Extended auction fails to live up to success of live auction.

Last week DOMAINfest had a successful live domain name auction. Unfortunately, the extended auction didn’t perform too well.

Only 8 out of 797 domain names sold, or a sell through rate of only 1%.

It’s disappointing, but I’m not terribly surprised. I only came up with five domain names to mention in my preview post a couple days ago. (Mind you, none of the five I chose sold. But it goes to show that it wasn’t easy finding “sure things” in the auction at the reserve prices).

Another anomaly: only two of the domains that sold were .com.

Here are the sales:

vhs.com $17650
relationship.net $12950
dedicated.net $8830
earnextramoney.org $525
accenttables.co.uk 300
associatesdegree.co.uk $1066
energyteas.com 425
flannelshirts.co.uk 300

Relationship.net and Dedicated.net were peculiar. They each received one bid and fairly early on. I’d also say the prices are rather high for this quality of .net. I can see how the domains are related though.

Entrepreneur kicks around idea for .ego top level domain name.

Got a big ego? You might be able to pick up YourName.ego once new top level domain names are released.

A Florida man has filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “.ego” for “Extension of domain names for identification of personal users on a global computer network”.

I contacted David Ways today to see what his plans are for the domain name.

“.Ego encompasses everything about an individual,” explained Ways. “Your ego is your personal identity.”

One possibility is that your .ego site could be a central hub for your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts, he explained. He thinks it’s a better TLD for this than .name, for example, since ego encompasses your entire identity.

Ways is in the early stages of planning the top level domain name and is looking for partners.

Company tries to get leg up in new TLD process with trademarks.

I’ve written a couple times about prospective new top level domain applicants trying to trademark the names of their proposed TLD (e.g. .eco).

But it appears dotSport LLC, one of the companies going after what will likely be a competition for .sport, is being quite aggressive.

According to filings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the company has tried to register DotSport, RegistryDotSport, Life.Sport, and Registry.Sport, and a couple logos.

Its first two applications for DotSport and RegistryDotSport were denied. But then the U.S.P.T.O. allowed the trademark for Life.Sport, a graphical logo of DotSport, and a graphical logo.

There’s just one problem. dotSport filed these applications as “intent to use” since .sport doesn’t exist yet. Once the applications were allowed, dotSport had six months to file showing that it was now using the marks in commerce. Yet new TLDs still aren’t here, so the company has had to ask for additional 6-month extensions. You can request up to five extensions. I wonder if new TLDs will come out in time?

The company is still trying to get approval for Registry.Sport. It filed an application on January 29, 2009 that is currently denied for being descriptive. It filed another application for Registry.Sport on May 5, 2010.

These trademarks could create some problems given that at least one other entity is trying to get .sport as a top level domain name. If dotSport LLC loses, would the other registry be infringing on dotSport LLC’s marks?

Epik announces developer conference.

Rob Monster’s Epik has announced its inaugural Epik Developer Conference to take place in Seattle September 15-17.

Although the schedule is very tentative as of now, Monster says the event will include lessons on the entire lifecycle of domain names: acquiring, developing, operating, and selling. He also promises client case studies with specific examples of sites that are profiting from the Epik network.

Epik provides a number of tools to domainers to acquire and develop domain names. Its three main products help build product sites, directory sites, and reference sites.

But even if you’re just tipping your toes into domain development, this developer conference might be worth attending. As someone in the South, I generally try to take advantage of every opportunity I can to travel to the Pacific Northwest during the summer. The weather is incredible.

Start networking now for next month’s TRAFFIC show.

The next T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain name conference is in 2 1/2 weeks, and this will be the first ever of the franchise to travel to Canada. It will take place June 8-10 at the Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel.

Please submit a comment below if you are making it to the show. This will help everyone network.

According to the TRAFFIC site, the admission price has increased to $1295 effective today. However, the link for $795 admission is still up, so you might be able to sign up at that price for the time being.