Domain Name Wire has a great post noting that Domainers often want to have it both ways. They 'cry foul' about the fact that many people see the business model of domain monetization, and especially parking pages, as unsavory. Domainers try to distinguish the 'white hats' from 'black hats.' But too often, people in the industry look the other way when domainers broker in squatted domains. Does the industry need to start more aggressively monitoring its own?
Earlier today I read DNJournal’s weekly sales recap. There were some good sales, including RoomDividers.com at $75,000 (congratulations, Rick). But all of the good sales were overshadowed by a couple bad sales: Mozzilla.com for $40,000 and wwwMatch.com at $11,100.
Neither of these domain names would stand a chance in UDRP challenges. Both of them are typos of famous web sites. These are the types of domain sales that make the industry look bad.
To make matters worse, Mozzilla.com was sold on DNForum, a respected domain name forum. What signal does it send that domainers are trading trademark typos on a major forum? (It’s not just DNForum, mind you.) Mozzilla.com used to make money from affiliate links for downloading the Google toolbar with Firefox. Now it has a link to download Firefox, but when you click on the link it sends you to various offers such as other toolbars and registry cleaner software.
It surprises many domain name dispute lawyers that some domainers still purchase domains which are so trademark protected that is is hard to imagine how they might avoid an adverse UDRP transfer. Some domainers simply don't understand trademark law or the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.
The .ME registry just sold toyota.me for the whopping price of $90,025.
Not only is it the highest price ever paid for a .me it is agoing to be a litigation nightmare for the new owner.
It is hard to imagine how this registrant, assuming the registrant is not related to Toyota Motors, is going to avoid losing this domain and their $90,000 investment under the UDRP or ACPA litigation. While many words and names have multiple uses, some of which are non-infringing uses udner trademark law, Toyota is not one of them.
I am sitting at the live auction at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C East - Live Auction Results. I will be posting some of the interesting results and updating this post throughout the afternoon. The prediction is that this will be a strong auction with the best portfolio of names ever offered before.
Official domain auction results from the low reserve auction here.
I am sitting at the live auction at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C East - Live
Auction Results. I will be posting some of the interesting results and
updating this post throughout the afternoon. The prediction is that this will be a strong auction with the best
portfolio of names ever offered before.
Official domain auction results from the low reserve auction here.
One of the coolest things about owning a domain name is that you can get into just about any type of business your heart desires. Domain ownership breaks down some of the barriers of entry in an industry, and it allows you to jump right in feet first. You don’t necessarily need to sell product or services to be in a particular business, and you can make your own niche in the industry....
Of course you could do much more with a domain name than start a blog.
You could build a directory site or e-commerce site with a little more
work. By purchasing a domain name, you are buying a piece of land in
the business district of your choice, and you can build whatever you
would like. Is jewelry your thing? Why not set up shop on Jeweler’s Row on Sansom Street in Philadelphia? Want to work in the stock market? Why not buy a property on Wall Street? With domain ownership, you can virtually open a business anywhere you want!
Well said Elliot. Domain names offer tremendous potential for those willing to put the creative time and energy into domain name development. You can take a $10,000 domain name and turn it into a $100,000 business. You can establish trade mark rights in a domain name by using it as a brand to identify goods or services, thereby extending its value. Trademarks and service marks continue to increase in value as intangible property. Developing legitimate content, product sales ans services continues to grow in importance within the domainer community.
Many domainers are realizing that there is more to the business of domain names than resale. Using a domain name as business offer tremendous potential for ROI.
We are proud to sponsor this vTalkradio interview with Frank Schilling. Frank Schilling is one of the largest private generic domain name holders in the world. In this interview, Frank Schilling provides invaluable information about domaining, cybersquatting and generic domain registration. Interview highlights include great instructional information about how to avoid cybersquatting problems, the tension between trademark holders and domainers, abuses by the trademark community and the next wave of domain monetization.
ESS Data Recovery, Inc. yesterday announced the purchase of the generic domain DataRecovery.com. ESS Data Recovery paid $1.7 million for the domain name, which makes this the highest reported domain sale of the year. The company will forward it to its existing, established website. It said it had bought the domain to set itself apart from the growing number of new data recovery companies and to attract more customers through the domain’s direct navigation traffic and generic nature:
Good thread going on over at the NamePros domain forum regarding one senior domainer's opinion that purchases of LLL.coms are growing inherently risky due to the possibility that the LLL domain can easily be taken away by UDRP. Read it here.
The thread suggests that registrants avoid ad-link programs on tho LLL.com domains in order to defeat the bad faith element necessary to show cybersquatting under the UDRP. Of course, developing a domain in a non-infringing manor or leaving them parked with no content at all can be helpful when fending off threat letters from trademark holders and UDRP arbitrations.
Amazon recently achieved trademark registration with the USPTO for "Kindle" in the following categories:
Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Portable electronic device for receiving and reading text and images and sound through wireless Internet access and for displaying electronically published materials, namely, books, journals, newspapers, magazines, multimedia presentations; computer hardware and software in the field of text, image and sound transmission and display
IC 038. US 100 101 104. G & S: Transmission of text, images and sound through a portable electronic device
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Providing information in the field of electronic publishing in all forms, via a global computer information network
Amazon is now seeking to protect its Kindle trademark against the self proclaimed "Kindle News Site" www.kindlereport.com.
Domain names and license plates share some common characteristics. Both allow only one person to own a particular word or number. The supply of good words, vanity words and generic words is finite. Demand for those strong generic or descriptive words is high. Where does supply meet demand on the price curve? Domainers can learn from what is happening in a similar market for - of all things - vanity license plates.
The number "5" license plate sold for $6.8 million dollars in Saudi Arabia and another 300 vanity plates sold for another $56 million at last week's auction. It is estimated that the number "1" will be auctioned next month for up to $20 million dollars.
The free market is just realizing the value of a domain name, driven by the fact that each domain name is unique and - typos and cybersquatters aside - their 'one-of-a-kind' nature. Domain names are in many ways like lake front property. There are only so many lots on the lake. The best lots with the best views and lake front are unique. Once you own that lot, no one else can have it. It is yours. As all of the lake property gets sold, values for all lot owners go up. The supply becomes constrained. Value and price go up.
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