MENLO PARK, CA - Meta, the parent company of Facebook (which changed its corporate name in October 2021 to align with its vision for the "metaverse"), has acquired the domain "Threads.com" for its X (formerly Twitter) competitor, Threads. Originally, Meta launched the service using the domain "Threads.net" due to the prior ownership of Threads.com by another company, which was running a cloud-based team communications platform. In June 2024, the company that owned … [Read more...]
Coconspirator Faces 20 Years in Prison Over Scheme to Steal Domain Name at Gunpoint
CEDAR RAPIDS – A man who owned a social media company and planned to steal an Internet domain name by force was convicted last week and faces 20 years in prison. According to CNN, a jury found Rossi Lorathio Adams II guilty for hiring his cousin to break into a house in Cedar Rapids and force the transfer of an Internet web address by its current registrant at gunpoint. Adams cousin, Sherman Hopkins Jr., was charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery and … [Read more...]
‘Pointless’ Concern Could Become Domain Investor ‘Reality’ in AU Top Level Domain
WEST PALM BEACH – Back in 2017, I wrote about the likelihood of growing regulation aimed at domain names; the article was titled, “Could Domain Investing Industry End with Legal Provision for Domain Hoarding”. That writing stirred some discussion, with one domainer going as far as considering such a possibility as ‘pointless’ or as he put it, “like planning for when an asteroid hits your house”. Well, such pointless concern is exactly what is being considered by AuDA (the … [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...]
Is Dominion Registries Having Trouble Selling Their New Alternative Dots?
NEW YORK - According to a press release by Dominion Registries, a division of Dominion Enterprises, the company is removing a long list of previously implemented registrant eligibility verification restrictions for its new gTLD industry-specific domain extensions which consist of .AUTOS, .BOATS, .HOMES, .MOTORCYCLES and .YACHTS. The changes will be made this year, beginning first with .BOATS, which is now available to anyone at all, for just about any reason, defined … [Read more...]
Behind The Scenes: Sometimes Good Stuff Is Happening That You Should Know About
NEW YORK, NY - Imagine if you had your super premium domain name stolen from you, legally, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it - and nothing you could have done to prevent it, because you never actually did anything wrong in the first place? Holy Smokes; Sounds Terrible Right? Here is the Scenario. You register a domain name for a unique word or phrase which is not currently in use. There are no current sites using the word, no trademarks on the term, and … [Read more...]
New gTLD Success Will Be Measured Only by Use; Not Sales, Not Registrations
NEW YORK, NY - This week a new gTLD sale made the news, not because of its great keyword, but due to its high price and its ending extension. The domain name casino.online recently sold for over $200,000.00 at SEDO. This might seem like a domainers dream-sale turning a lucky registrant into an instant success, but it was far from a general availability registration; it was actually a domain name reserved by the registry. So basically, it was, for the most part, a planned … [Read more...]
Throwback: Is Domain Parking Really Dead? If So, What Killed It? (Reprint: It’s That Good)
NEW YORK - A lot has changed with Domain Parking Revenue as well as Google Ad Earnings over the last, say, decade. There has been such great change that it's sometimes difficult to articulate - in a nutshell, why things have changed so drastically and in how many different ways this change has come about. I don't think anyone would argue that these changes have and continue to fundamentally reshape the entire industry. Last evening, I came across an article by writer and … [Read more...]
Domain Suspension – Registrant Information Verification Failure; It Could Happen to You
REMINDER: If you change either the first name, last name or email address on one of your domain registrations, you’ll need to verify the new information via email within 15 calendar days or you will be met with a page similar to this one in the below screenshot. This new policy took effect back in January of 2014 but this is how long it took for me to actually see one of these pages in action; it happened today. Not paying attention to those email verification … [Read more...]