Sedo just announced a new partnership with Donuts, and the company was selected to help Donuts sell some of its premium new gTLD domain names. This is positive news for the company considering the number of new gTLD registries Donuts will likely operate.
According to this morning’s news release, “Sedo will manage contention resolution for competing trademarked domains, and will also assist in auctioning premium names that will be reserved from general registration.” The sunrise auctions are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2014. Sedo has also been tapped to manage auctions for some of the “premium” domains that Donuts reserved from general registration.
This good news comes on the heels of some bad news earlier this week regarding Sedo’s partnership with GoDaddy, which will end on March 31, 2014.
Here is the full press release:
Sedo, the world’s largest premium domain marketplace and monetization provider, and Donuts, Inc., the industry’s largest applicant for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), today announced a partnership to bring Donuts’ new domains to market. From the conclusion of Donuts’ first sunrise period, Sedo will manage contention resolution for competing trademarked domains, and will also assist in auctioning premium names that will be reserved from general registration.
The new domains being launched by Donuts will be among the first publicly offered as part of the new gTLD program being managed by the Internet’s governing body, ICANN. The program will add hundreds of domain extensions to the Internet – joining traditional ones such as .com, .net and .org – over the coming months and years.
“The launch of new gTLDs has been a long time coming and with such a large, historic expansion all at once, we expect strong demand after the gates are opened,” said Donuts co-founder and Executive Vice President Dan Schindler. “To meet that demand, we needed a trusted partner, and Sedo is one of the oldest and most experienced companies in the domain industry.”
Donuts will commence Sunrise periods in November 2013 and they will continue through the middle of 2014. Sunrise provides an opportunity for trademark holders to secure their names before domains are opened for public availability. In instances where there are multiple claims for the same mark, Sedo will assist in resolving conflicts between applicants. These sunrise auctions are expected to commence in February 2014. The company will also manage auctions for premium-priced domains that Donuts reserves from general registration.
“Donuts may be a young company, but it’s comprised of domain industry veterans that clearly have a strong vision for where they can lead the Internet under the new gTLD program,” said Tobias Flaitz, CEO at Sedo. “This is truly a historic time for the Internet and we’re honored to be on-board with Donuts, which is one of the companies paving the way.”
About Sedo
Sedo, an acronym for “Search Engine for Domain Offers,” is the leading domain marketplace and monetization provider. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany and with offices in London, England and Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world’s largest database of domain names for sale, with more than 17 million listings. The success of Sedo’s model has attracted a global base of more than 2 million members. For more information, please visit www.sedo.com.
About Donuts Inc.
Donuts is a domain name registry that is widening competition and choice in Internet identities through hundreds of new top-level domain name choices, securely operated in multiple languages and character sets. Donuts is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., with offices in Southern California, Washington, D.C. and London. For more information, please visit www.donuts.co.
