LOS ANGELES, CA - Following a brief period of time last year when the new “.MUSIC” Top-Level Domain (TLD) – a domain for artists and those adjacent of the music community – was made available for a limited number of select applicants, the domain is now freely available for public registration, first come, first served. .MUSIC first launched in September 2023, initially offering a 30-day period between September 11 through November 15 when trademark holders could register … [Read more...]
Sensational Spelling: Variants on Generic Keyword Domains Growing in Popularity
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - At this point, the Internet has been around for a while, and there are countless number of domain names out there that have been snapped up for nearly every conceivable purpose. With that being said, an ever-growing number of legitimate brand name domains have been snapped up, giving rise to the growing popularity of alternate spellings of well known, generic, business-related keywords for domains, known as “sensational spelling.” Sensational spelling … [Read more...]
Report: Domain Squatting, Brand Hijacking Presenting Increased Threat Across Internet
PALM BEACH, FL - “Domain squatting” – AKA cybersquatting – and “brand hijacking” are two internet-based threats that present unique dangers to both businesses and end users, opening up some to cybersecurity threats and brand/trademark damage including potential phishing and malware attacks. Domain squatting is registering or using a domain name to profit from a trademark belonging to a well-known brand, typically by registering a misspelled version of their URL to … [Read more...]
Kentucky Man Who Sold City Site Network for $2.3M In 2014 Selling for Second Time
PROSPECT, KY – It’s not often that a seller gets the opportunity to off-load the same portfolio twice, especially when the sales price is north of $2M, but that’s exactly what is happening with Clark Scott’s “Hello Earth” city site network and its computer software system as well as a U.S. federal trademark for “HELLO EARTH” – all assets of “Hello Earth LLC.” I recently connected with Clark where we discussed the long and interesting history of his unique network of city … [Read more...]
Would You Rename Your Software Business And Change Web Address For $5.2 Million?
PALM BEACH, NY – In April 2011, a south Sweden based company called “Xcerion” changed the name of its cloud file hosting service to “CloudMe” and registered a U.S. federal trademark for the same moniker. The company had purchased the domain name “CloudMe.com” just three to four weeks earlier; the service had been previously known as “ICloud” and had been operating on the Internet domain “icloud.com” holding a corresponding registered trademark for the term “ICLOUD” … [Read more...]
U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Trademark Rights on Generic Internet Domain Names
PALM BEACH, FL - On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the addition of “.com” to a generic word or phrase can be trademarked when it reviews “United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V.” on Docket No. 19-46 with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The issue has reached the highest court in the country after lower courts reversed the decisions of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") and Trademark … [Read more...]
Creative URL Marketing Similarities by “Gordon & Partners” & “Morgan & Morgan”
PALM BEACH, FL – Two law firms which I often get somewhat confused have marketing strategies which seem extremely similar. First is “Gordon & Partners, P.A.”, lawyers with four offices in South Florida which utilize the “For the Injured” trademark and have their site located at www.ForTheInjured.com. The second is “Morgan & Morgan”, a national personal injury firm which utilizes the “For the People” trademark with its website located at www.ForThePeople.com. … [Read more...]
Generic Domain “Naturals.com” Subject of WIPO Case; Complainant Uses “Naturals.in”
PALM BEACH, FL – The generic domain name “Naturals.com” is the subject of a WIPO proceeding with the complainant showing as “Ms.Veena Kumaravel” , who is the co-founder of “Naturals”, a beauty salon chain with over 500 locations throughout India. Kumaravel started the business with a partner in 2000 and the business was said in an interview to become “profitable” (and likely at least moderately known in India) by its forth year. The company currently operates on the … [Read more...]
Monster Two Letter Domain Asset “TM.com” For Sale; Listed in Industry Trade Pub WTR
PALM BEACH, FL – According to World Trademark Review, the monster domain asset “TM.com” is for sale and the exchange is being offered / handled by Mark Thomas of VIP Brokerage. Thomas was recently highlighted for selling the premium exact match GEO domain California.com for a whopping $3,000,000.00. ‘TM.com’ up for sale – The domain name ‘tm.com’, previously used by a company called TM Advertising, is up for sale. A representative for the current domain owner told WTR … [Read more...]
Panels Consistently Find That “Domain Investing” Is Legitimate Bona Fide Offering
PALM BEACH, FL – Upon reading recent news from “Neus News”, I stumbled onto an interesting find where Howard Neu, a long-time attorney for the domain name industry, was representing a domain owner in a case where Oath Inc. (now Verizon Media), the company that purchased Yahoo! related assets in 2017 for $4.83 billion, claimed the domain name “YMobile.com” was infringing on Yahoo! related trademarks such as “Y”’ and “Y!”, as well as “Y Mobile” (although Y Mobile is only held … [Read more...]
Yet Another Proper UDRP Decision Gets Highlighted In “The News”, WTF Is That?
WEST PALM BEACH – There are two main places my Internet travels will take me when I have some extra time to keep up with domain name newlines. These two places are, 1) Domaining.com, where I can find commentary on pretty much anything meaningful that is going on in the domain name space, and if I don’t find something that grabs’ my interest there, I’ll move on over to 2) Google News. If something in the domain space is not happening in at least one of these two places … [Read more...]
Uniregistry Moves to Rebrand as “UNI”, Without Ownership of UNI.com???
NEW YORK, NY - If you had not heard yet - domain registry, parking and portfolio management company “Uniregistry” has launched a re-branding effort changing its popular brand name from “Uniregistry” to simply “UNI”. Two things immediately came to mind upon seeing this news. Does the company own the UNI.com domain name? The answer: Surprisingly it does not. The domain name UNI.com has been registered since 1993 and is currently owned by an Italian company which according … [Read more...]
Attorney Suggests UDRP Process as “Clear Cut”, “Quick” and “Relatively Inexpensive”
NEW YORK, NY – If you’ve been keeping a watchful eye on UDRP cases lately, you’ve likely noticed some real over-reaching land grabs in action, especially those based on three character acronyms, and like me, have been watching is disappointment. I’ve always said that one of the greatest challenges in the domain space in coming years will be growing regulation and corporate theft by those who seek to own the assets of others; assets they did not have foresight to acquire … [Read more...]
Radio Host with Estimated 6.5M Listeners Talks Buying and Selling Domain Names
NEW YORK, NY - Kim Komando, a syndicated radio host to over 435 radio stations in the United States and heard internationally in 177 different countries, is dubbed “America’s Digital Goddess”. Her weekly three-hour call-in show covers anything and everything ‘digital’ from tech-gadgets, websites, smartphone apps, and internet security. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office her company Komando Corporation and associated owned and operated radio network, … [Read more...]
Premium .Green Domain Names Acquired by YELLOW PAGES GOES GREEN®
Innovator in digital telephone directory listings and advocate for staunch environmentalism, announces acquisition of new gTld Internet domain names. NEW YORK - Yellow Pages Directory Inc., which operates its Yellow Pages Goes Green ("YPGG"), an environmentally-conscious "Green" telephone directory, has announced the acquisition of Internet domain names "YellowPages.green" and "WhitePages.green" as a part of their ongoing effort to support "a greener Internet", and build … [Read more...]