The WIPO decision in the case of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises v. ECWD, Inc. caught my eye as I am a Tolkien fan. It's an interesting decision on some levels, but is also quite disturbing on others. The registrant has posted a reply of sorts on the site (which hasn't transferred / moved as yet) which raises a couple of interesting points: DRUNKEN … [Read more...] about DrunkenHobbit.com WIPO Decision
Afilias and GoDaddy Trying for .us
In an interesting move Afilias has joined forces with GoDaddy in a bid to manage the .us ccTLD. Frank has the full story … [Read more...] about Afilias and GoDaddy Trying for .us
Kelkoo.ie – Trademark Infringement
A surefire way of losing a domain name is when you register one which you have zero entitlement to. It's one thing when the domain name in question is madeup of words or is an expression of some kind, but when it is a peculiar word it's very hard to defend that position. Take the example of skype.co.uk. While most of the WIPO decisions regarding IE domains have involved a … [Read more...] about Kelkoo.ie – Trademark Infringement
Tucows Acquires ItsYourDomain
According to an announcement on the Tucows blog by their CEO Elliot Noss, Tucows has finalised the acquisition of ItsYourDomain. IYD use an affiliate business model as opposed to the reseller model employed by many ICANN accredited registrars. The acquisition will cost Tucows US$10.35 million upfront. … [Read more...] about Tucows Acquires ItsYourDomain
ICANN Accreditation Under Review
It was inevitable that ICANN would want to review the Registrar Accreditation Agreement following on the collapse of RegisterFly. At both the Lisbon and San Juan ICANN meetings the registrar agreement was a hot topic. So what is going on exactly? Paul Twomey's announcement yesterday covers most of the salient points: The need for this review is clear. The current RAA is … [Read more...] about ICANN Accreditation Under Review
Registrars Resorting To Comment Spam? TodayNic Using Dodgy Marketing
The competition between the various ICANN accredited registrars has been tough for quite some time. All you need to do is look at the pricing being offered by some of the companies, along with the various other enticements they use to attract new registrants and resellers, to get an idea of how tough the market has become. However I never thought I would see an ICANN … [Read more...] about Registrars Resorting To Comment Spam? TodayNic Using Dodgy Marketing
New Domain Blog Launched
Brett Fausett, who I met briefly in LA this year, has been blogging about the domain name industry for a long time and is a respected and knowledgeable voice. He has just launched a new domain related blog which should prove interesting, as his first post explores Google's latest play on domain registration. … [Read more...] about New Domain Blog Launched
A Semi-Useful Domain Management Tool – Domain Log Book
I came across Domain Log Book earlier this evening via a post on Pinstripe The concept is nice - keep track of your domains in terms of renewal dates and page rank, however it's not that helpful if you deal with ccTLDs. I added a couple of .com domains to it and it showed me the info from whois ie. expiration date and the page rank from both Google and Alexa. However when I … [Read more...] about A Semi-Useful Domain Management Tool – Domain Log Book
DomainSponsor Changes / Clarifies Payments
A few weeks ago DomainSponsor emailed their clients to inform them of planned changes to their payment processes. Frank covered it here. While anyone reading the email from a few weeks ago would have got the distinct impression that Paypal was being phased out: We will be phasing out the PayPal payment method Couldn't be clearer than that, now could it? Oh wait! This is … [Read more...] about DomainSponsor Changes / Clarifies Payments
Privacy – US vs EU Perspectives
A few days ago I posted about the state of the EU. This was prompted in part by the first part of John's excellent study into the .eu namespace and activity therein and partially by Eurid's latest promotional campaign. My post here may have gone unnoticed, but shortly after it appeared on CircleID Jay Westerdal posted on his blog. While I agree with the thrust of his post ie. … [Read more...] about Privacy – US vs EU Perspectives