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Top Search Result for “Jackass:” Viacom

Elliot Silver
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Late last year, Viacom, the parent company of MTV, filed a UDRP for the domain name Jackass.com, one of thousands of generic domain names owned by Future Media Architects. Since FMA doesn’t sell their domain assets, the UDRP would seem to be the only “cost effective” way to acquire the domain name. In a fairly lengthy decision dated January 30, 2009, the single panelist ruled in favor of Future Media Architects.

One of the most convincing factors that led to FMA’s prevailing in this decision was that they held a US trademark for “JACKASS” in relation to computer services.   The trademark was registered by the USPTO in September 2005 after a full standard review of the trademark application.   Although FMA planned to use Jackass.com for adult services, they changed their business model in favor of a search engine.

According to the sole panelist in this decision, the trademark tipped the scales in FMA’s favor:

“Thus, here the evidence suggests that the domain name was acquired by the Respondent because of its descriptive value, but has been used on a pay-per-click website in a way that is not clearly related to that descriptive value but also not clearly related to the Complainant’s trademark. In some circumstances, these facts may not be sufficient for the Respondent to show that use of the disputed domain name is bona fide. Here, the Respondent has an additional factor in its favour a United States trademark registration covering search engines. In these particular circumstances, the Respondent could be said to be providing, or at least to have taken some demonstrable steps towards providing, a search engine under the Jackass brand. That, in this Panel’s view, is enough to tip the finely balanced scales in the Respondent’s favour on the provided record in this particular case.”

It’s unfortunate that FMA needed to hold a trademark in order to keep their generic domain name, but a win is a win.   If Thunayan Khalid AL-Ghanim chooses to forego the search engine route and needs some material for his site, I know where he can find it.

Turning to Twitter to Recover Domains

Elliot Silver
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An interesting thing is happening at Twitter, which I have been following via the Domaining.com feed. Apparently two domain names were stolen from the GoDaddy account of Twitter commentator cvander (Maestrosdelweb.com and forosdelweb.com). Since many of this person’s posts are in Spanish, I cannot understand everything that has been going on, but it would seem that the domain owner posted updates about how his names were stolen and how he lost control of his Gmail account.

In response to the news, friends of cvander have been sending messages to Godaddy’s representative on Twitter, GoDaddyGuy. These messages, which can be seen by all, are verifying that these people know cvander and that his names have, in fact, been stolen.   Godaddy would seem to be working on the issue, as the latest message is “To all those concerned about @cvander, please know we’re aware of the issue and working to find a resolution.”

It’s neat to see how Twitter is being used by domain owners in a variety of ways, and kudos to Godaddy for having a customer facing representative working on Twitter.

Richard Douglas Begins Geo Domain Development Series

Elliot Silver
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My friend Richard Douglas posted part one of his geo domain development series today. Although Richard is being a bit secretive about the domain/website at the outset of the series, he will be revealing it later on down the road. I’ve been chatting with Richard about this project for the last several months, and the site is legit, as his success with it.

I am looking forward to more informative posts by Richard, as I know he has a lot of good information to share.

Two New Features I like About Domaining.com

Elliot Silver
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1

There are two new features I really like about Domaining.com. The first is that I can now filter the blogs and domain news sources I want to read from those that I don’t. There seems to be data overload in the domain space, and it’s annoying when I miss a good article from someone I respect because it got pushed down by articles I avoid.

The second feature I like and could probably create on my own (but don’t) is the Twitter feed with “domain” as the keyword. Any time someone posts a Twitter update and it contains the word “domain,” it is featured on Domaining.com.

There have been a few times where people ask simple domain related questions that can be answered by an industry pro. This can open new doors and lead to new introductions. There have also been plenty of times where people are critical of domain owners, calling them squatters and other uninformed comments. This creates a good opportunity to educate.

As far as Twitter goes, I am just a rookie but am quickly learning about the power it has. People across every walk of life use Twitter, and it gives unparalleled access into places you might never have imagined going.

Consider Alternate Spellings

Elliot Silver
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2

One thing I think about when evaluating domain names to purchase is the possibility that there are alternative spellings to the domain names – both accepted spellings and common typos. If the alternate spellings are common, I typically won’t buy these types of names, because there will often be confusion, and the last thing I want to do is develop a website and find that people accidentally navigate to the alternatively spelled domain name.

This is something I am especially cognizant about when the alternate spelling is commonly accepted as the proper spelling – or their is a commonly used abbreviation.   A quick example of this is a name like FortWorth.com and FtWorth.com.   I would have a difficult time paying 6 figures for either of these names, because there will always be confusion – especially when pitching businesses over the telephone.   I would find it annoying to have to explain, it’s “F-O-R-T Worth dot com” or visa versa.

If you do have the opportunity to buy a good domain name that has common misspellings (both accepted and unaccepted spellings), and you are gung ho about development, I would try my hardest to buy the misspellings as well and do a 301 redirect to the properly spelled domain name.   Once you begin to develop your website, you are going to increase the value of the typo, making it more expensive for you to acquire down the road.

This is one of the little things to consider before your development project.

How .nyc Can Become the Extension for New York City

Elliot Silver
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27

I am not a native New Yorker.   I have only lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for six and a half years, but I feel like a New Yorker.   I hate crowds of tourists, I try my hardest not to pass through Times Square, I love running/rollerblading/playing tennis/walking in Central Park, I know I will never make it on time if I need to take the W train, and I keep my elbows out when walking past people meandering on the sidewalk during rush hour. The only way you could tell I am not a native New Yorker is my Sox and Pats gear. I am also a domain investor.

When I was in graduate school at NYU, the reason I moved to New York, the director of the program challenged us to think like marketers and like consumers. It was critical that if we were going to develop direct marketing strategies for brands, we couldn’t just think about ways to market products. We had to put ourselves in the minds of the consumers who would buy our products, and we needed to think about whether our marketing efforts would appeal to them.

In the case of the .nyc extension, I am able to think like a domain investor and like a consumer, and I have a pretty good idea about how the .nyc extension will be successful. I can also imagine how it could struggle.

Several years ago, the city of New York rolled out its 311 phone line. This is the number you can call for just about anything and everything related to New York that isn’t an emergency. If you need information about paying taxes, call 311. If there’s a car alarm going off at 2am outside of your building, call 311. If you see a rodent in a restaurant, call 311. This is the phone number to connect you with the city, and most people who live hear know about it through a variety of television, subway, billboard, and other advertising efforts.

For consumers to adopt .nyc as they adopted 311, I think a few things need to happen:

I think every government organization, entity, office and program will need to use .nyc for their website. Whether this is forwarded to the existing .gov or not, we, the people of New York, need to know that .nyc means connecting to New York City, it’s government, businesses and everything else related to the city.

Every city marketing effort needs to be branded .nyc. Mayor.nyc should go to to the mayor’s office, FDNY.nyc should go to the Fire Department, 311.nyc should go to the 311 system, CentralPark.nyc should go to the Central Park Conservancy, and Weiner.nyc should not go to Gray’s Papaya, but should go to State Representative Anthony Weiner who represents the city.

If the city adopts .nyc as their extension, consumers will begin to adjust to it, and they will adopt it as well.   However, it can’t just end at the city government.   The .nyc extension will not be commercially viable if the businesses in New York don’t buy their domain names, which is where the revenue generation steps in to the picture.   I am all for capitalism, but the people running the .nyc extension need to do something to ensure legitimate New York City business get their domain names so New Yorkers use the extension to find their favorite businesses.

If AtlanticGrill.nyc, PerSe.nyc, Bloomingdales.nyc, and MenuPages.nyc end up with PPC links on them or go to a Sedo for sale page, I will probably never type in a .nyc domain name to find a local business. When I am on my Blackberry, I never type in a .mobi, because I know the chance is good that the brands I want to find don’t even own their .mobi name!   Two immediate cases in point are JetBlue.mobi and YouTube.mobi. In my own humble opinion, I would say that the consumer marketing effort of .mobi has not been good, and I the registrations of .mobi domain names have stalled (846,994 registered as of February 1, 2009 vs. 956,412 on October 1, 2008 – source: 2009 and 2008). Out of the 14 extensions on that list, .mobi is the only one to have lost registrations between October and February.

The .nyc extension isn’t a new technology that stands out from other extensions and would give it a unique selling point.   The extension is a marketing effort that needs to be branded and sold to consumers in addition to businesses. I think it will take a big effort to make it work, but I certainly think it is possible.

I should also add that I think this will be a boon for the owners of NYC.com. No matter how much effort is done people will still add the .com after .nyc, which will take them to a NYC.com subdomain.

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