Matching domain names with established services makes great sense for forward thinking companies. The sale of bookmarks.com also reinforces the reality that domainers are more likely to obtain Rick Schwartz level domain sales if they match their domains directly to established companies with specific domain needs.
Elliot’s Blog » Blog Archive » Bookmarks.com - Smart Strategic Purchase
At today’s Snapnames Live Auction at Domainfest, Lonnie Borck was the winning bidder for Bookmarks.com, purchasing it for $310,000. This is a fantastic domain name, and it is a great purchase to incorporate with his netRocket.com website, a bookmark scheduling service. Bookmarks.com is the category killer domain name for netRocket’s vertical, and it was a smart purchase. Not only will this help drive targeted traffic to netRocket, it is also a nice defensive purchase, as it prevents another upstart company from owning the category.
BTW: Did anyone else notice the trademark issues between NetRocket's bookmark service and Google's page one number one return "netrocket", Mozcom's dial-up internet service? Mozcom has filed for a registered trademark with the USPTO and first use date of 04-11-2005. Because of other prior uses of netrocket by Application Serial No(s) 75629654 and 75760079 (both since suspended), that application has been temporarily suspended. Mozon's mark should come live again soon, which could create problems for NetRocket.com. Thye may REALLY need bookmarks.com if Mozcom comes after them with a trademark threat letter.
NetRocket.com at archive.org shows the domain was for sale in May, 2006, used as a "Build-A-Blog" site in April, 2007. There is no archiving for he current site but it appears that NetRocket purhcsed NetRocket.com sometime in 2007 (probably for a lot of money) and then launched in December, 2007. iSend may have been smart enough to to pay top dollar for a valuable domain, but not have been smart enough to get clearance from competent trademark counsel before branding and launching NetRocket.com.
Congrats to Elliot's Blog, voted number one domainer blog at DomainFest!
Technorati Tags: domainer, trademark, bookmark, rick schwartz
Brokering the sale of a domain poses several legal issues. Sellers must understand the legitimacy of their registration and use of the domain before attempting to sell. Domain name sellers must also know what they can say and cannot say when trying to sell the domains. Ultimately, domain name sellers should get a release when selling the domain so as to avoid any future claims of cybersquatting or trademark infringement.
Trademark owners should also be able to discern between a legitimate offer to sell and one that could be characterized as a bad faith attempt to capitalize off of the trademark owner's goodwill. Trademark owners may have other ways to acquire the domain without having to purchase it. A domain name broker may be able to provide some of these answers, but an attorney with domain name brokerage experience would be the perfect fit.
Posted by: domain name broker | 01/27/2008 at 22:50