Investor in sex.com domain name’s former owner drops objection.

After a deal was struck to sell Sex.com for $13 million last fall, investor Nuthin’ But Net filed a motion to set aside some of the proceeds because it disputed who should get them. Nuthin’ But Net accused investor Mike Mann of “self-dealing”.

I estimate that about $2 million of the sale proceeds were set aside.

But after some back-and-forth, it appears that the parties have come to an agreement.

In a stipulation (pdf) dated February 17, Nothin’ But Net

…agreed to withdraw its NBN Objection and informed the Parties that it will not submit further pleadings respecting the claims of the Secured Lenders to default interest, late fees or collection costs, including attorney’s fees.

That means the money set aside can now be distributed.

So perhaps this is the end of yet another strange chapter in the saga of Sex.com.

DOMAINfest takes top honors again.

DOMAINfest is the best domain name conference, according to survey respondents in the Sixth Annual Domain Name Wire Survey.

42% of those that have attended a domain conference said DOMAINfest is best. 39% said TRAFFIC was best.

Of the people who answered this question, more had attended a TRAFFIC conference than DOMAINfest. 67% of those that have attended a DOMAINfest show say it’s the best conference and 50% of those who have gone to TRAFFIC say TRAFFIC is best.

DOMAINfest just concluded its biggest show of the year — and perhaps the biggest domainer focused event ever with 700+ people — last month. The franchise will also hold a European show in Barcelona and one day events in New York and Las Vegas later this year.

TRAFFIC plans to hold just one conference in 2011.

Domain Roundtable came in a distant third place with 7% of the vote. After taking a year off, Domain Roundtable heads to the Bahamas in a couple weeks.

The niche GeoDomain Expo as well as Domainer Mardi Gras each received 5% of the vote. Domainer Mardi Gras is on hiatus this year.

You can see more survey results at domainnamewire.com/survey.

Lawsuit filed over Pac12.com domain name.

The owner of the Pac12.com domain name has sued the Pacific-10 collegiate athletic conference in an effort to keep his domain name.

Austin Linford filed the suit (pdf) after the PAC-10 filed a UDRP complaint (pdf) with World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain name Pac12.com. Linford is asking for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement.

Although it originally appeared that the domain name changed hands immediately after the PAC-10 announced it was changing to the PAC-12, I’m now convinced that the same person owned the domain name. Linford just used different registrant information in WHOIS. This means he owned the domain name some five years before the conference announced its name change.

Linford changed the contents of Pac12.com to a play on the late Tupac Shakur after the PAC-10 sent him a cease-and-desist letter.

In addition to registering Pac12.com, Linford also says he registered Pacific12.com and PACtwelve.com.

The legal filing in U.S. District Court in Utah should halt the UDRP proceeding. In his complaint, Linford says the PAC-10 tried to stack the deck in its favor by selecting two UDRP panelists who were graduates of PAC-10 schools.

Charity auction with a domain name twist ends on Wednesday.

It’s rare. It’s valuable. It’s truly a sugar cookie like none other.

A charity auction for a cookie commemorating Tucows/OpenSRS 10 million domains milestone ends Wednesday. At the time I’m writing the auction has been viewed 777 times and is up to $260.

Just how rare is this cookie? Only 180 were produced. According to OpenSRS‘ Ben Lucier, there are perhaps only 15 of these cookies still in existence. As far as I know, the cookie up for auction is the only one that exists outside the Tucows ecosystem. (I bought it in an auction on eBay last year.)

Proceeds from this auction will benefit Cheti School
in Tanzania. Your money goes a long way with Cheti: A nursery age child can attend Cheti for $90 a year. Older children attend for about a dollar a day. $100 feeds an entire class for a week. $50 buys English books for a class.

One of my employees volunteered for 6 months at Cheti and now runs a charity to raise money for the school.

Bid now!

Man behind Forex.com and ForeignExchange.com successfully defends domain name challenge.

It’s not often that you see two heavyweights battling it out in a UDRP proceeding.

But a recently decided case for ScoutInvestments.com involved a $1.65 billion financial services firm against a successful investor and entrepreneur.

UMB Financial Corporation of Kansas City has a number of trademark registrations for “Scout” related to investment services. It brought the case against Mark Galant, a recognized name in the hedge fun industry. Galant also created the Galant Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Virginia.

Galant knows a thing or two about domain names. He founded GAIN Capital Group, which paid $250,000 for ForeignExchange.com and $100,000 for Forex.com and then built them into successful companies.

Galant claimed he registered ScoutInvestments.com as part of a portfolio of domain names that he might use for a future hedge fund or other financial company. The panel decided it could not find that the domain was registered in bad faith under the narrow rules of UDRP.