Some domain names applied for under landrush will be auctioned next year in open auction.

The .co registry ran approximately 2,500 landrush auctions for .co domain names during its relaunch this year. But 156 of the auctions didn’t close for one reason or another, and these domain names will be auctioned again in the first quarter of 2011 at Pool.com.

The 156 domains will be auctioned in an open format, meaning that even if you didn’t submit a landrush application for the domain name you’ll still be able to participate.

The registry said it took a number of steps to ensure the integrity of the landrush auction process:

We worked hard to ensure that legitimate buyers had every opportunity to participate in the auctions. In cases where no bidders signed up in time to participate, we gave them all another chance to sign up and bid in a second auction round. We also took care to protect legitimate bidders from those who may have sought to “game” the system in some way. For example, once an account was suspended for lack of payment, we canceled all the auctions associated with the non-paying bidder’s account (even those auctions they may have already paid for).

Some of the top landrush auctions were: ban.co $24,500, mesothelioma.co $76,000, denver.co $50,001, and duiattorney.co $44,500.

Frank Schilling beats media behemoth; panel decision could be important.

Frank Schilling’s Name Administration has won a case against the New York Times Company over the domain name DealBook.com. But it’s more than a victory; the National Arbitration Forum panel also addressed an issue that most other panels have dismissed: doctrine of laches.

As described by the panel, “Laches is an equitable doctrine that may provide a defense when an adverse party has unreasonably delayed in asserting his rights to the detriment of the accused.”

Imagine if I had a trademark for “The Domains” dating to prior to Michael Berkens starting his popular “The Domains” blog. When he started blogging I was silent on the issue, letting him build up his blog until 2010, when I then filed a claim against him.

It might be fair back when he first started the blog for me to raise the issue, but now that he has invested much time into the blog without my opposition it wouldn’t be right. And it might show that I didn’t believe I really had these rights.

Most UDRP panels ignore the doctrine of laches, but not this one:

The Panel believes that the doctrine of laches should be expressly recognized as a valid defense in any domain dispute where the facts so warrant. Prior decisions rejecting the applicability of the doctrine due to the failure of its express recognition in the UDRP Policies appear to be an unsound basis for ignoring the potential defense. While the Panel recognizes that the UDRP is administrative in nature, the practical effect of the proceeding is to provide equitable relief to the successful party. Thus, if equitable relief is the outer extent of the remedy available equitable defenses should also be considered in evaluating the whether any relief should be forthcoming.

In this particular case the panel notes:

In the instant proceeding the Respondent emphasizes on numerous occasions that it has held the domain name and used it in connection with its website offerings for in excess of six years and rightfully posits the question of what should be made of the fact that the Complainant has done nothing during that time despite claiming that its development of the identical trademark and subsequent use predates that of the Respondent. This is not a case of passive holding by the Respondent or an instance of an unsophisticated Complainant. Complainant notes that it has been in business for more than a century and half and has developed worldwide fame in both real space and cyberspace through use of numerous trademarks. Where such a Complainant fails to police its claimed mark and does nothing for a substantial time while a Respondent develops an identical domain name for its own legitimate purposes, laches should bar that Complainant from turning a Respondent’s detrimental reliance to its own unjust benefit.

The recognition of the time it took for a company to file this complaint, if picked up by other panels, could be a major win for respondents in domain name disputes.

John Berryhill defended Name Administration in the case.

Another way to stay up-to-date with the latest from Domain Name Wire.

I get a lot of traffic from Twitter, yet some readers have told me they don’t use the microblogging service. They prefer to get updates from Facebook.

Your wish is granted.

Now you can get Domain Name Wire updates, including both the latest blog posts as well as links and thoughts on other industry announcements, at facebook.com/DomainNameWire.

If you already follow Domain Name Wire on twitter then you’re going to get basically the same content as you’ll get in the Facebook feed. It’s just another way to stay on top of the latest domain name news.

Of course I also recommend you subscribe the site’s RSS feed, which syndicates full posts directly to your reader.

Changes in Karate.com and Perfume.com plans.

Live Current Media is making some changes.

First, back in August the company terminated a venture with Rob Monster’s Domain Strategies, Inc. to co-develop the Karate.com domain name. The agreement was originally inked on May 15, 2009. The two parties decided to discontinue the venture and the domain name was returned to Live Current.

Second, Live Current’s new management is changing course on the company’s Perfume.com plans. Previous management had decided to change the site from a discount online perfume and fragrance store selling at a discount to a luxury site selling at retail prices. New management is sticking with the original business model:

As we do not have the financial resources to fully execute this business plan, we have suspended it and intend to re-focus the business on the discount model while we assess previous management’s MSRP model and re-formulate our business plan.

Also, on September 28, 2010 the company sold a domain name for $60,000.

Biggest domain name conference tweaks formula and adds famous author to agenda.

The biggest annual conference geared to domain name investors is less than three months away.

DOMAINfest Global 2011 will take place February 1-4 in Santa Monica, California. Last year’s event brought together over 600 internet and domain name professionals.

Yesterday DOMAINfest organizer DomainSponsor announced a fireside chat/keynote with Ben Mezrich, Author of “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal” — the book the popular “The Social Network” movie is based on. While a number of people have called into question Mezrich’s portrayal of the founding of Facebook in the book, Mezrich has no doubt researched a lot about the founding of successful companies. Perhaps this conference will stoke enough intrigue in Mezrich that he’ll consider writing a book about the domain name industry (similar to this one.)

Here are a few changes compared to last year’s main DOMAINfest Global event:

1. Shorter live auctions. The low/no reserve auction will be just one hour on Tuesday and the main auction will last only 1 1/2 hours on Thursday.

2. A new format for PITCHfest. At PITCHfest companies get to pitch their company or new product to the audience for 5 minutes. Last year they then faced questioning from an expert panel. This year there will be no follow up questions; the panel will vote on a winner and the audience will get to choose one, too.

3. Interactive workshops. These workshops will be aimed at beginning and intermediate domain investors and take place in a structured setting. These workshops will feature experts that can expand knowledge and give the kinds of tips and tools to increase the learning curve of people that have more recently discovered the potential of domain names as an asset class. Buying and selling, monetization options and website buildouts will be covered.

And in case you’re wondering: yes, the Playboy Mansion party is on again this year.