.Brand domain names are on their way, but how they’re used is still an open question.

One of the specific uses of new top level domain names that has always confused me is the .brand domain name, such as .nike.

I’ve often asked how someone would actually visit .nike and received very loose answers.

So when I saw that CentralNic launched a new service called DotBrand Solutions, I jumped on the opportunity to talk to CEO Ben Crawford.

So just how will people visit .nike?

Crawford says that, at least at first, you can expect to visit brand TLDs via a second level domain such as shoes.nike.

Even if you could type .nike into your browser, “That’s not intuitive,” Crawford says. “It’s useful to have something that computes to how people are used to using the internet.”

You’ll probably find that emailing someone with a .brand domain will look something like this: name@mail.brand

At least at first, don’t expect email clients to understand name@.brand, even if it’s technically possible.

“The real benefit isn’t eliminating the second level domain, it’s owning the entire inventory of the second level domains and being able to do whatever you want with it,” Crawford explains.

Crawford says that brands that are looking to get a .brand already have a lot of existing domain names. They won’t flip the switch over night.

“They’re going to have a long and sensible and careful migration period,” he says.

But won’t people still try to email name@mail.nike.com by habit?

“When you’re talking about big brands with big budgets, they’re not just going to rush into it and close one web site tomorrow,” says Crawford. “They’re going to take it slow and see the ways to make the most out of this opportunity.”

Other than owning the entire inventory of second level domain names, Crawford says businesses can improve their security with their own top level domain name. They can tell their customers that if they see their brand to the right of the dot, it’s the authentic web site.

Crawford uses plenty of margin for error when predicting how many .brands will be applied for.

“Hundreds,” he says.

The cost of getting a .brand will vary widely. Some companies may get their .brand and just forward it to their existing web site for a few years until they decide how they want to use it. In that case it will probably cost them a few hundred thousand dollars for the first year including ICANN fees.

Given the relatively low cost to a Fortune 500, I think Crawford is right. I think hundreds of companies will apply for .brand TLDs. Most won’t have any idea what they want to do with it yet, but they’ll still want to secure it.

Another .me domain name sells for big bucks.

Go Daddy Auctions has handled the sale of Whisper.me for $17,5000.

I must admit that I continue to be taken aback by sales of .me domain names. Sure, some of them are catchy. But whisper.me doesn’t have the same ring as love.me or call.me.

And even if with the cuteness factor, some of the prices paid for these has just caught me by surprise.

Surely the ones that don’t take advantage of the play on ‘.me’ will see their prices fall as hundreds of new TLDs come online in the next couple years?

The domain name was sold by Brands-and-Jingles.

Here are some other notable sales at Go Daddy auctions over the past week:

MCEO.com $10,000
SeeGeorgiaRealEstate.com $5,815
Wallo.com $5,488
JumpingMouse.com $5,188
Nucleare.com $4,788
Palinfo.com $4,388

Google to start syndicating more ad data to parking companies.

In one what could prove to be a major move for Google Adsense for Domains partners, NameDrive will begin showing site links and site reviews with some of its parked page links.

These options have already been offered to Google Adwords advertisers on Google.com for a while.

Here’s an example of an ad including additional “site links”:

And an example that includes a site review:

You’ve probably seen product ads on Google.com that also include pictures. Could those be far behind? Will Google Adsense for Content on regular web sites also start syndicating ads like this in the future?

It would certainly make sense. Google has been testing this ad style for a while and wouldn’t start syndicating it if it didn’t work.

It’s possible.

One of my tweeps just sent me a link to an article questioning what would happen to .ly domain names if Libya decided to “shut down” the internet.

It’s a very good question. One of the most popular URL shortening services, bit.ly, uses Libya’s .ly domain name.

We can rewind a bit and note that this isn’t the first time this question has been asked, and look at what happened in Egypt for the answer.

First things first, it doesn’t take social unrest to question the fate of a country code domain name. Back in 2009 Rogers Cadenhead asked a pointed question about .ly given Libya’s reputation in the world.

Then a .ly link shortener was shut down because it linked to adult content.

But if Libya “shuts down” the internet rather than taking aim at a particular service (and it could take aim at bit.ly given its use to spread news about Libya on Twitter), what happens to anything on the .ly domain name?

We can look to what happened in Egypt for a very recent and relevant answer.

When Egypt stymied the internet the primary servers the ccTLD operators used were inaccessible as they were in Egypt. This meant they couldn’t resolve addresses.

In the case of the ASCII .eg domain name there were secondary servers that had cached the primary, meaning .eg domains were still accessible.

But the IDN version of Egypt’s country code hadn’t been cached at secondary locations, and it wasn’t accessible.

I suspect .ly has been cached on secondary servers, but I don’t know for sure.

The larger message is that there are dangers to using ccTLDs. Another example would be when Argentina retroactively enforced registration limits. Natural disasters can also play a role.

True, there are dangers to all TLDs. But some (.com) are safer than others.

Users need to be aware of the risks they’re taking.

WIPO panel rules in favor of domain name owner.

The owner of LionsDen.com since 1995 can keep his domain name, a World Intellectual Property Organization UDRP panel has decided.

Mile, Inc., which owns The Lion’s Den retail brand of adult entertainment products, filed the complaint arguing that the domain name infringed on its rights.

The company faced an uphill battle since the domain name is generic and was registered some 15 years before it filed the complaint. However, the domain name owner had recently parked the domain name and it showed adult advertisements.

Still, the domain owner successfully argued that he didn’t register the domain name in an attempt to infringe on the complainant’s brand. That’s a fair bet.

The complainant suggested to the panel that the current owner of the domain name may not have actually been the original registrant in 1995. But the panel said the complainant didn’t provide any evidence of this, such as historical whois from DomainTools. Perhaps the complainant’s lawyers did check DomainTools, but they would have found that the current owner has owned the domain name as far back as DomainTools records go to 2001.

Interestingly, one of the reasons the panel determined that the domain name wasn’t registered in bad faith was because “Respondent is not a professional domainer”.