Groups say ICANN unprepared for gTLD launch

ICANN's slow motion train wreck--the new gTLD program--

Groups say ICANN unprepared for gTLD launch ( - Internet ):The delegation of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is premature and could cause risks to the security and stability of the Domain Name System (DNS) and affect the working of the whole Internet, Verisign has warned. As ICANN pushes for an April 23 launch of the first new gTLDs, Verisign has raised concerns in a report outlining new gTLD security and stability issues, sent to ICANN and filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week. . . .  Verisign said that rolling out multitudes of new gTLDs could cause problems for the DNS Root Zone, the highest level of the Domain Name System (DNS) structure, which contains the numeric IP addresses for all top-level domain names such as gTLDs like .com and .org as well as country code top-level domains like .us and .uk. "Without a well constructed and well reasoned process model, and at the scale of changes foreseen with the addition of the unprecedented rate of the new gTLDs being added, the entire DNS hierarchy faces the potential for issues at or near the root of the DNS tree, and the fallout from such a change could affect all delegations," Verisign said. ICANN seems to have taken a very "ICANN-centric role" with the rollout of new gTLDs and has given little consideration for registry operators that will need to prepare for the changes, including dealing with security implications, Verisign said. "It actually appears as though there is little to no time allotted for operators to adequately prepare," Verisign said. (read more at link above)


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Verisign blasts ICANN

Verisign blasts ICANN for slow generic top-level domain name rollout
Ars Technica
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Verisign placed the blame for the delay squarely at the feet of ICANN, the global organization entrusted with domain namemanagement. “Without a well constructed and well-reasoned ...

Company buys two domains from Frank Schilling for $80,000 - Domain Name Wire: "Company buys two domains from Frank Schilling for $80,000 - SearchCore discloses purchases in SEC filing.
Companies buy domains from Frank Schilling’s Name Administration all the time, but here’s an example that’s in an SEC filing. It also shows that Schilling is willing to sell domains on a payment plan.
The buyer is SearchCore, which I wrote about earlier this year."

Online video company paid over $100,000 for uLive domains - Domain Name Wire: "Last week Afternic reported that it sold uLive.tv for $27,000. I was correct that the uLive.tv buyer is the same company that paid $75,000 for uLive.com last month. . . . the buyer was revealed as Los Angeles online video company Real Gravity."

AccuWeather vs Weather Channel for .weather domain name: ""The application was a part of a widely publicized open process, and The Weather Channel was the only entity that chose to apply for dot-weather," according to an e-mailed statement from Weather Channel spokesman David Blumenthal. . . . For the Weather Channel "to get dot-weather is a real restriction in the freedom of public access on the Internet," says AccuWeather's Myers. He adds that other companies, along with academics and government organizations, are also against this attempt to control information that is meant to be for the public good."

MLM company denied Zija.com domain in dispute - Domain Name Wire: "Zija International, a multi-level marketing company that sells nutritional and dietary supplements, has failed to get the domain name Zija.com through a UDRP. . . Sounds like reverse domain name hijacking to me. The panel found against Zija International, but declined to find it guilty of reverse domain name hijacking despite its “misguided and ultimately incorrect” belief that it could win the UDRP." (read more at links above)

Why everyone should register a domain name | Dan Gillmor | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "Getting a domain is easy, and cheap. For the price of a few cups of coffee, you can register a domain. I use Hover.com, which is run by a friend, but there are lots of reputable registrars from which to pick. (The always valuable Lifehacker lists some others here.) Unless you have an extremely uncommon last name, you'll be unlikely to find it available. But you may well be able to get your FirsnameLastname.com address – I own dangillmor.com, for example – and even if you can't you can use other domain suffixes or find a name that is still useful. Remember, most people find websites via searches, so don't worry if you can't get your exact name."

Domain Agents Raising Funds For Growth: "I understand Domain Agents is using Angel List along with other means of fundraising. The “company is committed to developing DomainAgents into a leadership role within the domain name industry,” wrote McKegney. “We’re ramping up fast and closing deals as fast as they come in. Our current domain registar partners are very satisfied with our sales conversions and excited about the increases in revenue stream.  We also have a new domainer-focused service that we’ll be rolling out in a few weeks that should add some extra revenue for domainers and help convert more sales,” he added."

NEW YORK: ICANN clears 27 non-English domain name suffixes ...
The agency in charge of Internet addresses says it's given preliminary approval for 27 new suffixes - all in Chinese, Arabic and other languages besides English.
www.idahostatesman.com/.../icann-clears-27-non-english-dom...

Domain Dossier - Investigate domains and IP addresses, get owner ...
Domain Dossier, Investigate domains and IP addresses. domain or IP address. domain whois record, DNS records, traceroute. network whois record ...
centralops.net/co/DomainDossier.aspx?=dom_dn

Domain Name Registration Agreement (COM, NET, and ORG) | netINS
SELECTION OF A DOMAIN NAME. You represent that, to the best of the your knowledge and belief, neither this registration of a domain name nor the manner in ...
netins.net/.../domain-name-registration-agreement-com-net-an...

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Domain News - Sedo domain name selling up slightly

Sedo's earnings: domain business shrinks 18% as affiliate business grows
Domain Name Wire
Sedo Holding released its Annual Report . . . and the numbers for the domain name business are fairly dismal. ... The good news — at least for Sedo — is that the domain trading segment (i.e. name selling) saw slight sales revenue growth. . . .

Bloomberg sues sploggers using Google's Blogger
Domain Name Wire
The defendants have set up blogs on the service that use third level domains that include the Bloomberg name. ... Bloomberg did not name Google the lawsuit, but is demanding the the defendants cancel registration of the offending blogs with Google.

Demand Media sets up Dublin office for domain services
Domain Name Wire
Demand Media announced today that it is opening its international headquarters for the company'sdomain services business in Dublin, Ireland. Demand Media is ... United TLD has applied for 26 top level domains and Donuts has applied for 307. Of course ...

What stadium is Levi Strauss buying naming rights to?
Domain Name Wire
levistrausstadium.net. The domain names do not currently resolve to a web site. The company sponsors a landing at AT&T Park in San Francisco (where the MLB Giants play), but I'm not familiar with an actual stadium for which the company has naming rights.

Hurricane domain names being registered, sold online ahead of 2013 storm ...
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com
The cost of registering a domain name is typically $10 or less. The value of the domain increases if it contains buzzwords that match news headlines. Topical names are resold online for thousands of dollars via auctions on sites like GoDaddy and eBay.

Domain Hosting City Announces New Domain Finder Tool
PR Leap (press release)
COM) The first thing a new website developer has to do is to find a domain name. They must carefully decide a name that represents their business and is memorable for customers. Unfortunately, many of the best domain names are already taken by other ...

PR Leap (press release)

What Are the Components of a Web Address?
Opposing Views
The domain name part of the Web Address is the unique identifier for the website on the Internet. It is usually made up of the name of the website in order to make it easy for visitors to remember. Domain names can be typed in upper or lowercase as ...

Opposing Views

Domain Buying, Investing and Monetization Basics. Part I
By admin
... If someone would have been brutally honest with me, I'd have saved a lot of time and money during my process of learning about domain names. I'm going to quickly ...
Symbolics.com

Locking of a Domain Name Subject to UDRP Proceedings – Initial ...
The Generic Names Supporting Organization Working Group tasked with addressing the issue of locking of a domain name subject to Uniform Domain Name ...
www.icann.org/en/.../locking-domain-name-15mar13-en.htm

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A new gTLD? Maybe you should get a dot COM instead

VeriSign warns ICANN (and the rest of us) about new gTLDs--

VeriSign, Inc. - Current Report: "On March 28, 2013, VeriSign, Inc. (“Verisign” or the “Company”) released Verisign Labs Technical Report #1130007 version 2.2: New gTLD Security and Stability Considerations (the “Report”). The Company provided the Report along with a cover letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (the “Letter”) on March 28, 2013. A copy of the Letter and the Report are attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and Exhibit 99.2. . . . Ensuring that Internet software and sites understand all domains - not just the old three-letter domains like .COM and .NET - is called universal acceptance. For example, when is the last time you looked at your company's online contact forms? If you haven't revisited them for a while, you might discover that they are hard coded for certain domains like .NET or .ORG and may reject email addresses that use, say, a four-or- more-character domain like .INFO or .MOBI. (Full disclosure: .INFO and .MOBI are both domains managed by my company, Afilias). Or have you seen some TLDs that don't work in your browser? Some browsers, including mobile ones, screen out addresses as either “right” or “wrong,” and many modern TLDs simply don't resolve because the browser doesn't understand how to handle the TLD. A real-life example: as late as 2007, you could not email an article from the New York Times website to anybody with a .INFO email address, which was actually fun for some of my colleagues because they would try to send me articles and say, ”Oh, you didn't see it? Maybe you should get a .COM address.” . . . From that experience, I developed my three “rules” of TLD acceptance: 1. An old TLD will be accepted more often than a new TLD. 2. An ASCII-only TLD will be accepted more than an IDN TLD. 3. A three-letter gTLD will be accepted more often than a longer string, even if it's a gTLD . . . . "  (read more at link above)


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Google Wants To Operate .Search As A “Dotless” Domain, Plans To Open .Cloud, .Blog And .App To Others

Google Wants To Operate .Search As A “Dotless” Domain, Plans To Open .Cloud, .Blog And .App To Others | TechCrunch: (read full document below)

Falvey to Willett 06apr13 by TechCrunch

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What is your domain name strategy?

Beware of false prophets | NetNames Blog: "the purpose is to get the email recipient to register more domain names with the pretense to ‘protect their good name’.  Of course someone may well have registered such domain names or even the trademark, but these emails never actually tell you what they have attempted to register.  The call to action is to contact the company who will for a fee, register the names on their behalf in order to ‘save the day’. The reason why companies still fall for this scam is that they do not have a proper domain name strategy.  If a brand owner has a clear idea of what domain registrations it has and  in which countries,   these emails can easily  be identified  as spam, and will never darken your inbox again. With the domain name world about to explode with new gTLDs, it is vital that brand owner has a clear strategy to avoid over registration . . ."

Every character counts: Google secures new URL shortener domain, YT.be - The Next Web: "If Google switches from youtu.be to yt.be, it would theoretically be cutting the number of characters needed per day to tweet links to YouTube videos down by about 3 million daily, if Twitter weren’t using a t.co wrapper to shorten all Web addresses (using 22 reserved characters). Of course, Twitter’s not the only player on the field, so it might still make sense for Google to use the shortest brandable domain name available."

Domain Name Industry Data from VRSN - Zacks.com: "We believe that increasing domain name registration, the renewal of the .com contract and the price hike in .net domain name will boost VeriSign’s top-line growth in the near term. Additionally, VeriSign has significant growth opportunities from its network security products as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks continue to grow. However, the negative impact of search engine adjustments on domain monetization and increasing operating expenses related to the .com contract renewal remain the primary headwinds in the near term."


Worldwide Domain Names Top 252 Million
PC Magazine
More than six million names were added to the Internet in the fourth quarter of 2012, bringing the total number worldwide to a whopping 252 million-plus top-level domains (TLDs), according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief from Verisign. The .coms ...(read more at link above)



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Why Support the ICA

About Us | Internet Commerce Association - ICA: "Founded in 2006, the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) is a non-profit trade organization representing domain name investors, website developers and related companies. The ICA is made up of responsible businesses and individuals who have joined together to improve public confidence in Internet commerce. Based in Washington D.C., our mission is to promote and share best practices among participants in the domain name industry and to educate consumers, policy makers, law makers and the media about the value and benefits of direct navigation traffic and the domain name industry."

Nat Cohen: Why I Support the ICA: "Attempts to steal your domain through abuse of the UDRP, called Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, are on the rise (see RDNH.com). Why shouldn’t RDNH cases be on the rise? While an auto-generated ad on a parked page can result in the loss of a valuable domain, the penalty for intentional abuse of the UDRP through an attempt at Reverse Domain Name Hijacking is — nothing.
Now ICANN is finalizing details for the URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension) system. This offers a cheaper, faster way to take down your domains. It is being rolled out on new gTLDs first with the expectation that it will soon be required for dot-com and all other gTLDs. The URS is being sole sourced to the National Arbitration Forum (NAF), the same group that was found to be not trustworthy enough to handle credit card arbitrations"

WIPO Offers Insights on Domain Name Trends: "“Applying UDRP jurisprudence, WIPO panels in 2012 found evidence of cybersquatting in 91% of all decided cases.” This is also an enlightening number, as it seems to indicate that more disputes are ending in favor of trademark owners, which historically have obtained transfers in just over 85% of all domain name disputes at WIPO"

CitizenHawk sued after sending two cease & desist letters - Domain Name Wire: A San Diego man has sued typosquatting recovery firm CitizenHawk after receiving two cease & desist letters. Michael Eddy says he received letters regarding USSearchReports.com and Naturalizes.com. The first letter said USSearchReports.com infringes the rights of Intelius’ mark for “US Search.com”. The second said that Naturalizes.com infringes the rights of Brown Shoe Company’s mark for “Naturalizer”. The suit (pdf) says that the letters threatened a UDRP if the domains weren’t handed over. . . .


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Dot Com Domain Names To Dominate The Internet For Years Ahead

Dot Com vs new gTLDs--

Is .com the 212 area code of domains? - MarketWatch: "The World Wide Web is getting wider with the addition of new top-level domains this year, but experts say businesses and marketers may find that grabbing new options won’t do much good. The .com ending for Internet addresses still rules.. . the new domains are years from meaning much to consumers. Search-engine algorithms favor whoever has the .com address, says Ed Mayuga, a partner at St. Louis-based marketing firm AMM Communications. Plus, most consumers will try the .com site first, whether it’s the right Web address or not. “We are fixated on .com,” says Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York. “It’s like how people have become conditioned to go to Google for a Web search. Only then do we try Yahoo or Bing, if Google isn’t getting us what we want.” That could change, he says, but it’ll take five to 10 years and a heavy marketing effort by big brands using the domains. Even then, the .com suffix is likely to still live on, says Jack Vonder Heide, president of consulting firm Technology Briefing Centers. And many domains won’t catch on at all, he says. “I really don’t see a lot of passion about any of these alternate domains, with the exception of .xxx, and that seems to be in their own circle of businesses.” says Vonder Heide. . . ." (read more at link above)


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Domain market 2013 issues

Here’s the biggest issue facing the domain market in 2013 - Domain Name Wire: "Although 30% of survey takers cited new TLDs as the biggest issue facing the market, most think the introduction of hundreds of new TLDs will not hurt .com values. 43% think new TLDs will boost .com values while 46% think they’ll have no effect. Only 11% think they will hurt .com. The same can’t be said for .com alternatives — 55% of respondents think other extensions (e.g. .info, .biz) will take a hit. Here’s a list of how domain investors rank the 5 biggest issues facing them this year: 1. New Top Level Domains 30% . . . " (read more at link above)

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Legal Rights Objections under ICANN's New gTLD Program

Legal rights, provided you have the money--

Legal Rights Objections under ICANN's New gTLD Program: " . . . For an objection based on trademark rights, the panel will consider the following non exclusive consideration factors:
1. Whether the applied-for gTLD is identical or similar, including in appearance, phonetic sound, or meaning, to the objector’s existing mark.
2. Whether the objector’s acquisition and use of rights in the mark has been bona fide.
3. Whether and to what extent there is recognition in the relevant sector of the public of the sign corresponding to the gTLD, as the mark of the objector, of the applicant or of a third party.
4. Applicant’s intent in applying for the gTLD, including whether the applicant, at the time of application for the gTLD, had knowledge of the objector’s mark, or could not have reasonably been unaware of that mark, and including whether the applicant has engaged in a pattern of conduct whereby it applied for or operates TLDs or registrations in TLDs which are identical or confusingly similar to the marks of others.
5. Whether and to what extent the applicant has used, or has made demonstrable preparations to use, the sign corresponding to the gTLD in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services or a bona fide provision of information in a way that does not interfere with the legitimate exercise by the objector of its mark rights.
6. Whether the applicant has marks or other intellectual property rights in the sign corresponding to the gTLD, and, if so, whether any acquisition of such a right in the sign, and use of the sign, has been bona fide, and whether the purported or likely use of the gTLD by the applicant is consistent with such acquisition or use.
7. Whether and to what extent the applicant has been commonly known by the sign corresponding to the gTLD, and if so, whether any purported or likely use of the gTLD by the applicant is consistent therewith and bona fide.
8. Whether the applicant’s intended use of the gTLD would create a likelihood of confusion with the objector’s mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the gTLD. . . ." (read more at the link above)


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