Conference for “hot” sector of domain names returns in July.

It seems like everywhere you look, domainers are talking about “Geo” domains. Those in the geo space will tell you it’s been hot since the beginning, but they probably enjoy finally getting the respect they deserve. And that will be on display at this year’s GeoDomain Expo in Chicago July 11-12 at W Chicago – City Center. (There is a cocktail party the evening of July 10.)

I’ve decided to go to the conference for a couple reasons. First, I’m a closet geo domainer. I have a spreadsheet of city and state names, and when I come up with a relevant term (e.g. plumbers), I plug the keyword in and search for available domain names. I also own the name of a small Austin-area city called Lakeway. It’s a cool feeling whenever I drive through Lakeway. It feels like “I own this town”. I’m getting ready to develop Lakeway.com and want to learn from some veterans.

I usually don’t go to conferences for the content, but Associated Cities and co-sponsor The Kelsey Group have put together a program that looks appealing. A session on Friday will discuss getting local advertising dollars. The panel will include The Castello brothers. Later that afternoon is a discussion on how to develop geo domains. Also of interest is David Kesmodel, who will be there with his new book The Domain Game.

Of course, no conference would be complete without a live domain auction. Moniker will host a geo domain auction Saturday night.

I’ll be covering the event live on Domain Name Wire, but if you’re interested in geo domains, I recommend going to this conference in person. Registration is only $595 through May 31, which is just a fraction of the price of most conferences.

Software giant buys premium domain name for search efforts.

The world was abuzz a couple weeks ago when Microsoft announced its new cashback search engine. Less reported was that Microsoft quietly purchased the domain name CashBack.com.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) purchased the domain name from Kansas City, Missouri company Creative Marketing Associates. Creative Marketing Associates owns a number of domain names, including the valuable GiftCard.com, as well as corresponding toll free vanity phone numbers.

Microsoft has yet to market the domain name in ads, instead referring people to search.live.com/cashback, which is where CashBack.com currently forwards. In a phone interview yesterday, Microsoft Senior Attorney Aaron Kornblum, Worldwide Sales Group, said, “We are looking for smart and innovative ways to connect with our customers. We will continue to explore all available means including domain names.” Make no mistake — Microsoft realizes the value of generic domain names.

Kornblum has been active in the domain industry for a while and recently spoke on a panel at a Domain Roundtable conference. “We’ve been watching and will continue to watch closely [the domain industry],” he said, referring to Microsoft’s interest in the domain name market. “It’s an industry that’s been at the cutting edge of advertising and technology for a long time.”

Although Microsoft appreciates the value add of the domain industry, Kornblum says it has no plans to provide an advertising feed to parked domains in the immediate future.

Creative Marketing Associates declined to comment about the sale, and Kornblum would not disclose the purchase price. Based on historical whois records, it appears Microsoft used a broker to buy the domain name. On April 30, 2008 the whois information for CashBack.com changed from Creative Marketing Associates to a whois privacy service. On May 11, 2008, the whois changed to Renee Angel of Woodinville, Washington. I called the phone number on that record and Angel answered, but declined to comment and quickly hung up the phone when I asked if she was with Microsoft. The e-mail address on the same whois record was for Karl Swenson, a Microsoft employee. Interestingly, his email address was hosted on Google’s Gmail.

Regardless of the sale price, this domain purchase is good news for the domain name industry, especially if Microsoft starts advertising CashBack.com.

New software provides Overture data from January, February, and March 2007.

Updated Overture traffic data is a thing of the past, but a new software application makes it easy to find expiring domains with traffic thanks to its archive of Overture data.

OVT Matcher is a simple application, but don’t confuse simplicity with value. Basically, you download lists of expiring domains from SnapNames, NameJet, and other services. Import then into OVT Matcher, click “Go”, and see a list of the domains that have traffic data in under a second. The download and import process takes about 30 seconds.

The underlying Overture data is a goldmine in itself. I know people who have paid $10,000 for this data. February and March data is difficult to find because Overture defaulted its tool back to January. Therefore, this software can help you find traffic domains that didn’t register a score in January 2007…that most other domainers miss during the drop.

My only concern with software like this is dilution. If 100 people use it, there might be competition for these “hidden” traffic domain names. The application costs $200, which seems like a great deal to me. A lot cheaper than paying $10,000 for a data dump — and it’s functional, too.

Communications company will have to defend its DNS wildcarding practices.

It looked like a slam dunk case for Verizon (NYSE: VZ) when it sued Navigation Catalyst Systems, Inc. for trademark infringement. Navigation Catalyst owns a number of domains similar to Verizon’s marks.

But Navigation Catalyst found this to be a perfect opportunity to point out that Verizon is a hypocrite. It filed counterclaims citing Verizon’s error redirect system that monetizes typos on its internet service.

I’ve written about these error redirects many times. The bottom line is that some of CADNA’s members, including Dell and Verizon, infringe trademarks every day with these services. If almost all generic domain names are registered, then these companies’ error redirect “services” are likely activated for trademark terms 99.9% of the time. Perhaps this lawsuit will force Verizon to reveal how much it’s making from this program and which typos receive the most traffic.

I don’t agree with what Navigation Catalyst has (allegedly) done. But no one likes a hypocrite.

Site gives into domain pressure and changes name.

I first wrote about Sk*rt last November, when I said the company should win the grand prize for worst domain name ever (sk-rt.com). I predicted that Skirt Magazine, which ran Skirt.com, would go after Sk*rt.com, and it did. But I also said this would be a dumb move. If Skirt Magazine didn’t run straight to its lawyer, it would have realized it was seeing lots of free traffic from people who were confused by Sk*rt’s domain name.

Instead, Skirt Magazine filed a UDRP against Sk-rt.com. It lost, and perhaps Skirt Magazine should have disclosed that it didn’t acquire the domain name until after sk-rt.com was registered. Whoops.

But apparently the legal pressure has gotten to Sk*rt, which has changed its domain name to Kirtsy.com. When I first heard about this name change, I immediately went to my browser and typed in the new name, which I supposed was spelled in the traditional manner, Curtsey.com. Doh. The owner of that name and the owner of Curtsy.com are now enjoying free traffic.

The moral of the story, of course, is to start with a good domain name from the beginning. It will save you many headaches in the end.