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Owner of NewYorkNewYork.com Sued

Elliot Silver
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2

The   owner of the domain name NewYorkNewYork.com has been sued by New York-New York Hotel & Casino, LLC for trademark infringement, cybersquatting, unfair competition, trademark dilution, and other related complaints. The lawsuit, which can be downloaded from the Las Vegas Sun website (pdf download), was filed in the state of Nevada on November 6, 2009.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs have alleged that,

“Recently, Plaintiff learned that the Infringing Domain Name has been linked to a website that prominently features the NEW YORK NEW YORK LAS VEGAS HOTEL & CASINO trademark (the “Infringing Website”). Specifically, the NEW YORKNEW YORK LAS VEGAS HOTEL & CASINO mark appears in the banner of the Infringing Website, next to a graphic of Plaintiff’s New York- New York Hotel. The Infringing Website does not include a disclaimer explaining that it has no affiliation with Plaintiff. When Internet users click on the banner, they are redirected to a website enabling them to book hotel reservations at Plaintiff’s New York-New York Hotel.”

In looking at the current website which contains various New York City related banners, it appears to me that they are using Ian.com as a booking engine for the site. Ian.com is the Expedia travel affiliate program, and they work with hotels throughout the world to book reservations. When a visitor uses the booking engine, they are able to search for cars, flights, and hotels throughout the world, including Las Vegas, where the New York-New York Hotel & Casino is located, all the while staying on the NewYorkNewYork.com website.

It’s unfortunate for the defendant, as I am not sure of how much control he would have over the results served by the booking engine. Further, it would seem advantageous for the hotel to be listed, but I imagine they would rather control the domain name if possible. From the looks of it, I don’t see how the owner of the domain name is at fault, although I am not an attorney nor do I have a legal background.

One complication for the current owner is that the lawsuit indicates the Hotel contacted a previous owner expressing concern over something similar that was done in the past. According to a screenshot on Archive.org from February of 2006, there were links to the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the home page of the website. However, it doesn’t appear that the current owner is doing anything in bad faith. In fact, New York City is the default search when a visitor lands on the site.

I think this will be an interesting case to watch, since there are quite a few geodomain owners who use booking engines like Ian.com and WC Travel for their hotel results, and there are probably plenty of domain names that could potentially be infringing on certain marks.

WhyPark Partners with Rick Latona on Charity Domain Auction

Elliot Silver
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0

I announced the WhyPark charity auction after speaking with Craig Rowe a couple of weeks ago, and more details have been released. Please have a look at the information below, and remember, All proceeds will go to the charity chosen by the highest single bidder in the auction.

===

Rick Latona Auctions announced today it will donate its services and provide the online auction platform for the WhyPark Charity Domain Auction scheduled for December 7th through the December 11th, 2009.   The WhyPark Charity Auction will be the first online auction to utilize Rick Latona’s new beta auction platform which will be in an all new location, www.LATONAS.com.

WhyPark’s charity domain auction will consist of up to 50 domain names, with no reserve price, all donated by domain name industry leaders.   The proceeds from the auction will be given to a socially-responsible charity chosen by the highest single bidder in the auction.     To submit domain names for the auction and for complete details, visit http://www.whypark.com/auction.

“We are excited to support the WhyPark Charity Auction” stated Rick Latona, President of Rick Latona Auctions.   “It is also the perfect opportunity for us to test drive our new Latonas.com auction platform. Since it is an online only auction with no live auctioneer, it should be a low stress environment. Customers will be able to help people through The WhyPark Charity Auction , pick up a great new name or two and get a sneak preview of what we are up to here in Atlanta”.

“The WhyPark charity auction is simply about raising funds for a charity in need.” stated Craig Rowe, President of WhyPark Technology Services.   “The domain name community raises funds for several charities worldwide and this is another opportunity to provide financial assistance to a worthwhile organization of the highest winning bidder’s choice.   We are excited to partner with Rick Latona Auctions, a leader in the domain industry to help make this a successful auction.”

Luxury Names to Hold Domain Auction

Elliot Silver
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2

LuxuryNames.com, one of the newest entrants into the domain newsletter vertical (and also an advertiser) has announced that they will be holding a week-long domain auction using the Snapnames platform. The auction is set to begin November 18, and the list of domain names that are up for auction has been released.

Some of my favorites that will be in the auction are:

  • DefenseLawyers.org
  • DefenseAttorneys.org
  • AdjustableHomeLoans.com
  • MoscowVacations.com
  • CapriVacations.com
  • MonteCarloVacations.com

In addition to these domain names, there are a number of strong keyword .net domain names, like HockeySticks.net and DogBowls.net. I personally don’t buy .net domain names, but I know a number of people who do and will probably bid.

As a disclaimer, I will probably be bidding on at least one or two of the domain names – most likely one of the travel-related names. I own a bunch of similar names, and I like their potential. When you have a chance, visit LuxuryNames.com and download the auction list.

Belated Thank You to Oversee and Moniker

Elliot Silver
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3

TropicalBirds.com LogoI want to give a belated “thank you” to the PR team at Oversee.net and Monte Cahn at Moniker, who put together a very cool case study for one of my domain names. When Corinne Forti emailed me a few months ago to discuss writing a case study on TropicalBirds.com, I was happy to oblige. I’ve discussed the site many times on my blog and at tradeshows because it went from getting a few visits a month undeveloped to several thousand visits a month developed, with most of the traffic coming from search engines.

Several weeks ago, someone casually mentioned seeing the case study at a presentation, and I completely forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago at Traffic New York. Fellow domain investor Dave Evanson whispered from a few rows away, “Elliot, what the f*ck is this?” while holding up a thick folded pamphlet, complete with photos in full color. I went over to check it out, and I remembered the interview.

Although the site makes very little revenue right now (monetized with Adsense and some affiliate links), I do think it tells a good story. Despite the fact that there is little competition for tropical bird-related keywords, the TropicalBirds.com case study shows that when you take the keyword domain name, add custom content, and have good basic SEO techniques (including link building I did), you can turn a lightly trafficked domain name into one that receives good traffic.

The way I figure it, some day, a breeder or pet store chain will want to take what I started and actually sell birds/products directly to consumers online. With the site getting 5k visits a month (well, 5,435 visits in the last 30) and 87.2% of that from search engines, it’s a traffic producing engine, assuming continued good rankings. If you figure a company would pay $.05/visitor at a minimum to $.25/visitor at a maximum for the traffic, that’s between $3,261 – $16,305 /year in Adwords alone to get that traffic (assuming all traffic is bought and traffic is the same for 12 months).

Of course, not all of this traffic is looking to buy a bird or spend money on a product, so this is just an example, but the point is that it’s a neat little domain story, and I appreciate the fact that Oversee.net and Moniker thought enough to create a cool case study and share the story of TropicalBirds.com in various presentations.

BTW, if anyone is interested in creating their own bird empire, I would sell the name and website.   As the case study says, “Elliot Silver is neither an avid bird watcher nor bird lover.” I would, however, LOVE to sell this website and domain name to someone who is!

Don’t Mess with Verizon, Motorola, and Lucasfilm

Elliot Silver
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9

Just about every time a big company announces the launch of a new product, people buy related domain names for a multitude of reasons. Some buy them with the hopes of selling them to another company, others want to capitalize on potential popular typos, and yet others want to offer services, forums, special offers or other information related to the product.

On November 8th, Verizon Wireless began selling the Motorola Droid, a new smartphone that has had a whole lot of positive press and reviews. I’ve seen dozens of commercials for the Droid (if not more than dozens), and they seem to be directly taking on the iPhone and other smart phones. Needless to say, the Droid will be in high demand, and people will think they can make money by buying and selling Droid domain names.

However, with this particular trademark, you really need to be very careful of the usage of related domain names. On the bottom of Droid-related pages on Verizon Wireless’ website, there is a legal notice, “DROID is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies.”

By registering domain names with the term “droid” in it, you will probably be stepping on the feet of Verizon, Motorola, and Lucasfilm. Keep this in mind in the event that you think you might be able to make money with this mark. Obviously there are way to use “droid” in a domain name without potential liability, but I am sure there are plenty of people who don’t realize the risk of owning these with the intent of profiting off of the Droid mark, by selling, parking, or otherwise monetizing phone-related Droid names.

Good Country Music Domain Name Available to Purchase

Elliot Silver
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1

CountryMusicBlog.comI was doing some research today and came across a domain name I think is pretty good and priced well. Although I personally don’t listen to country music, I know that’s it is one of the most popular genres of music. BuyDomains.com is selling CountryMusicBlog.com at a list price of $1,488.

Both CountryMusicBlog.net and CountryMusicBlog.org are developed websites, showing that people want to develop this term in other extensions. People who like this type of music want to see what different artists are doing, when albums will be released, find song lyrics…etc, and this domain name is perfect for that endeavor. I don’t have an affiliate or advertising deal with NameMedia, but found this name and think it’s a fair price.

If you don’t have a contact with NameMedia/BuyDomains.com, drop my representative Sonia Doubet an email and she will take care of you.   Yeee haw.

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