Domain Investing News, Strategy & Tips

UAX.com UDRP: RDNH Finding With Helpful Language

Legal News

February 17, 2020

A UDRP was recently filed against the valuable 3 letter .com domain name, UAX.com. The UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the decision was published this morning. The panel found in favor of the domain name registrant, and also found that this was a case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH).

Not only do I think this was the right decision, but I also think there is some helpful language for domain investors that can be referenced in a future UDRP defense or to head off a UDRP filing.

My Thoughts About Verisign’s Letter to ICANN

General Domain Information
ICANN

Elliot Silver

February 15, 2020

Verisign submitted a letter (pdf) to ICANN in response to the comments regarding the proposed amendment #3 of the .com registry contract. I want to highlight one aspect of the letter I found notable. In providing an example of domain name speculator activity, Verisign wrote:

“As a recent example, moments before the World Health Organization announced the official name of the coronavirus, Namecheap registered the name (covid-19.com) to a domain name speculator, presumably unassociated with the public health mission of the WHO.”

Excerpts from GoDaddy Q4 2019 Earnings Call

GoDaddy
Uniregistry

Elliot Silver

February 15, 2020

GoDaddy had its Fourth Quarter (2019) earnings call with investors last week. Q4 2019 was CEO Aman Bhutani’s first quarter with the company, and it was his first time participating on GoDaddy’s earnings call. AlphaStreet.com published the transcript from Thursday’s earnings call, and I think it might be of interest to domain investors, particularly those who invest in GDDY stock.

Of particular interest, I think, is the discussion about why GoDaddy acquired Uniregistry. In Aman’s prepared notes, he first brought up the acquisition of Uniregistry, sharing some insights about what GoDaddy customers will be impacted by the buy and how:

NamesCon Extended Auction Ends Today

Domain Auctions
GoDaddy
NamesCon

Elliot Silver

February 14, 2020

The NamesCon extended auction will be ending today at GoDaddy Auctions. The extended auction is a mix of domain names that did not sell in the live auction and domain names that were not including in the live portion of the auction. It looks like there are several hundred domain names in the extended auction. In the live auction that took place during NamesCon, over $1.8 million worth of domain names were sold. You can have a look at the 2020 NamesCon auction results to see what sold.

From what I can see, here are the five highest priced domain names that have hit their reserve price and will sell:

Voting.NYC Used by New York City

New gTLD

Elliot Silver

February 14, 2020

The .NYC registry management team retweeted a tweet from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio who was encouraging people to visit a city website for more information about registering to vote. The tweet was off interest to me because the website the Mayor referenced is found on a .NYC domain name – Voting.NYC:

ATTENTION NEW YORK CITY: the deadline to change parties before the New York Primary is THIS FRIDAY.

Don’t sit this one out — head to https://t.co/EJhQZ3CtEk right now for more information. #DemocracyNYC pic.twitter.com/h0q5NK1RIq

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) February 12, 2020

GoDaddy: “Let your voice be heard”

GoDaddy
ICANN

Elliot Silver

February 12, 2020

GoDaddy sent a warning email to a group of its customers about the potential for price increases on .com domain names that were authorized by ICANN. A comment period is now underway for people to share their feedback about the proposed changes allowing Verisign to increase the wholesale price of .com domain names, and several domain registrars have proactively contacted their customers to encourage them to submit comments to ICANN about this.

My understanding is that GoDaddy sent the email below to its Premier Services customers. This group is primarily made up of domain investors, but there are other businesses with large domain name portfolios that are in this group of customers. Obviously, the businesses with the largest portfolios of .com domain names under management are those that will be impacted the most by price increases.

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