In the SpringwoodsRealty.com decision, issued July 16th, sole panelist Houston Putnam Lowry denied the Complaint finding that the domain owner had a legitimate interest in the domain and had not acted in bad faith. Yet the summary Findings section in the published decision tells a different story: FINDINGS (1) the domain name registered by Responde...

I woke up on September 1st, Labor Day, to an email alert that one of my domains had been transferred out of my account at Moniker without my authorization. I soon learned that my account had been hacked, the account email had been changed, a new user had been created, and five domains had been […] The post My Moniker Account was Breached - Se...

Driving through DC, I noticed new maroon flags waving from lampposts promoting something called "DigitalDC". In small print on the flag was a web address. At first I couldn't tell if I was having trouble reading the domain name, but then I got a good look. Yes, the URL for innovation in DC is digitaldc.co. […] The post Watch out Silicon Valle...

Last year, I received an email offering MLA.com for sale. DomainTools showed that the domain had been held for years by Michael Lee and Associates in Illinois. Yet the seller was from Russia. I contacted Michael Lee who confirmed that the domain had been stolen. Today the Huffington Post published an article on the difficulties […]

In the recent HoldOn.com decision, sole panelist Christopher Pibus found the domain owner guilty of bad faith for simply placing the domain on a parking page. Pibus made the bad faith finding despite there being no evidence that any of the ads on the parked page were infringing. When I visited the page at HoldOn.com, […] The post Hold On! - S...

HBO is the proud new owner of the piedpiper.com domain name. PiedPiper.com is now the home of the faux corporate website for Pied Piper, the fictional start-up company in HBO's new comedy, "Silicon Valley". Last night's episode has the team brainstorming ridiculous names as they try to come up with an alternative to the Pied […] The post Pied...

In a beasion zeused this noaning NAF baualist Sandra Franklin betamined that the pouin "Guaiky.com" is voanusimly ziamuar to "Quirky.com". Sorry… You didn't have any trouble reading that did you? In a decision released this morning NAF panelist Sandra Franklin determined that the domain "Guaiky.com" is confusingly similar to "Quirky.com." As ...

[This post was originally published on January 15, 2010 on DirectNavigation.com. Thanks to Larry Fischer for allowing me to repost it here. Now that I am publishing my own blog, I am consolidating at DomainArts.com some posts that were first published elsewhere. -Nat] === Nat Cohen is a long time domainer who specializes in generic […] The po...

The previous owner of Liberty.com confirmed that he sold the domain last year for a "seven figures" sum. The sale is covered by an NDA so he couldn't disclose the actual price. The new owner is Liberty Global, the $35 billion market cap international cable company. Liberty.com changed hands in April 2013. In 2011, Liberty.com […] The post Lib...

UDRP decisions finding Reverse Domain Name Hijacking hit a new record this year indicating a surge in attempts by companies to abuse the UDRP process to steal domains that they are not entitled to. So far this year 24 complainants have been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) compared to only 14 last […] The post Surge in mis...

Last month panelist Eduardo Machado ordered the transfer of Ovation.com in one of the most poorly reasoned UDRP decisions ever issued. ?Stephen Gilfus, the owner of the ovation.com domain, has filed in Federal Court in Florida to prevent the transfer by seeking a declaration under the Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act that his use of the domain [&...

XC.com, formerly owned by long-time domainer Alex Lerman, is now owned by giant Chinese travel company Ctrip. The news is reported on a Chinese language site – http://news.ename.cn/yumingjiaoyi_20131125_50649_1.html An English language translation courtesy of Google is in part- "Ctrip buying the two-letter domain xc.com, domain name transacti...

Many domains held for investment are at risk of loss due to a radical new approach to the UDRP championed by some UDRP panelists at WIPO?s Advanced Workshop on UDRP Practice and Precedent held in Geneva last week. Respected WIPO Panelist and the Workshop co-leader, David Bernstein, is a leading advocate for this new approach […]

  A NAF panelist orders the transfer of uniprotein.com after making a dubious finding that the domain ‘uniprotein.com' is confusingly similar to a design mark for ‘universal' that incorporates an image of ?a bodybuilder flexing his muscles. Universal Nutrition sells body building supplies with a specialty in protein supplements. &#...

In the fobus.com decision, an NAF panelist permitted the Complainant to seize the fobus.com domain even in the absence of any specific evidence that the domain was registered in bad faith. The respondent didn't help himself by failing to respond to the Complaint, but even relying on and accepting all the arguments presented in the

The UDRP complaint against MountainRovers.com has the dubious distinction of being the 150th case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking identified so far. Five thoughts on this milestone- 1.? The problem of RDNH is getting worse.? The UDRP is used more frequently than ever to attempt to steal domain names from their rightful owners. The early

It can be frustrating reading UDRP decisions where there is a difference of opinion among the panelists if one wants to know what each of the panelists believes. ?The decisions often refuse to name names. ?The decision will say that a majority held one view, and that a minority held a different view. ?But the

Domain attorney John Berryhill thinks strategically. ?When a completely frivolous, seven-sentence complaint was filed on Frank Schilling's digilove.com domain, Berryhill saw an opportunity. ?He used his response to provide a lesson to the panelists on the negative consequences of unilaterally making changes to the ?UDRP. Berryhill wanted to enroll ...

IP Pro reports that IG.com sold to a UK based financial services company. ?The seller was a Brazilian search portal. The article speculates that the price was the second highest ever paid for a two-letter dot-com, presumably below the $8.5 million reportedly paid by Facebook for fb.com.

  Now is your chance to acquire Cleanest.com, a 16+ year-old, premium domain that has never been publicly offered for sale before (as far as I know). ?There is no reserve. ?All proceeds go to benefit the ICA. Cleanest.com is the first lot in the TRAFFIC auction taking place this Wednesday in Las Vegas. If

One of the headaches of being a domain investor is that none of your domains, no matter how long you have owned them, is safe from being attacked through a UDRP complaint. ?As a result, domain owners can never be secure in the ownership of their domains. ?My last concluded UDRP was on SHA.com, a

The panel in Rick Schwartz?s well-publicized SaveMe.com case slapped the complainant with a deserved finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RNDH). Though Rick was vindicated by the finding, the outcome is still unsatisfying because there is no consequence to the Complainant for being found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking. Reverse Domain ...

Verisign's price increase on .Com and .Net domains effective January 15th is a reminder of one of ICANN's major failings. What is so galling about the Verisign price increases permitted by ICANN is that they add further unjustified costs to the Internet on top of the large, and excessive, prices that Verisign is already charging.

At first I was surprised by how little support the ICA received from Domainers. But the more I talked to other domainers, and the more I thought about it, the less surprised I became. Instead I became pleasantly surprised that the ICA has as much domainer support as it does. This isn't because what the

For several years, Chay, my personal trainer at our local gym here in Washington, DC, had the thankless task of trying to get my computer-softened body into some kind of shape. ? He is serious about fitness and wanted to publish a web site.? In July, while brainstorming possible names, he came up with and

The TRAFFIC auction fell victim to the recurring curse of live auctions – lack of quality inventory at reasonable prices leading to poor results. There were some high quality domains, Power.com, Dubai.com, Prague.com, Avatars.com, Cheese.com, Tie.com, and Movies.xxx etc, but the reserves were too high.? The highest selling lot was the pair of...

.CO has carved out a niche for itself as the preferred extension for URL shorteners.? Google (g.co), Twitter (t.co), GoDaddy (x.co), are now using .co domains as URL shorteners. Using .co as a URL shorteners has taken one of .co's defects – that it doesn't have a separate identity from .com – and turned it

Blockbuster, Borders, Circuit City, the Tribune, Musicland – all killed by the Internet.? Will Barnes & Noble, YellowPages, Comcast, and radio stations be next? The Internet offers global reach and low-cost distribution.? It is a winner-take-all environment without the traditional barriers to entry. Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Ve...

Naming companies spend months and weed through thousands of names before settling on a new brand name for a major product launch, according to a recent article entitled Famous Names, in the NewYorker.?? The lengthy article follows a company called Lexicon, and tells the story of the creative process that resulted in the brand names

What will happen to the value of dot-com domains when most online traffic no longer goes to dot-com domains? Currently dot-com dominates with a likely 95%+ share of US traffic. 23 of the top 25 sites in the US are on dot-com domains according to Alexa.? All the top 25 sites are accessible via a

  A constant temptation for domainers is to develop one or more of their domains into a business.???? Domaining? is hard, tedious, repetitive, and frequently mind-numbing.?? Building a business seems a lot more fun.?? It is creative, you have something to show to your friends and family, and there is the potential for high returns

  Pig.com? – transfer denied? owned at the time by Adam Dicker Elephant.com – transfer denied? owned at the time by Adam Dicker Funny thing is both pig and elephant offered money, then went to udrp and I won both of those UDRP's, then they came back with better offers. Adam Dolphins.com – dispute terminated,

AcornMedia wins Acorn.tv in a baffling decision. First read Andrew's post at DNW: http://domainnamewire.com/2011/09/13/acorn-tv-lost-in-udrp/.? As Andrew says, it is a head scratcher. Then read the decision:? http://domains.adrforum.com/domains/decisions/1401194.htm After reading the facts as summarized by the Romanian Panelist, Beatrice Onica Jark...

  When I look at a domain as a possible investment, I am looking for something about that domain that is unique. Another way to put it is ‘how easy is it to find a substitute for this domain?'. I want to have pricing power with my domains.? I want there to be something unique

  There's a lot of discussion about whether any of the new gTLDs will knock .com off of its perch as the highest value extension. I have a lot invested in .com domains, so I have a personal interest in the answer.? I may also have a bias, but I know my desires won't affect

  How big a problem is cybersquatting? We hear from groups like CADNA that it is a billion dollar problem. And we learn from Andrew Allemann how CADNA fudges their numbers.   To get a sense of the scope of the problem, and to answer the other question about what is the success rate for

  I don't expect that the new gTLDs will have a widespread impact.? But they could be successful even if they aren't widely adopted. There are different ways to measure success for the new gTLDs.? Even if a new gTLD develops a niche following of no more than 50,000 registrations, this could still be highly