Cybersquatting

“Google” is a Trending .Net Keyword in November

When Verisign released its list of  “Top 10 Trending Keywords in .Com & .Net Registrations in October,” I was surprised to see that “Nike” was one of the trending keywords. This month, another popular and well known brand is on the list for .Net registrations.

Here’s a tweet from Verisign announcing the monthly list, along with a blog post that shares more information about the monthly trend list:

I don’t see

Bloomberg.Market Awarded to Bloomberg

In an unsurprising UDRP decision, the Bloomberg.Market domain name has been awarded to Bloomberg Finance. As you may recall, a website was set up on Bloomberg.Market to look like the actual Bloomberg website and an unfounded news report was published. The result was a giant temporary fluctuation in the price of Twitter stock.

The UDRP decision was published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, and it can be found on the UDRPSearch.com website. There was one panelist presiding over this UDRP decision, and not surprisingly, the respondent did not issue a response to the complaint.

You can read the entire UDRP decision for yourself if you would like, but here are a couple of interesting tidbits I found:

Bloomberg Files UDRP on Bloomberg.News

I was looking through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) UDRP filings, and I saw that Bloomberg Finance, L.P. has filed a UDRP on the Bloomberg.News domain name. The UDRP is WIPO Case D2015-1378.

According to Whois information, the Bloomberg.News domain name is registered to someone with a Beijing address, and it was created on July 14, 2015. Interestingly, on the same day Bloomberg.News was registered, Bloomberg dealt with a fake Twitter corporate report that appeared on Bloomberg.Market, another gTLD domain name. Perhaps the registrant of Bloomberg.News was inspired by the Bloomberg.Market news.

I don’t think Bloomberg will

Protected Parking Monetizes “Risky” Domain Names

While at the domain investor meetup in Chicago, I met someone whose company has an interesting business model that monetizes trademark domain names. While I think it is highly risky for people to own domain names that contain famous trademarks or are typos of famous marks, I thought Protected Parking’s business model was interesting.

I understand that Protected Parking has deals with major branding owners that allow them to monetize domain names that likely would be considered cases of cybersquatting. It is also possible that keyword domain owners could use their services if their domain name is in a vertical that monetizes well with the company.

I asked Marlon Phillips, the company’s Vice President of Sales, if he could share more information about his company, and here’s what he told me:

“Tesla” Was a Top 10 Trending Keyword Last Month

Verisign published its list of the “top 10 trending keywords” for .com and .net domain name registrations, and I was surprised to see that “tesla” was in the top ten for the month of May. “Tesla” was listed amongst descriptive keywords such as fantastic, holo, locksmith, and options to name a few.

When I saw the “tesla” keyword, my first thought was the car and battery company called Tesla Motors. I know the company was named after electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla, and I was taken aback that it would be one of the trending keywords for the month. I presume there are ways in which companies and individuals could use the “tesla” keyword given its history, but I also presume many people were registering them because of Tesla Motors.

Using Verisign’s DomainView Tool, I was able to dig a

WIPO Panelist: “The business of buying and selling domain names can be a legitimate enterprise”

In a UDRP decision that has not yet been uploaded on the WIPO website as of the time of publication, Donald Trump prevailed over the registrant of TrumpEstates.com. This morning, the New York Post published an article written by Julia Marsh that covered this UDRP (WIPO Case D2015-0478).

It’s not a surprise that Mr. Trump and his legal team scored a victory to secure the TrumpEstates.com domain name. What is a bit of a nice surprise is a sentence that WIPO panelist W. Scott Blackmer apparently included in his decision: “The business of buying and selling domain names can be a legitimate enterprise.” According to the NY Post article, Mr. Blackmer followed that up by stating,  “But it does not confer rights to use for that purpose a domain name identical or confusingly similar to another party’s trademark.”

Obviously the business of domain name investing is legitimate, and it

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