Building Your Startup and Domain Name

Build Your Startup On A Vacant Domain Name - Forbes: The secret of building a business on a Tier-1 domain name is that a great domain name (short, memorable, meaningful, .com, etc.) is worth millions—if and only if a real business can monetize it. ff Venture Capital has numerous companies which have acquired or launched with blue-chip domain names, e.g., Alerts.com, Gobbler.com,Identified.com, Patents.com, Phone.com, and Plated.com. Those domains are valuable because of the companies built on them, not because of the domains alone. . . .

Choosing a Domain Name: Dashes or No Dashes?: "Whatever your perspective is, choosing a domain name should NOT be your first step when you decide to create an online presence. Your first step should be to research your market and find relevant keywords. Keywords are simply words or phrases that people type into search engines to find what they want. Let’s look at domain names from 3 different perspectives:
1. Search Engine Optimization
2. Branding
3. The Real World . . ."

.GD is another wake up call to tech firms about ccTLDs - Domain Name Wire: " . . .  In KSregistry’s press release today, it states:

Discrepancies in the registration data may result from the operation of a shadow registry by a third party that had partial control of the .GD zone from March 8 to May 1, 2013. While the .GD zone is frozen, no registrations, modifications, transfers, deletions or renewals can be made until the zone file has been fully reviewed and confirmed as valid and complete…

Can you imagine if you were running a business on .gd? A bet you’d have a lot of sleepless nights.
Before starting a business on a ccTLD, business owners need to scrutinize its history and management. . . ."

How Facebook 'liberated' its Israeli namesake | The Times of Israel: " . . . Many companies make it a priority to buy up the “primary” domain suffixes for their brand name, like .com, .net., and .org. But it’s almost impossible (or soon will be) to register a trademarked or copyrighted brand in all the top-level domains. . . .  There are over 2,500 applications (new gTLDs) pending — and that doesn’t even include the permutations of names that many cybersquatters grab as well (like facebooke.com, currently not owned by Facebook).What can a brand owner do? In most countries there is an arbitration process, where the brand owner can appeal to that country’s Internet authorities, as well as a legal process, in which a brand owner takes a cybersquatter to court, usually for damages, or if the arbitration process fails. . . ."

Facebook v. Typosquatters: Damages and Domains Awarded Under Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act | Cozen O’Connor - JDSupra: On April 30, 2013, Magistrate Judge Westmore recommended that the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California award Facebook $2.8 million in damages from typosquatters under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). Facebook v. Cyber2Media, Inc. et al., Case No. 4:11-cv-03619, (N.D.Ca., April 30, 2013). . . .

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