Rook Media Acquires DomainSponsor from Oversee [Updates]

Elliot Silver
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ds_logoI just received a press release announcing the Rook Media has acquired DomainSponsor from Oversee.net. The terms of the transaction were not released. Founded in 2002, DomainSponsor is one of the oldest domain name parking companies, and according to DailyChanges.com, its nameservers have nearly one million domain names resolving to them.

During the last several years, Oversee has evolved from being one of the largest domain name industry companies to perhaps moving away from the domain business, at least in terms of being a service provider. Previously, Oversee sold its Moniker domain registrar and SnapNames auction house. I think the company’s evolution is even more clear when you compare how Oversee is described in company press releases:

In 2012: “Oversee.net ® is a leader in online performance marketing.”

Today: “Oversee.net is an innovative technology company that owns and operates a portfolio of websites designed to help consumers discover, compare, and save.”

I think this deal should be seen as good news for domain investors. From my perspective, the more domain names that are parked with a monetization service, the better revenue share they should be able to command from the upstream provider. Some people may look at it from the other perspective of fewer providers means fewer options and lower payouts, but I don’t necessarily think that will be the case.

I am curious to know if

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Aaron and Shane Are Doing It Right

Elliot Silver
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I am sure you read the news about the merger of DomainShane.com and AccidentalDomainer.com. The two blogs are run by friends Shane Cultra and Aaron Wilkin, both of whom have “real” jobs. Aaron and Shane have both done a very good job of building their individual blog brands. Running a blog is challenging for a variety of reasons, and I think the merger will pay off for both of them.

Instead of starting a new blog from scratch, the pair will utilize DomainShane.com for the blog’s website. This is smart for three reasons:

  • From a traffic standpoint, DomainShane.com has
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Verisign Twitter Account Appears to be Hacked

Elliot Silver
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Screen Shot 2014-04-19 at 9.45.05 PM

I was looking at Twitter tonight, and it appears that the Verisign Twitter account  has  been hacked or somehow compromised. The most recent tweet from Verisign said, “I’m down almost 13 pounds this month, woohoo!” As you can see by the check mark next to the user name, Verisign’s Twitter account is a verified account.

I didn’t click the Bitly link, but I guess it links to a scammy, malware-laden, or other type of illegitimate website, and I would advise not clicking on that link if you happen to come across the Tweet.

It seems like there are quite a few Twitter users whose accounts may have been hacked. I did a search for the text of the tweet, and there are quite a few results with exactly the same tweet. Judging by a few other accounts I follow on Twitter, others may have also had their accounts compromised or hacked (unless these people are posting about weight loss at the same time). I think it’s pretty clear when it happens, but if come across a tweet that looks fishy, it’s better to stay away.

Hopefully this gets resolved ASAP.

Update: The Verisign tweet was removed, but there are still plenty of others:

Screen Shot 2014-04-19 at 10.03.35 PM

Lana Del Rey Releases “West Coast”

Elliot Silver
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I am sure you’ve heard of Lana Del Rey by now, and you probably also know that her dad is domain investor Rob Grant. This morning, Lana released a new single called “West Coast,” and you’re probably going to hear a lot more of it on the radio this summer. To give you an idea of her popularity, the song was released this morning, and it already has over half a million views on YouTube alone.

Lana is currently on her first US tour, and she will be singing at venues across the United States this Spring and Summer. This weekend, she closed out the Coachella Music Festival and performed her new song. I am going to check out her concert at the House of Blues in Boston next month, and hopefully I will have a chance to catch up with Rob before the show.

UDRP Filed on We.com

Elliot Silver
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Screen Shot 2014-04-09 at 8.12.38 AM

According to the WIPO UDRP case database, a UDRP was filed over the two letter We.com domain name. The complainant is listed as WE BRAND S.a.r.l. According to Trademarkia, the company appears to have two US trademarks for “WE,” and the company also appears to have other marks for “WE” in other countries as well. From my research, it appears this is a clothing company that is located in Europe.

We.com has a creation date of March 31, 1992, and the registrant address is based in California. According to DomainTools History Tool, the registrant appears to have been the same since at least early 2007. If you visit We.com, you can see that the domain name is listed for sale, and the domain broker representing the sale of the domain name is John Mauriello of Snapnames / Web.com. I don’t see anything about the complainant at all on the landing page or website, and I don’t think a company should be able to win a UDRP on a descriptive domain name like this.

Before doing a bit of searching for the complainant, I can’t recall ever hearing of the company, despite having traveled to Europe a number of times. There are many companies that come to mind when thinking about the word We and the WE acronym, and I can’t imagine one company would be able to get control of this valuable domain name via UDRP.

My opinion is that We.com is a mid to high seven figure domain name based completely on its own merits. Why should one company be able to use the UDRP system to take control over a high value descriptive domain name like this?

Hopefully the domain owner will hire an experienced UDRP defense attorney and win the case. Better yet, perhaps the owner will be aggressive and file a lawsuit to keep his domain name rather than take a chance with the UDRP proceeding. The later may be more costly, but with the way some UDRP decisions have gone, it might make sense in this case because of the high value of this domain name asset.

I wish the domain owner luck in defending his valuable asset. To me, it appears to be a domain name hijacking attempt.

Flippa Announces “Crowd-Sourced” Domain Appraisal Tool

Elliot Silver
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In a blog post yesterday afternoon, domain and website auction platform Flippa announced the launch of a new domain appraisal tool that uses crowdsourcing to get its domain name valuations. Flippa users are encouraged to provide their appraisals of submitted domain names, and there are incentives for participation including listing upgrades and account credits. The idea is that the valuation can be seen as more accurate when a large group of people provide their opinions.

Although I like the concept and think people may be able to get an idea about whether or not their domain name is worth something, I think it’s tough to get reliable appraisals from people who may not have domain valuation or sales expertise.

One issue is the

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