outside expert appraisal of the domain name's value.
Nor will the dollar value show up in any documents Weyerhaeuser, as a publicly traded company, must file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC requires public companies to report any actions or "material events" that could affect the company's financial statement or stock value. It broadly defines a material event as any circumstance that a reasonable person would consider important.
The exchange of wii.com "didn't come close to that," Mendizabal said.
We may never know the exact amount which Nintendo paid for the domain name wii.com.
Source [azstartnet]
Thursday, December 21. 2006
This past Sunday, news came out that networking equipment maker Cisco Systems would be introducing a new Linksys brand VoIP phone named the iPhone. Linksys is a unit of Cisco Systems. However, Apple Computer owns the domain name iPhone.org and also may have had plans to introduce their own VoIP device in January 2007. And this is where the dispute lies.
Apple Computer has used the "i" prefix in front of their brand products for several years. Apple has also trademarked their brand names with the "i" prefix in front of the brand name such as "iPod" and "iBook". There may be a lengthy court battle between Cisco and Apple if Apple ever does introduce their own branded phone with the "i" prefix.
According to ABC News:
A quick survey of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) web site shows that there are in fact 9 instances of "iPhone" as a registered trademark. It also shows that Cisco has actually owned the iPhone brand since 2000, when it purchased Infogear, another internet appliance company. According to the USPTO's web site, Infogear was originally granted the iPhone trademark in 1997.
To futher complicate the whole matter, according to ABC News:
Linksys told PC Magazine that the iPhone moniker isn't even new, and that the company has had an "iPhone family"—the CIT 200 and CIT 300—of wireless IP phones since October of 2005.
Despite finding the occasional reference to the CIT 200 or 300 as being an "iPhone" on a few third-party online vendor sites, PC Magazine could not find any other instances of the word in relation to a Linksys phone. Furthermore, Linksys's own site reveals no evidence of an iPhone descriptor being employed until yesterday's release of the CIT 400 and WIP 320.
While this doesn't take away from Cisco's legitimate rights to trademarked term, it does mean that if Apple challenges the company for its use in the future, it might not be such a clear-cut case.
And therein lies the iPhone dilemma. For years, analysts, bloggers, and tech news sites have all affixed the iPhone appellation to a product that may or may not even exist. In terms of brand recognition—and as successful as its iCampaign has been thus far—Apple could theoretically argue that "i" anything automatically makes people think of the company.
And regarding the domain name iPhone.org, Apple registered the domain name in 1999 which redirects users to the Apple corporate homepage. Then in 2002, Apple began to trademark the "iPhone" name is Singapore, the U.K., Australia, Canada, and most recently, New Zealand. But, trademarks are on a country by country basis. Indeed, the ABC News article notes that just because a trademark is issued in one country does not necessarily mean that the trademarked name can be used in the U.S. to sell a product with the same name.
Apple Computer may have a tough time in making the "i" prefix (in front of product names) their own exclusive domain. Indeedd:
An executive with brand consultant Interbrand, however, said that so-called "iExclusivity" was a thing of the past. "Apple has known for a long time that it wouldn't have exclusivity with the 'i' trademark," said Julius Roberge, managing director of Verbal Identity for Interbrand. "There have been "i" trademarks for decades. iVideo, for instance, is owned by an industrial video company and was filed back in 1968."
They've [Apple] used 'i' very well to capture the spirit of this era we've just come through—the late 90s and early 2000s," Roberge said. "From a trademark perspective, the name is diluted and played out."
There may be more news concerning this issue in the future.
Source [ABC News]
Thursday, December 21. 2006
Domain name owner and author Rogers Cadenhead is currently in a dispute with MGM Studios over the ownership of the domain name Wargames.com. Cadenhead has owned Wargames.com for the past 8 years. MGM Studios owns the rights to the movie title from the 1983 movie Wargames. The ownership of the domain name recently became a dispute when MGM Studios decided to release a remake of the movie Wargames to be released in 2007.
According to Cadenhead's blog, MGM Studios dispatched their Chicago lawyer by the name of Nathan Hole to take away ownership of Wargames.com from Cadenhead. In his blog, Cadenhead describes that:
For the past three months I've been privately engaged in a time-consuming dispute with Nathan J. Hole, a lawyer representing MGM Studios who claims that Wargames.Com, a domain that I've owned since April 16, 1998, is the rightful property of the film company because it produced the 1983 movie WarGames and registered it as a trademark.
I registered the domain to sell military wargames like Axis & Allies and Battle of Britain and was able to realize these plans earlier this year. I've never run my own business, so figuring out sales taxes and licensing, finding suppliers, running a secure web server and setting up ecommerce software took around two years.
My store has nothing to do with the film WarGames or any other movie, but attempting to convince MGM there's no infringement has been utterly fruitless.
Cadenhead also notes that the term WARGAMES was in existence before the 1983 MGM Studio movie.
In order to inform the public of how his struggle with MGM Studios is going, Cadenhead promises that he will update his blog as he goes through the arbitration process against MGM Studios. However, Cadenhead faces an uphill struggle against MGM Studios since not only does MGM Studios possess deeper pockets when it comes to financial and legal resources, but also precedent such as Apple Computer having success against domain name owners in relinquishing domain names which contain the word "pod".
The website Wargames.com is currently an online store selling military video games.
Source [WebProNews]
Tuesday, December 19. 2006
The website Sedo.com reported that the domain name Vodka.com sold for $3 million. Sedo.com acted as the broker for the domain name transaction. The buyer of the domain name is a vodka company called Conglomerate Russian Standard Co. and owned by the billionaire Roustam Tariko.
According to the Geek.com article:
The company is better known for its Imperia brand vodka, which appeared on the U.S. market back in September 2005. In its home country, the company controls two-thirds of the vodka market and owns the country's largest bank, Russian Standard Bank.... It is thought Tariko acquired the domain through his company in order to continue the push of Imperia vodka in the U.S.
Source [Geek.com]
Tuesday, December 12. 2006
Selected Domain Name Sales:
According to the website Afternic.com, the following domain names (among many other domain names) were sold the past two weeks:
| Domain Name Sales |
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| Domain Name | Selling Price | Date Sold |
|---|
| wv.org | US$38,000 | December 8, 2006 | | inNewYork.com | US$10,000 | December 6, 2006 | | rackmounts.com | US$10,000 | November 29, 2006 | | LiveForex.com | US$9,565 | December 8, 2006 | | christianpublishing.com | US$5,000 | November 30, 2006 | | betr.com | US$4,488 | December 7, 2006 | | YogaConferences.com | US$4,050 | December 8, 2006 | | ErrorCLEAR.com | US$3,334 | November 29, 2006 | | Petportal.com | US$2,500 | December 4, 2006 | | virtualrush.com | US$2,000 | December 11, 2006 | | viewpointrealty.com | US$2,000 | December 1, 2006 | | debitcards.net | US$2,000 | November 29, 2006 | | modeldriven.com | US$2,000 | November 29, 2006 | | youdance.com | US$1,750 | December 5, 2006 | | centralgrocery.com | US$1,650 | December 1, 2006 | | idivorce.com | US$1,600 | December 1, 2006 | | chasingcars.com | US$1,500 | November 30, 2006 | | OrlandoRealEstate.mobi | US$1,500 | November 30, 2006 | | o11.com | US$1,500 | November 29, 2006 | | webgang.com | US$1,400 | December 5, 2006 | | thebloodhound.com | US$1,350 | November 29, 2006 | | prepaidhealthcare.com | US$1,300 | December 8, 2006 | | sterling-silver-jewelry.com | US$1,222 | December 4, 2006 | | fcda.net | US$1,200 | December 7, 2006 | | homequality.com | US$1,200 | November 29, 2006 | | orla.org | US$1,105 | December 11, 2006 | | golfgaming.com | US$1,100 | December 8, 2006 | | phoneregistry.com | US$1,050 | December 11, 2006 | | topratedwebsites.com | US$1,050 | December 8, 2006 | | vinyasayoga.com | US$1,050 | November 30, 2006 | | businessdoc.com | US$1,000 | December 11, 2006 | | CHHOME.com | US$1,000 | December 11, 2006 | | withfriends.com | US$1,000 | December 11, 2006 | | sociallight.com | US$1,000 | December 7, 2006 | | MYBCO.com | US$1,000 | December 6, 2006 | | Fashion.pro | US$1,000 | December 6, 2006 | | fare.mobi | US$1,000 | December 5, 2006 | | legalminute.com | US$1,000 | November 29, 2006 | | MDWW.com | US$950 | December 5, 2006 | | VOIPo.net | US$950 | November 29, 2006 | | LegalAce.com | US$920 | December 11, 2006 | | relr.com | US$900 | December 1, 2006 | | evansnewyork.com | US$900 | November 30, 2006 | | rir.net | US$850 | December 8, 2006 | | tsipouro.com | US$800 | December 7, 2006 |
Recently, the following domain names were sold at the website Sedo.com:
| Domain Name Sales |
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| Domain Name | Selling Price |
|---|
| TGN.com | US$75,000 | | shoptoday.com | US$15,000 | | protectionnetwork.com | US$5,000 | | agent.mobi | US$4,700 | | standardoil.com | US$4,000 | | interactivecare.com | US$2,000 | | advisorweb.com | US$2,000 | | bodog.co.uk | US$2,000 | | zlog.com | US$2,000 | | cellyou.com | US$1,750 | | buzzster.com | US$1,511 | | engadin-stmoritz.com | US$1,500 | | xarus.com | US$1,450 | | thaicall.com | US$1,250 | | optininc.com | US$1,100 | | californiacarinsurance.com | US$1,000 | | 822media.com | US$710 | | foothillsliving.com | US$600 | | nvw.nl | US$600 | | talkopia.com | US$599 | | newartiste.com | US$500 | | fuddy.com | US$500 | | bizsearch.net | US$500 | | Punto.com | 25,500 € | | Badcredithomeloan.com | 12,000 € | | autobids.com | 5,000 € | | allseasonssunrooms.com | 3,250 € | | casinoguide.co.uk | 1,750 € | | peoplevideo.com | 1,500 € | | Buildingcharacter.com | 1,350 € | | reelzone.com | 1,050 € | | middlesborough.co.uk | 900 € | | azureus.in | 600 € | | monkine.com | 540 € | | playacard.com | 400 € |
Monday, December 11. 2006
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, the buyers of the "Wards", Direct Marketing Services Inc., has revived the "Wards" name and set up a new website with a new version of the Wards catalog. Direct Marketing Services Inc. purchased the "Wards" name in 2004 after Montgomery Ward closed its stores in 2001. The "new" Wards will operate under wards.com.
David Milgrom, the president and founder of Direct Marketing Services Inc. has:
built a $160 million-a-year company by acquiring older, established domain and catalog names. He has licensed the right to use Sears' name on catalogs and now, besides the Wards book, mails several Sears specialty titles along with the Charles Keath gifts book and its core HomeVisions catalog.
According to Milgrom:
"To build a brand today is so expensive. There's only so many Wal-Marts and Amazons out there...We just picked up where they (Wards) left off."
Source [Lexington Herald Leader]
Monday, December 11. 2006
NameMedia, the Waltham, Mass.-based seller of domain names, recently announced that they had acquired Afternic.com. NameMedia stated that:
... Afternic will join with BuyDomains, NameMedia's existing domain name marketplace to create a platform for the domain aftermarket.
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Source [BostonBusinessJournal]
Monday, December 11. 2006
The domain name HotelDeals.com recently sold for US$171,250 at Snapnames. Other domain names also sold for nice prices according to the article by DomainNameWire:
BuyDomains sold GatherRound.com for $40,000. I purchased a couple domain names from BuyDomains this past week as well. BuyDomains has a great portfolio of domains and is well worth checking out. There prices for most domains are reasonable and they have powerful search functionality on their site. Other notable BuyDomain sales this week, according to DNJournal, are GreenTrade.com for $9,000 and DomainManagement.com at $7,000. A couple of the best deals from BuyDomains on the chart are PrivacyManagement.com at $2,500 and GenericPrescriptions.com at $2,142.
Source [DomainNameWire]
Wednesday, December 6. 2006
Domain name sales list for last week's sales will be combined with this week's sales.
Tuesday, November 28. 2006
The domain name gays.com was recently sold for US$500,000 to German internet entrepreneurs, Julius and David Dreyer. The domain name was sold at the domain name sales website Sedo.com. According to Julius Dreyer:
“We are very proud to have invested in such a representative domain as gays.com. Building an internet portal for the gay community has always been one of our biggest goals ... We are confident that we will be able to introduce an entertaining and informative website in the near future; one that will meet the needs of the gay community.”
Source [DomainInformer]
Tuesday, November 28. 2006
Selected Domain Name Sales:
According to the website Afternic.com, the following domain names (among many other domain names) were sold this week:
| Domain Name Sales |
|---|
| Domain Name | Selling Price | Date Sold |
|---|
| crowds.com | US$18,000 | November 22, 2006 | | YogaSites.com | US$7,700 | November 27, 2006 | | LoanWarehouse.com | US$5,000 | November 27, 2006 | | thehealer.com | US$4,000 | November 27, 2006 | | vzine.com | US$3,488 | November 21, 2006 | | maplus.com | US$2,000 | November 21, 2006 | | DealerOnly.com | US$1,700 | November 21, 2006 | | zipster.com | US$1,500 | November 27, 2006 | | viewreview.com | US$1,500 | November 21, 2006 | | FurnitureRattan.com | US$1,300 | November 27, 2006 | | MyPrediction.com | US$1,050 | November 27, 2006 | | IntelligentPrinting.com | US$1,000 | November 27, 2006 | | l4d.com | US$1,000 | November 22, 2006 | | eeff.com | US$999 | November 27, 2006 |
Recently, the following domain names were sold at the website Sedo.com:
| Domain Name Sales |
|---|
| Domain Name | Selling Price |
|---|
| furnitureshopping.com | US$5,000 | | forsale.biz | US$3,550 | | sohobackup.com | US$725 | | adcore-tech.com | US$540 | | pod.org | 3,000 € | | sexo.st | 2,000 € | | citicenter.org | 1,800 € | | rhodius.eu | 700 € | | myparkour.com | 500 € |
Tuesday, November 21. 2006
Selected Domain Name Sales:
According to the website Afternic.com, the following domain names (among many other domain names) were sold this week:
| Domain Name Sales |
|---|
| Domain Name | Selling Price | Date Sold |
|---|
| scrapiron.com | US$15,000 | November 20, 2006 | | crazed.com | US$9,000 | November 14, 2006 | | movers.us | US$5,775 | November 13, 2006 | | mobilecash.com | US$5,500 | November 20, 2006 | | sportsfeed.mobi | US$3,450 | November 14, 2006 | | networkdeals.com | US$3,300 | November 16, 2006 | | desktopart.com | US$2,750 | November 17, 2006 | | upclick.com | US$2,600 | November 13, 2006 | | gregjennings.com | US$2,500 | November 20, 2006 | | DecorIdeas.com | US$2,500 | November 20, 2006 | | MarsGirl.com | US$2,400 | November 14, 2006 | | BritishColumbiaVacations.com | US$2,000 | November 16, 2006 | | traveldash.com | US$2,000 | November 14, 2006 | | thestores.com | US$1,800 | November 20, 2006 | | InsiderInfo.net | US$1,695 | November 14, 2006 | | TelevisionWallMounts.com | US$1,650 | November 15, 2006 | | criminal-records.org | US$1,600 | November 20, 2006 | | HOSPITAL-JOBS.com | US$1,500 | November 14, 2006 |
Recently, the following domain names were sold at the website Sedo.com:
| Domain Name Sales |
|---|
| Domain Name | Selling Price |
|---|
| w2.com | US$31,000 | | travelzoo.jp | US$24,000 | | sharki.com | US$8,500 | | jobscore.com | US$6,000 | | daytipper.com | US$3,200 | | mortgage.st | US$1,800 | | 1001homes.com | US$1,775 | | onb.org | US$1,200 | | momslist.com | US$1,095 | | leisurescape.com | US$750 | | baccaratbetting.com | US$500 | | modernrugs.co.uk | 5,000 € | | stockbroker.org | 1,400 € | | discountnetwork.com | 1,250 € | | zerna.com | 1,200 € | | ecowatt.com | 1,002 € | | newhopetoday.com | 1,000 € | | globetrans.eu | 1,000 € | | trophyhut.com | 1,000 € | | love-story.eu | 500 € | | patrimoine.org | 400 € | | carbanx.com | 1,999 £ | | noshnosh.co.uk | 881 £ |
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