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Using Trademarks in Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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I was searching Google for an accessory for a new Apple product, and I was surprised at the number of domain names that included Apple trademarks. Since receiving a cease and desist letter from a company several years back when I first started buying domain names, I have been very careful not to buy   domain names that contain obvious trademarks.

I believe many domain investors look at this and wrongly believe that the seemingly free usage of trademark domain names means that the trademark owner doesn’t care about protecting its marks, and domain investors can buy and sell them with limited risk. Although the risk may in fact be low for many trademark domain names, the penalty can be very high – up to $100,000 per domain name according to the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.

Apple may not be a company that appears to actively litigate for infringing domain names, but there are plenty of companies that do – like Microsoft. When thinking about buying these domain names, especially when the sole purpose is resale, you should consider the legal repercussions.

There are plenty of people and companies that make business decisions every day because they own revenue generating domain names that contain trademarks, but newly minted domain investors probably have a much lower chance at hand registering TM names that will produce revenue. If you own a TM name that doesn’t make money, you have a liability rather than an asset.

I know Rick talked about registering BP spill-related domain names that generate PPC revenue, but keep in mind that Rick can afford to fight a legal battle if necessary. It’s the cost of doing business. Others who try to emulate this type of registration may not be so lucky. There are plenty of companies and lawyers who would like to make an example out of someone.

New: Deal of the Week

Elliot Silver
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As you may have noticed today, there’s a “Deal of the Week” link in the header of my blog. Each week, I will try to bring you a special offer or discount from a domain or Internet company that might benefit your business. Special offers may vary between domain registration discounts, web development deals, SEO offers, or other special offer or deal.

The deal of the week will be posted on Monday morning and it will run through the following Monday. The only caveat is that some advertisers may have a limited quantity or prefer their offer only stays live for a limited time, so you might want to act quickly. There will be a large “Sold Out” graphic if the offer is expired/sold out.

At the present time, there are several offers upcoming, but if a company would like to discuss posting a special offer for the future, please contact me and I will provide details.   In addition, I will have one banner spot coming available on July 1. Please contact me if you are interested, although I do have a couple companies on the waiting list who may take the spot.

Sunday Afternoon Thoughts & Update

Elliot Silver
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What a weekend so far. Not such a great goal for the US in yesterday’s World Cup match against England, but we’ll take it. I feel badly for the keeper though since this will surely be a Bill Buckner-esque play that will go down in history, especially if England fails to advance. Tonight is a big Celtics game, and today is a great day to relax and enjoy the weather.

Here are a few things that may be of interest.

  • There was a great article about Warren Royal and his Bobbleheads.com venture in the Albany Herald, a local newspaper in Georgia. The article discusses how Warren acquired the domain name and then built the popular website.
  • If you have been thinking about applying for a .CO domain name via the .CO Registry’s Founders Program, now is the time to do it. Applications are due no later than June 15, 2010. I am in the process of applying for one, and if I am awarded the domain name, I will chronicle the build out process, as I am required to have the site launched by July 20, 2010. As an alternative, you can try to reserve one at a registrar like Register.com.
  • While thinking about the June 15th deadline, I also just remembered that 2nd quarter estimated taxes are also due on the 15th of June. If you need to pay estimated taxes, don’t forget to mail them out tomorrow (note to self).
  • Someone emailed me about an adult-ish website that was hosted on Blogger that got taken down. I know it’s been said before, but you really need to consider this type of thing when you use a service like Blogger or even possibly WordPress. I don’t know if the site was removed, or if the owner was able to access his articles/posts, but it’s important that you control your content rather than be reliant on another company.
  • Just a reminder, the cost of .com domain names will be going up very soon (July 1), so now is the time to take proper action. You can renew your domain names for several years in advance or you can transfer them as some companies like Name.com have transfer specials going on right now.
  • It looks like Rick Latona is moving into other areas in addition to domain names and watches. His newly re-launched RickLatona.com website has a section for diamonds, timeshares, and loans.
  • Francois Carrillo has started his own domain blog at DomainWare.com. His first post discusses why some Domaining.com accounts have been canceled. With all of Francois’ ventures and domain sales, this is going to be an interesting blog to read if he updates it frequently.

Thoughts on the e.CO Auction

Elliot Silver
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I know there is an active discussion about the e.CO auction happening on Mike’s Blog and TechCrunch, but I want to share my thoughts on it because I have a unique perspective. It was reported that B52 and its CEO Lonnie Borck won the domain name for $81,000. Lonnie is one of my closest colleagues in this industry as well as a good friend outside of the business, and I was with him at the auction and after.

In my opinion, this was a very strong speculative acquisition. The .CO registry and it’s registrar partners are spending a lot of money on marketing the extension to ensure consumers know about it. .CO makes total sense for companies to use, and in fact, many companies use similar extensions in other countries – think .CO.UK and .CO.IL. I already gave some of my thoughts on .CO.

With the news that Twitter will be integrating T.CO into its system as the preferred URL shortener, and that there are many applications for the .CO Founder’s Program as well as already awarded domain names (Angel.co and Disrupt.co as examples), I think .CO is going to be big. As a one character domain name in this extension, E.CO will be worth much more than the purchase price assuming things play out like we believe they will, although Lonnie’s team acquired this domain name for a specific reason and may not be inclined to sell it.

I want to address a couple of comments made about Lonnie in the two aforementioned articles.

1) Regarding the charity being kept private: Lonnie is a fiercely private person, and he does not wish to disclose the charity recipient(s) publicly. Some people like to flaunt who they support and by how much, but that’s not Lonnie’s way to do things.

2) Regarding Lonnie’s smarts in this space: Keep in mind this public information – his company sold Scores.com for $1,200,000, owns Funding.com, Bookmarks.com, Shock.com, Winter.com, Camera.net, and Baby.net. He also owns a number of other considerable domain names that aren’t publicly known.

I think the acquisition of E.CO was a shrewd investment, and the charitable organization(s) that will benefit will certainly be very appreciative.

World Cup Buzzing Like a Swarm of Bees Courtesy of the Vuvuzelas

Elliot Silver
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2010 FIFA World CupIf you tune into the World Cup over the next month, you are likely to notice the loud buzz emitting from the crowd. Instead of hearing the cheers and boos that accompany most soccer/football/futbol matches, you will hear the din of the African horns known as vuvuzelas.

Are you interested in recreating your own World Cup atmosphere away from South America? You can now buy your very own vuvuzelas online at   Vuvuzelas.com or on a different website – Vuvuzela.com. Both sites rank pretty well in the search engines, which is a direct result of their keyword domain names. For the most part, they only seem to be outranked by Google News, images, Tweets, and very popular websites (like the NY Times) on searches for their keywords.

The World Cup announcers will continually mention the vuvuzela, and it can only help these two websites. During this year’s World Cup, I think the two companies that own these domain names will be very happy, although those of us watching World Cup matches from the comfort of our homes or neighborhood bars, we might not be so happy to hear them buzz.

2009 PostRank Domain Awards

Elliot Silver
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Mark Fulton at DotSauce wrote a post about PostRank a few weeks ago, and I thought his write up was very good. It’s an interesting website for sure, and it was neat to look around and explore. There is a category for domain name blogs, and it currently has 25 feeds included (I am not sure how to add feeds).

The rankings in the Domain Name category change weekly I believe, so there’s no real reason to post the current standings for domain blogs as they are fluid. However, at the beginning of 2010, PostRank doled out awards for 2009, and I thought I would share the results of their rankings:

Most Influential: Rick Schwartz’s Blog

Biggest Mover & Shaker: Domain Name Wire

Top 3 Blogs: The Domains, Domain Name Wire, Elliot’s Blog

I do think the results are a bit flawed because they didn’t include some of the best known and most widely read blogs such as DNJournal. I think the results for 2010 are going to be interesting because it seems there are many bloggers who are active social networkers, especially   Twitter and Facebook.

I don’t know who pays close attention to PostRank’s results, but if you rely on advertising revenue to support your website, it’s another way to show that your website is engaging to its readers and those people who visit. Advertisers like to have placements on websites where the readers are actively engaged.

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