GoDaddy: No Coronavirus Domain Names on Its Aftermarket

Elliot Silver
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Yesterday afternoon, James Bladel, GoDaddy VP of Public Policy, published an article discussing what GoDaddy is doing to combat coronavirus-related fraud and abuse. The article comes in the wake of a letter that was sent to GoDaddy by the office of New York State’s Attorney General Letitia James concerning domain names being used for fraudulent schemes and scams. GoDaddy already publicly replied to the NYAG via Twitter.

Here’s what GoDaddy has been reportedly doing to combat fraud related to domain names registered or hosted at GoDaddy:

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COVID19.com Forwarding to World Health Organization Website

Elliot Silver
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Domain investors often get a bad rap during various emergencies and tragedies. Sometimes the criticism is warranted when speculation on tragedy-related domain names is distasteful to many. There are always going to be journalists who look at speculative domain registrations as a way to show examples of people attempting to profit from domain names. Even when domain speculation is not done by domain investors, these types of articles portray the business of domain investing in a poor light.

When it comes to the COVID 19 coronavirus outbreak, this is no different. There have been quite a few articles written about related domain names, with a particular focus on scams and schemes involving domain names that are associated with the ongoing, worldwide pandemic.

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New York Attorney General Sends Letter to GoDaddy

Elliot Silver
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The Attorney General’s Office from the State of New York (NYAG) sent a letter to GoDaddy regarding coronavirus domain names being registered for various scams and schemes. The letter, sent on NY Attorney General Letitia James’ letterhead, was sent this past Friday. The letter is posted in a .pdf file on the NYAG’s website.

According to the letter, “The Office of the New York Attorney General (NYAG) is investigating the registration and use of coronavirus-related domains for the purposes of deceptive advertising, phishing schemes and malware dissemination.” Although the letter does not specifically mention that some of these domain names are registered at GoDaddy, I would imagine this is probably the case since GoDaddy is the largest domain registrar in the world.

The NYAG is requesting that GoDaddy contact the NYAG’s office “to discuss how GoDaddy is protecting New Yorkers and others across the country from these scams.” The NYAG suggested some actions it would like to discuss with GoDaddy:

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#OpenWeStand: The Extensions GoDaddy Chose to Register

Elliot Silver
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GoDaddy launched a new campaign to offer resources to its business clients to help stay open during these uncertain, but certainly challenging times. The campaign is called “Open We Stand,” and it uses the #OpenWeStand social media hashtag:

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$25.5M Funded Company Closes and Domain Expires

Elliot Silver
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Laurel & Wolf was a popular and growing interior design business that had raised over $25 million in funding, according to CrunchBase. A March of 2019 article in a trade publication called Business of Home detailed the failure of the business and how the company was shut down.

It’s always interesting to track what happens to domain names owned by companies that are shut down. Oftentimes, the domain names are sold along with whatever valuable assets remain, such as a customer list, trademarks, and inventory. In the case of Laurel & Wolf’s domain name, LaurelAndWolf.com, it is up for auction today in a GoDaddy Auctions expiry auction.

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Town of Secaucus Files UDRP Against SecaucusNJ.org (Updated)

Elliot Silver
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Secaucus, New Jersey is a relatively small town that is close in proximity to New York City. While looking at UDRPSearch.com this afternoon, I noticed the Town of Secaucus filed a UDRP against the SecaucusNJ.org domain name at the World Intellectual Property Organization. It is WIPO Case D2020-0509.

From the looks of it, this does not appear to be a typical UDRP filing. In looking through Screenshots.com, it appears that this was a developed website, and I believe it was operated by the town of Secaucus. A Google search also shows the town operates the matching .gov domain name for its website – SecaucusNJ.gov. It is unclear whether the town operated two distinct websites, and if so, for how long.

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