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Before You Register a Domain Name…

Elliot Silver
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Registering a new domain name is simple. All you need to do is visit Godaddy, Name.com, Register.com, Moniker.com or another domain registrar of your choice, enter your domain name and extension, give your credit card number and personal information, and you are the owner of a brand new domain name for less than the cost of lunch. It’s that easy, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

As I can see by some of the comments on my blog and mostly elsewhere about the NewYorkNewYork.com judgment, there are a lot of people who don’t understand the legalities about owning and using domain names in a legal manner. An innocent $10 domain registration can almost immediately become a potential $100,000 liability simply by using it in a way that infringes upon another company’s trademark.

Even though it’s simple to buy a domain name and put it to use immediately, domain registrants need to know the laws with regards to properly (legally) using a domain name. The Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act is a good place to start, and I would also say a dose of common sense would be helpful too 😉

NewYorkNewYork.com Decision: Owner Loses Domain Name + $101,000 Judgment

Elliot Silver
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The domain name NewYorkNewYork.com appears to be a completely generic geographic domain name, since New York City is known as New York, New York. However, New York New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas had a major issue with the usage of the domain name, a hotel booking engine that allegedly had its photo on the homepage at one point, and they filed a lawsuit in November of 2009.

The Las Vegas Sun has reported that the lawsuit was won by this MGM Resorts-owned hotel/casino, and the penalty is pretty severe for the domain owner. A $101,000 judgment was issued for violating the Anti Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), and the domain name is now owned by New  York  New  York  Hotel  &  Casino,  LLC, although it currently resolves to a Network Solutions under construction page for me for some reason.

The ACPA calls for penalties of up to $100,000 per domain name that is in violation. This is harsh for two reasons. First, the owner probably didn’t make nearly that much money over the course of his ownership, although that is just a guess. Second, the domain name could have been used as a geographic domain name with a New York City focus, and it would have some aftermarket value. Further, it could have generated revenue by adding a hotel booking engine/widget on the site, although many people probably directly navigated hoping to find the Vegas property.

In my opinion, had the domain owner used the domain name to promote New York City (or to pay homage to the City), he would have been in the clear. He probably also could have used the domain name to book hotels in New York City as well. However, because of his alleged usage of trademarks owned by MGM and its property, he was found to have violated the ACPA, and was penalized.

Calle Strikes Gold with .CO & Hotels.com Domain Name Portfolio

Elliot Silver
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Many people in the domain investment community have come to know Juan Calle primarily as the CEO of the .CO Registry. He regularly attends various domain conferences and events, and he is the ambassador for the new .CO domain extension, which as already seen over 380,000 registrations in under 2 weeks of being live.

Prior to his involvement with the .CO Registry, Juan was the founder of Straat Investments where he currently serves as the company Chairman (Jose Rasco is STRAAT’s Executive Director and Juan Palacio is the CEO for FederatedTravel.com).   The company is invested in real estate, technology, and private equity. According to the Straat Investments website,

STRAAT Investments, along with its affiliates, is a private investment firm with interests around the globe. Through its team of investment and operations professionals, STRAAT creates and invests in companies and entrepreneurial opportunities by leveraging its experience in multiple industries to build long term value. We primarily focus our investments in telecommunications, internet, and real estate.

One of the most impressive investments (to me), is the company’s portfolio of generic hotel domain names. As you may recall, I wrote about Swift Rank’s major investments into the city Hotel/Hotels.com space, spending somewhere around 7 figures in the not so distant past. Straat Investment’s portfolio of these domain names is equally (or maybe even more) impressive.

Included in its Federated Travel portfolio are domain names and websites that include (among many others):

  • ParisHotels.com
  • MiamiHotels.com
  • LondonHotels.com
  • ChicagoHotels.com
  • DallasHotels.com
  • CancunHotels.com
  • TokyoHotels.com

In speaking with Juan about a domain name I own, his company doesn’t have much interest in selling off its assets. In fact, it would take “a big purchase ($10m +)” for the company to consider selling these high performing websites.

Trusted Name in Domain Industry Launches Third Party Stats Verification

Elliot Silver
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As the founder and editor of Domain Name Wire, Andrew Allemann is known as one of the two most respected domain industry journalists. Andrew has a no-BS attitude, and he really digs into issues more than most other people would. When I learn about something important that needs to be investigated and reported on involving the domain business, Andrew is generally the person with whom I speak because I know he will look into the issue and provide excellent coverage.

Earlier this week, Andrew launched a new service to help domain owners verify traffic stats on domain names they intend to sell. DNW Certified Stats is a brand new third party statistics verification service that allows domain owners to share verified traffic and revenue stats with potential buyers. Instead of buying a domain name based on a potentially altered screen shot, or purchasing a name with traffic based on a person’s word, domain name buyers can rest assured knowing the reported numbers are accurate and confirmed.

The service is very easy to use and is completely transparent. The domain owner submits the domain names that need to have certified statistics, DNW Certified Stats receives the traffic and revenue report directly from the parking company, and a certified report is issued to the domain owner. It’s very similar to how a sports card grading company operates (this is one example Andrew effectively used to market the new service to potential users). Potential buyers can enter the confirmation code on the site and see the traffic statistics.

At the present time, Domain Sponsor, Sedo, Skenzo, and Name Drive are the four parking companies that are working with DNW Certified Stats. I would expect this list to grow as more domain owners use the service.

Throughout his years of reporting (for as long as I’ve been in the business I believe), Andrew has been unbiased and fair in his reporting, and I think this is an important consideration people should make when deciding whether to use the company’s services. Trust is of utmost importance when buying domain names based on traffic and revenue, and having a trusted source like DNW Stats is critical.

One of the best parts of this is that the service is currently free to use. Sign up and check it out.

MichaelJacksonCasino.com Center of $100 Million Godaddy Lawsuit

Elliot Silver
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MichaelJacksonCasino.comLate last week, TMZ reported that the estate of Michael Jackson was not happy over an online casino being run on MichaelJacksonCasino.com. Apparently someone thinks it’s a good idea to run a casino, sportsbook, and poker room using Michael Jackson’s likeness allegedly without the permission of Michael Jackson’s Estate (this is according to the Estate).

The domain name MichaelJacksonCasino.com has been registered at Godaddy since May of 2005 (on its current registration), and the listed registrant seems to be a company called Corp. Hostarica, with a Miami post office box. Hostarica appears to be an offshore hosting company from Costa Rica, according to its website.

Early this morning, TMZ followed up their original article with another report that Godaddy is being sued for $100,000,000 by the man who claims to own copyrights to some of the photographs that are used on the MichaelJacksonCasino.com website. According to the article, a federal lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles on Monday August 2, and Mann hopes the lawsuit will cause Godaddy to reveal the name of the actual owner of the domain name.

According to results from the Wayback Machine on Archive.org, it looks like there has been a casino on MichaelJacksonCasino.com since 2006. Michael Jackson was still alive at that point, and the welcome message on the site said,

“The King of Pop is proud to bring you the most exciting Vegas style online gaming experience on the Net! Along with implementing the most advanced casino software in the industry, Michael Jackson Casino gives you 24-hr. customer support and guarantees you the highest level of security to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of your account. All you have to worry about is winning!”

Additionally, the Wayback Machine shows that the domain name was initially registered as far back as 2002, although the current registration began in 2005. It’s likely that the domain owner dropped this domain name and it expired sometime between 2003 and 2005. Interestingly, in 2003 (which is before the current domain registration), there was a page that said, “Visit our Internet Casinos” with a long list of other casino websites with generic domain names listed.

I don’t know how much exposure Godaddy would have in a case like this, where they acted as the registrar. To me, it looks like Godaddy is not actually hosting the website, as the DNS show nx0.dnscrservices.info and nx1.dnscrservices.info, which are Hostarica’s servers, and they are probably located outside of the US due to US gaming laws.

Thanks to Josh Pelissero for the tip.

Logo Selected & Template Chosen

Elliot Silver
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With the deadline for launching Bahamas.CO looming, I have selected the winning entry in a logo competition held on 99 Designs. Not only was the chosen logo my favorite of all submission, but it was also the leading vote getter in the poll I set up with the final designs. I feel like the colors, font, and graphic design elements are perfect for the website.

Although I wasn’t aware of it before determining the winner, the logo designer is a person that the domain investment community knows quite well – Theo Delevegas. Theo and I have not always seen eye to eye on certain things in the past, but I do respect his opinions. I also believe he is a talented designer, and this marks the second logo he has designed for me (ActingCoach.com is the first).

I also selected the template I plan to use as a base for the new website. It’s going to be modified to meet my needs, but I found something I like on ThemeForest.net. It will be a WordPress-based website to make it easier for me to update it, add plugins, and make changes as the site grows (both in content and traffic). Hopefully my designer will be able to make these changes for me, but if not, I will post an RFP on eLance.com.

At first, there will be somewhere around 50 articles, and I plan to continue to add content to the site. Down the road when Google has the site indexed and traffic is at a solid level, I plan to integrate a booking widget using WCTravel or IAN.com. This will help maximize revenue and will create a relationship with visitors, helping to build the Bahamas.CO brand. By no means will this be a mini site.

Anyway, things are progressing quite well, and if all goes as planned, I should be able to launch the site very soon. One of the best parts of this project will be another Bahamas trip.

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