Big names buy domain names in the aftermarket.

The World Bank is one of the most notable groups to buy domain names on the aftermarket this week.

The group bought two domain names through Afternic: GlobalPartnership.com for $4,588 and EducationPartners.org for $1,088. It already owns GlobalPartnership.org but hasn’t developed it yet. It doesn’t own EducationPartners.com.

Television network Telemundo bought yPunto.com for $2,510.

Another notable buyer is FriendFinder Networks, which bought DMEC.com for $6,471. I can’t figure out what they plan to do with the domain.

Here are some other “end user” domain purchases this week:

Location app SpotOn (getspoton.com) bought Fondu.com for $5,000. Note that’s not Fondue.com. A name change in the works?

The owner of travel site Alaska.org bought AlaskaApp.com for $4,000.

MetroGistics, LLC bought MetroLogistics.com for $2,600.

Bookseller Thomas Nelson bought WhereintheBible.com for $1,895, probably for a book name.

Mobile Annex, which had been using MobileAnx.com, bought MobileAnnex.com for $1,788. A smart and affordable domain upgrade.

Scrap processing company Cohen Brothers Inc. upgraded from CohenBrothersInc.com to CohenUSA.com for $1,600.

Outsourced affiliate program management company AffiliateManager.com bought AffiliateRecruitment.com for $1,500.

Trade Street Capital bought Trade-Street.com for $1,088.

US Foodservice, which bought USKitchens.com for $2,300 last week, picked up USFoods.net for $5,200.

Clients can now get subdomains on Importers.com.

Left of the Dot Media Inc., which works with generic domain owners to offer subdomains, has launched its services on Importers.com.

Live Current Media sold Importers.com for $165,000 last year. The new owner planned to merely park the page, according to Left of the Dot. Instead, the buyer and company partnered to keep the site and 400,000 members running.

Among the options available thanks to the deal is for companies to create hubs on Importers.com at subdomains such as Hardwoods.Importers.com.

In a press release, Left of the Dot co-founder John Lyotier said:

Importers.com represented the virtual equivalent of renovating an entire city center and giving businesses all the tools they need to grow and prosper – it’s good for each business and good for the community. The key for us is enabling importers and exporters to lease their very own sub-domains (Marketing Names) off the Importers.com brand so that they can become a valuable part of the community.

Google goes after another “survey” site.

Google has filed a complaint with National Arbitration forum to get a hold of Goggle.com, Goggle.net, and Goggle.org.

While the domain names could be considered “generic” for the term Google, it’s the use of the domain names that has the company up in arms.

Similar to another recent complaint over YouTube.ph, these domains forward to a survey page that then entices users to complete a number of offers.

The current page doesn’t imitate Google’s logo, but that wasn’t always the case. The site used to have a logo with a similar font to Google (courtesy DomainTools historical thumbnails):

Simple and effective integration of domains for sale.

A lot of large domain name registrars offer Afternic’s “Premium” inventory to customers. Each registrar integrates it differently and some do it better than others.

I just checked out Hover.com’s integration and I really like it. Hover is owned by Tucows, which is Afternic’s latest top 10 domain registrar partner.

Hover is known for its simplicity and this carries through to premium domains. It manages to integrate premium domains with simplicity but also make them standout.

As you can see, premium domains are denoted with a star. If you mouseover the star there’s a brief description and a link to a detailed description. The detailed description even includes a video explanation.

The video explains that domain pricing reverts to regular pricing for subsequent years. Hover’s shopping cart also handles multi-year registrations of premium domains.

This is one of the better implementations I’ve seen and should be a model for other domain name registrars.

Facebook and American Farm Bureau may be close to settling FB trademark dispute.

Facebook is getting close to settling a trademark dispute with American Farm Bureau over the mark “FB”. It all comes down to one sentence.

The intriguing dispute started when Facebook filed a trademark application for “FB”. American Farm Bureau, a lobbying group for the agriculture industry, initiating proceedings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reject the trademark.

During the proceedings Facebook acquired the domain name FB.com from American Farm Bureau for what may have been over $8 million dollars. Although Mark Zuckerberg claimed the deal settled the dispute, that was not the case.

The two sides have been working on a settlement and it appears it is close. The latest filing from the parties asking for more time to settle the matter claims (pdf):

“The parties reported that they have an agreement in principle, that drafts have been exchanged between the parties, and that one issue in a single sentence remains to be addressed in the draft agreement.”

I can’t imagine what that one issue is, but it appears a settlement is near.