Vuvuzela: World Cup Horn Trademark?

Elliot Silver
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Before the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, most people outside of the African continent probably had never heard the persistent buzzing of the vuvuzela, a plastic horn that is constantly heard during soccer matches. Announcers and broadcasters have had to make big changes to compensate for the buzz, which apparently generates a sound with decibel levels greater than a chainsaw.

Because of the phenomenon, people across the world, including in the US, have taken to the vuvuzela. In fact, a guy was kicked out of Yankee Stadium the other day because he wouldn’t give up his vuvuzela.   Of course as a result of this, people have been registering vuvuzela-related domain names to capitalize on the craze.

These registrants need to be careful of their registrations, as these domain assets could potentially become liabilities for some domain registrants. According to an article in the New York Times, the vuvuzela was created by a man named Neil Van Schalkwyk after seeing a tin trumpet in a soccer match, and in 2001, he created the first plastic vuvuzela, while trademarking the word.

Interestingly, a look into the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) shows a dead trademark for the vuvuzela, which was filed for in 2005 and abandoned in 2008, according the the record.

The battle lines continue to be drawn, and it’s probably only a matter of time before domain names come under scrutiny, perhaps after the 2010 World Cup has finished. With speculation about the horn’s place in the the 2014 World Cup already taking place, this could be a playing field in which domain owners should stay away.

New: Deal of the Week

Elliot Silver
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As you may have noticed today, there’s a “Deal of the Week” link in the header of my blog. Each week, I will try to bring you a special offer or discount from a domain or Internet company that might benefit your business. Special offers may vary between domain registration discounts, web development deals, SEO offers, or other special offer or deal.

The deal of the week will be posted on Monday morning and it will run through the following Monday. The only caveat is that some advertisers may have a limited quantity or prefer their offer only stays live for a limited time, so you might want to act quickly. There will be a large “Sold Out” graphic if the offer is expired/sold out.

At the present time, there are several offers upcoming, but if a company would like to discuss posting a special offer for the future, please contact me and I will provide details.   In addition, I will have one banner spot coming available on July 1. Please contact me if you are interested, although I do have a couple companies on the waiting list who may take the spot.

A Deal May Not Be Done Until the Domain Name is in Your Account

Elliot Silver
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Back in February 2010, I made an offer in private for a domain name. The domain name hadn’t been on the market, and my inquiry was unsolicited. The owner’s asking price at the time was significantly higher than my offer, and he opted not to sell me the domain name because the gap was too great.

A couple of weeks ago, the owner contacted me again to ask if I had an interest in any of his other domain names, some of which were very good.   I was interested in one name, but the price was too much for me to buy it, so I asked if I could try to broker it for him to a few clients, and he agreed (although I had no luck selling it at his asking price).

Late last week the owner contacted me again to see if my initial offer was still valid for the domain name I had originally inquired about, and I said it was. I asked if I could pay using my American Express card, and he agreed to that. I assumed the deal was done since I said my offer was still good and we were finalizing the payment vehicle.

I spoke with a couple close colleagues about the name the next day, and one mentioned that he just saw it for sale through a domain broker. Apparently, when the owner contacted me to ask if my offer was still good, he also reached out to a domain broker to ask him to get a deal done.

Fortunately the broker had just sent out his email and didn’t have any clients bite at the name, so I reached out to him and explained the situation. I didn’t want the domain owner to leverage the broker’s clients and me to get a sweeter deal for the domain name.

The lesson here is that even if you think a domain deal is done, it might not be until the domain name is in your account. Of course there might be legal recourse, but that can take a significant amount of time and expense, and unless the name is of significant value, it might not be worth pursuing.

US City .Com Domain Names Wanted

Elliot Silver
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I am once again looking to acquire smaller US city .com domain names that meet the specific requirements set out below. Please see the bullet points below, and if your domain name(s) meet ALL of the requirements, please post a comment with your domain name(s) and price(s).

  1. Actual United States city known by its residents as the name you have (Wikipedia page is a must)
  2. .COM only
  3. No hyphens
  4. Between 15,000 – 75,000 residents
  5. Keep in mind that I am not paying end user prices, so if your pricing isn’t great, your names aren’t for me. There’s nothing wrong with setting high prices, but I am looking for good values for these types of names.

If your name does meet the requirements but just isn’t of interest to me (maybe due to pricing or other reason), I will still post your comment so others can see.

If your domain name doesn’t meet one of the requirements, I will delete it and will not reply. I don’t mean to be harsh, but I have set out very specific parameters, and I would hope you respect my time and not submit domain names that aren’t related to this request.

Use The Most Popular Baby Name List to Buy Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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Mike Berkens informed us that the list of the most popular 1,000 male and 1,000 female baby names in 2009 in the US was recently released. Not too surprisingly, all 2,000 of the names in .com were registered. It was surprising to learn that Berkens’ company owns over 100 of them. Actually, on second thought, it’s not so surprising considering his stellar portfolio.

So with these 2,000 .com domain names registered, you might wonder how you can utilize this list. I have a few ideas that might help you keep an eye on some good names.

1) Using DomainTools, monitor some of the secondary domain names that might be of interest in the future. As some of the less popular .com names expire in a couple of years, you’ll know about it ASAP and can back order or buy them.

2) Buy alternate extensions like .net or .org.   I know a couple of people who own their .org domain names and they love using them on cards and resumes. One is an actress and it’s great for producers to remember her name and see her credits.

3) Buy names like FranksBlog.com or StevesWebsite.com. I’d imagine these would be considered generic / defensible, and they have value. In fact, someone messaged me about the typo name I own – ElliottsBlog.com, although I have no interest in selling that name.

Making an Offer Despite Domain Privacy Services

Elliot Silver
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While doing Whois searches to try and acquire domain names in the aftermarket, I often encounter privacy services, and I generally don’t send an email inquiry. I’ve always figured the owner wasn’t interested in selling if he or she had the privacy shield in place. On second thought now, it might be a good opportunity to contact these people.

Did you know that you could send an email to the privacy email address on file, and many privacy guard services will forward your email directly to the owner?   This is the case with many companies, so if you have a compelling offer, you might want to try emailing the privacy service.

Despite the improving economy, some domain owners are still selling domain names that would not have been previously on the market. If you send a good offer, you might be surprised at the results. At the very least, you will probably be more likely to contact a domain owner that doesn’t receive as many inquiries as he would if his email address wasn’t privatized.

Keep in mind that this could result in an angry reply, as many owners really do not wish to be solicited even if you think your offer is good. One thing to keep in mind is that you should always make an offer that you wouldn’t be embarrassed by if you met the domain owner in person. There have been a couple of times where I’ve made the mistake of a lowball offer and it’s generally embarrassing 🙂

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