No discussion at board meeting, but contractual issue is on the table.

What did ICANN discuss about UDRP providers during its board meeting last Thursday? Did it discuss Czech Arbitration Court using “supplemental rules” to change the structure of UDRP, as I predicted? Did it discuss the lack of contracts with UDRP providers?

Well, it really didn’t discuss anything. It ran out of time.

The “preliminary report” from the meeting states that time constraints prevented discussing the topic. But it also confirms that ICANN is considering entering into contracts with UDRP providers:

Due to time constraints, the Chair noted that there was more work to be done relating to the issue of exploring contractual relationships with providers, and no further discussion was had.

Hopefully, that work will be done between now and the board’s next meeting in Brussels.

If it makes you feel any better, the board also ran out of time to discuss its upcoming Board of Directors retreat.

VeriSign set to hit major milestone this quarter.

Sometime this quarter, VeriSign predicts its total registered base of .com and .net domain names will top the 100 million mark.

In its investor conference call last night, VeriSign reported that the base is currently 99.3 million domain names. 2.5 million net new names were added in the first quarter, and the company expects to add 2.0 to 2.3 million names to the base during this quarter. Do the math, and it’s possible the company has already eclipsed the 9 figure mark.

VeriSign credits a couple things with the steadily increasing base. First, registrars have been focusing on improving renewal rates. It takes a lot less marketing money to get a renewal than an initial registration, and the company has seen registrars make a push on the renewal side. Second, the overall improving economic picture has resulted in more registrations.

On July 1, VeriSign’s charge for registering a .net domain name will increase to $4.65 and charge for a .com domain name will increase to $7.34.

Patent application might step on a few toes.

It’s one of the most controversial practices undertaken by internet service providers. Now Hostway Corporation wants to patent it.

The company has filed a patent application (pdf) for “System and Method for Controlling Non-Existing Domain Traffic”. Non-existing domain traffic is when you type a domain name into your browser that doesn’t exist. Depending on your ISP, you might end up seeing a parked page instead of getting an error.

Hostway’s application involves methods of managing this traffic and forwarding it to these parked pages:

A system and method for controlling internet traffic controls internet traffic directed to a non-existing domain in a centralized manner. Instead of a non-existing domain response, the user may receive alternative responses such as a landing page including useful information and resourceful suggestions under the control of a global controller.

I suspect Paxfire might have a thing or two to say about this application.

Former agent let domain name expire, now Manny Ramirez wants it back.

Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Manny Ramirez has filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum in an effort to get the domain name MannyRamirez.com.

It appears the domain name was registered in his former agent’s name and expired after he fired that agent. In early 2009 it was registered to Legacy Sports Group, LLC. But Ramirez had fired his agent at Legacy Sports Group in 2008.

Robert Reilly of Scottsdale, Arizona, registered the domain name in March 2009 (after it expired) for a ten year term.

Visitors to the site are greeted with a message disclaiming any association to the baseball player:

This is a private Website and has no association with the baseball player.
Website coming soon

Although Reilly isn’t monetizing the domain name right now, I’m not sure how he’ll convince an arbitrator that he wasn’t specifically thinking of the baseball player when he registered the domain.

Registrar files patent applications related to helping owners of expired domains sell them.

Domain name registrar Go Daddy has filed two patents describing a system for jointly selling an expiring domain name in conjunction with the current owner of the domain name.

United States Patent publications 2010/0106650 and 2010/0106616 describe a system whereby a deal is struck between the owners of expiring domain names and a domain seller to sell the domain names and share the profits.

The basics of the invention are:

1. Pull a list of domains expiring within a predetermined timeframe
2. Contact the owners of these expiring domains, offering to help the owners sell the domains
3. Getting the owner to agree via some mechanism (e.g. email, click-through agreement on web site)
4. Sell the domain (e.g. on GoDaddy Auctions) and share the proceeds

The two patent applications were filed on October 29, 2008 and just published today. They list Go Daddy President & COO Warren Adelman and Vice President of Corporate Development & Policy Tim Ruiz as inventors.

Application PDFs:

US20100106616
US20100106650