This week INTA, the International Trademark Association, is meeting in San Diego. As can be expected with any trademark show a lot of domain industry companies are in attendance. What, however, seems to be catching more attention than many others is the presence of the .sucks registry. As others have mentioned, Vox Populi have a big billboard on the side of a truck near … [Read more...] about DotSucks Takes The Prophylactic Metaphor Further Than INTA Member Might Like
Which Domains Are The Campaigners Using In the Marriage Equality Referendum?
I'm obviously fascinated by domain names, hosting and related topics, so I thought I'd do some digging into the current marriage equality referendum in Ireland. The country goes to the polls on May 22nd and a yes vote is being supported by all the Irish political parties. (Disclosure - I've also made it pretty clear where I stand on this and where my company stands) With … [Read more...] about Which Domains Are The Campaigners Using In the Marriage Equality Referendum?
IP Rights Enforcement Gone Wrong: MarkMonitor Pursues UK Village Over Its Own Name
IP rights enforcement might be seen as a necessary evil. It depends who you ask. However sometimes the companies who do the rights enforcement for big brands screw up and screw up badly. A recent case involves the village of Copthorne, which is located in Sussex, England. The village has a population of about 5 thousand and has been around for about a thousand years (it's … [Read more...] about IP Rights Enforcement Gone Wrong: MarkMonitor Pursues UK Village Over Its Own Name
GoDaddy Dumps NASCAR From Marketing Mix
GoDaddy's marketing has evolved over the last couple of years. In the process of the evolution we've seen them switch their messaging around quite a bit and try to dump their "old image". A new casualty of this shift is NASCAR. For years the hosting and domain company was associated with the motor sport and its spokesperson Danica Patrick was also a well known and relatively … [Read more...] about GoDaddy Dumps NASCAR From Marketing Mix
Governments Send Yet Another Salvo Across ICANN’s Bows
The relationship between ICANN and the governments of the world could be best described as "interesting". Or one could be slightly more explicit and call it "tense". While at an individual level many governments hold different views of how ICANN should be managing the roll out of the new top level domains (new TLDs), when the group as a whole speaks there is often both a … [Read more...] about Governments Send Yet Another Salvo Across ICANN’s Bows
DotCat Fastest Growing TLD in Spain
The .cat registry has released some figures for domain growth in Spain during 2014 and .cat has emerged as the overall winner. The data is based on research conducted by the .es registry oddly enough! El .cat és el domini que més va créixer al conjunt de l’Estat espanyol durant el 2014, amb un increment del 17% en el número de dominis actius. El citat increment contrasta … [Read more...] about DotCat Fastest Growing TLD in Spain
IEDR’s New OPTIMISE Video
IEDR have published a new video to promote the launch of the 2015 OPTIMISE "fund". Essentially they'll fund website development and online marketing assistance / consultation for several Irish small businesses. However it is not a "fund" in the traditional sense, as there is no actual cash. IEDR have a number of vendors they work with and it is those vendors who will provide … [Read more...] about IEDR’s New OPTIMISE Video
Australian ccTLD Opens Consultation On Direct Registrations
Over the past couple of years several ccTLDs have revised their policies to allow registrations at the top level. Now auDA (.au Domain Administration) has opened a consultation process on this question as well. The background material for the consultation process includes a paper prepared by the Names Policy Panel which looks at the history and structure of the .au … [Read more...] about Australian ccTLD Opens Consultation On Direct Registrations
USTLD Stakeholder Council Organise “Town Hall”
The .us ccTLD, which is run by Neustar under contract to the US government recently established a Stakeholder Council. The Council's role is to help provide guidance and input to the registry on how to run the namespace. (Disclosure: I'm one of the members) As one of the council's activities is to garner input from the broader stakeholder community it has been decided … [Read more...] about USTLD Stakeholder Council Organise “Town Hall”
CENTR Members Pass 70 Million Domains Milestone
CENTR, which is the association for European ccTLDs, has announced that its members, which are all country code top level domain registries, have surpassed the 70 million domains mark. The number of registrations comes from 57 ccTLDs and IDN ccTLDs in 49 countries. They've produced a graphic to illustrate the milestone: More details on the CENTR site. … [Read more...] about CENTR Members Pass 70 Million Domains Milestone