Groupon registers domain names for “Groupon Goods”.

Over the past several days Groupon has registered over a half dozen domain names for “Groupon Goods”, including GrouponGoods.com, GrouponGoods.fr (France), and GrouponGoods.org.

I can’t find any announcements from Groupon about a new “brand” of Groupon Goods, so we’re left to speculate what the company is up to.

Two obvious ideas:

1. “Goods” as in merchandise. Most of Groupon’s offers are for services or food. Groupon Goods could be a special offering for merchandise only. I know I’d rather subscribe to that than get bombarded with offers for Brazilian Blowouts.

2. “Goods” as in charity.

Any other thoughts?

It would be and easy process to automate.

When you finally find that perfect and available domain name, you’re not yet done securing your online identity. And someone might be lurking to “front run” your Twitter username.

That’s what Ross Duggan thinks happened to him. He finally found the perfect unregistered domain name for his new project. He checked on Twitter and the same handle was still available. So he registered the domain name.

When he returned a couple days later to register the Twitter username he found that it was taken. The user hadn’t done anything with the Twitter account other than register it.

It would be really easy for someone to front run your username. Getting new registration information typically takes a day if the frontrunner is downloading the zone file. But if they’re monitoring new entries to the DNS they could get the info faster.

I recommend getting your Twitter handle at the same time you register your domain.

Hat tip: Jorge Monasterio.

Company gets a triple xxx domain name — but I’m not talking about the top level domain.

Google has gotten its hands on GoogleXXX — but not Google.xxx (yet).

The company was awarded GoogleXXX.com in a World Intellectual Property Forum ruling just handed down.

This got me thinking: with the .xxx top level domain name coming out, will it lead to more xxx typos?

One type of domain companies should consider registering is just like what Google just got — trademarkxxx.com. A lot of people are trained to type .com after any web address, so I suspect we’ll see more traffic to domains like these. Googlexxx.com already gets some traffic according to Compete.

Then of course there’s xxx.com, which should see a huge spike in traffic. It should consider wildcarding name.xxx.com.

That said, I’m not sure these typos are a huge risk for brands. People know that coke followed by xxx probably isn’t an official company site, anyway.

Registry for .asia domain names wants to release short names.

.Asia registry DotAsia Organisation Ltd is joining fellow top level domain name operators with plans to release one and two character domain names.

The registry has filed a Registry Services Evaluation Process request with ICANN explaining how it plans to allocate the domain names.

Like other registries, it plans a three-pronged release of domain names:

1. Request for Proposal – interested parties can submit a proposal about how they will use and promote a one or two character .asia domain name. Qualified applicants will be awarded the domains.

2. Sunrise – trademark holders of one and two character names can apply for domains. An auction will be held in the event of more than one qualified sunrise request for the same name.

3. Landrush and auction – any remaining unallocated domain names will be auctioned off or made available to the community.

You can view .asia’s request here.

According to HosterStats, there are just under 200,000 .asia domain names currently registered.

“They’re not from McDonalds, are they?”

This trademark lawsuit doesn’t involve a domain name but is interesting nonetheless.

Iconic hamburger chain In-N-Out Burgers has sued Maryland burger joint Grab-N-Go Burgers for trademark infringement.

It’s not the name by itself that disturbs In-N-Out. It’s more like McDowell’s‎ instead of McDonald’s in Coming to America (the quote above).

In-N-Out thinks Grab-N-Go has stolen just about everything from its popular concept. It says not only are the names similar, but the logos have the same colors, the look and feel of the stores are similar with white tile walls with a red stripe, and even the menu has the same style.

The burger chain says Grab-N-Go has even ripped off its off-menu “Animal Style” burger and called it a “Wild Style” Burger.

Here’s the exhibit In-N-Out filed with the court. What do you think?