domainnamewire

Researchers sent requests under privacy laws to website owners. It is canceling the study after complaints. Researchers at Princeton University and Radboud University have apologized for a research study gone awry. The researchers wanted to determine how companies responded to requests about the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) …

Domains ending in something other than .com sold briskly in 2021. .Com is king. It’s a fair statement. .Com is the largest namespace with nearly 160 million registrations. .Com dominates the domain aftermarket, too. But for domain investors who dis non-.com domains as an investment, 2021 seemed like a wake-up …

Hackers stole data from Epik this year, connecting the dots between extremist websites and their owners. This year, the domain name industry received unwelcome attention when hackers stole data from Epik. Epik is a domain name registrar known for catering to extremist websites and those that are “deplatformed” by other …

A surge in demand for domains with meta in them. “All the good domains are taken.” It’s a common thing you hear about domain names. I’ve long argued it isn’t true. Many terms were invented or popularized after the best .com domains were registered in the 1990s. Take blog, for …

The Complainant appears to have provided the wrong acquisition date, but the Respondent’s dates don’t add up, either. Regal Games, LLC was found to have attempted reverse domain name hijacking in a recent cybersquatting decision at National Arbitration Forum. Two things make this case interesting beyond the reverse domain name …

Many domain investors acquired NFTs this year, which likely impacted the domain aftermarket. 2021 was the year of the non-fungible token (NFT). NFTs have been around for a while but became insanely popular (and sometimes valuable) this year. The biggest NFT story this year was Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), …

Scooter company upgrades its domain, which will allow it to expand beyond scooters. Voi upgraded its domain, which will allow it to expand beyond scooter rental. Micro-mobility may be a new term to you, but it describes a multi-billion dollar industry. Companies such as Bird, Lime, and Tier have created …

A former member of ICANN’s Intellectual Property Committee represented a company in a UDRP. It didn’t go so well. A World Intellectual Property (WIPO) panel has found (pdf) Pacific House, LLC to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain libertas.org in a doozy of a case. While …

Independent Review Panel says appeal was frivolous and orders it to pay ICANN’s legal costs. An Independent Review Panel (IRP) has denied Afilias’ latest attempt to wrest control of .web away from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) and has ordered the company to pay $237,000 to ICANN. [A note for clarity: Afilias …

Like many assets, domain values rocketed in 2021. This is the first in a series covering the top stories and themes in the domain name industry this year. Houses. Equities. Digital artwork. The value of all types of assets soared in 2021, and top-tier domain names were no exception. To …

Marketplaces could help themselves by making it easier for domain investors to delete their listings on preset dates. Last week I sold two geo domains on Squadhelp on two consecutive days. Unfortunately, I had let one of the domains expire a few months ago. As I reviewed my Squadhelp portfolio, …

Activist investor takes 6.5% stake in GoDaddy. Investment company Starboard has made a significant investment in shares of GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY). Today, the group filed a 13D with the SEC, disclosing its ownership stake. Shares of GoDaddy are up about 8% today on the news. In a story today, The …

A properly-argued UDRP would have likely negated reverse domain name hijacking and possibly ended in a transfer. My brother is a corporate attorney. When I ask him a legal question outside of his specialty, he tells me I might as well ask someone on the street. Law is a specialized …

MMX never launched the geo domain. MMX is asking ICANN to terminate .budapest. MMX (Minds + Machines) (AIM: MMX) has filed a notice with ICANN to terminate its contract for running the .budapest top level domain name. The company applied for the domain with the support of the Budapest city …

Joe Pomp sues podcaster who he alleges is forwarding domains to his competing website. Joe Pompliano, the publisher of a popular newsletter and podcast about sports business, has sued (pdf) a competing podcaster for cybersquatting. Pompliano writes the popular Huddle Up newsletter and hosts a podcast called The Joe Pomp …

Company chooses a more generic name and gets the matching .com. Crunchbase’s Joanna Glasner called 2020 “the year of the noun,” after proclaiming that startup names were becoming “less silly.” Glasner reviewed data that suggests that newly formed startups are beginning to choose basic dictionary words. It’s not only newly …