DomainTools releases new product with comprehensive data for a single domain.

DomainTools has released a new one-off product called Domain Report.

A Domain Report is a comprehensive, professional-looking PDF document that includes an entire profile of an individual domain name:

-Every Historic Whois record DomainTools has
-Our complete website screenshot history
-Owner (registrant) name and email address
-Current Whois record
-Registration dates and status codes
-Network name and IP location
-Reverse IP & Name Server connected domains

Each Domain Report costs $49.

Some of this data is available for free to anyone, and the rest (other than the reverse nameserver) is already included in premium memberships. However, I think the way the information is quickly collated into a professional document will make the reports valuable even to paid DomainTools members.

Of course, those that don’t have a paid account and need one off reports (a lawyer, someone brokering a domain, etc) will find these reports particularly valuable.

Watch My Domains Pro and DomainTools Domain Monitor work in tandem to keep a watchful eye on my portfolio.

Yesterday I reiterated my appreciation for Watch My Domains Pro, a tool I’ve been praising since 2007. Rob Sequin seconded my approval for the software in the comments.

Watch My Domains Pro is one of two tools I use to monitor my domain portfolio.

Watch My Domains Pro

I use this to track the master list of domains I own. You basically add your domains and then can update the domain data whenever you want.

It works by running whois checks. After you pull in the whois you can view your domains by expiration date, nameservers, registrar, contacts, etc.

It has been very helpful for me to make sure I don’t let a domain expire. It also helps me keep track of where my domains are parked/hosted. It’s easy to spot outliers, such as domains that still point to a registrar nameserver.

The downside is that the desktop software has to pull whois records from your IP address whenever you want to refresh the data. Depending on your registrar this can be a problem. Many registrars rate limit the number of whois checks that can run from one IP address. Even though Watch My Domains Pro has controls to space out your queries and use proxies, registrars such as Go Daddy have very strict limits that you’ll likely run into. (Remember, regardless of where you run a .com whois check it needs to get data from the registrar because .com has “thin whois”. Verisign doesn’t keep data about the owner; only your registrar has that.)

DomainTools Domain Monitor

I use the DomainTools Domain Monitor to be alerted to any changes in domain status for my domains.

You input your list of domain names and the monitor pulls in status and expiration information. If anything changes (e.g. a domain expires or becomes unlocked) then you get an alert. You can be alerted via email or RSS.

Domain Monitor is also a good way to monitor other domains you want to keep an eye on.

Updated functionality lets users request details on a subset of domains owned by a business or person.

DomainTools has released new reverse whois searching functionality, allowing users to hone in on exactly the records they’re looking for.

By reducing the number of domain records in a search, it can also make it cheaper.

The updated functionality allows you to add multiple ‘and’ and ‘or’ operators for the email address, registrant record, whois record, domain name, and extension. It lets you select text for each search indicator, which narrows down the results.

For example, a company investigating which domain names a person owns containing its trademark can enter the mark in the “domain name” field. If the company only cares about .com domains, it can add that as the extension.

You can also search the whois record based on a registration date. I think it would be helpful to also add a date range functionality for this same purpose.

By narrowing down the list of domains in a reverse whois report, users only have to pay for what they want. Reverse whois reports aren’t cheap. If a registrant has over 1,000 domains a report will set you back at least $499. Whittle the list down to 100 domains and the price drops to $99.

Preemptive case against New Jersey man can’t go forward in Washington, judge rules.

DomainTools’ preemptive lawsuit against Russ Smith has been dismissed (pdf) with prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue.

Russ Smith had threatened to sue DomainTools for copyright infringement and try to get its trademark canceled. Among Smith’s complaints: DomainTools’ archival of snapshots of his web site home pages were copyright violations.

Instead of waiting for Smith to file his suit, DomainTools filed a suit against him in its home state of Washington. The suit asked the court to rule that DomainTools wasn’t violating copyright, among other requests.

Smith asked the court to dismiss the case because he believed Washington was an improper venue.

The company provided a handful of reasons why it felt Washington was an appropriate place to file the lawsuit. One of the reasons was a forum selection clause in the terms of service on DomainTools web site. The company claimed Smith was subject to the terms when he submitted his threats via the web site’s contact form.

The company’s claims failed to impress judge Marsha Pechman. She dismissed the case with prejudice.

Domain and web hosting data company gets trademarks for “DomainTools”.

Remember when DomainTools was called (the much less desirable) whois.sc? It was shorter, but running a domain name business on a Seychelles ccTLD is no bueno.

It changed its name in 2006 to DomainTools and today was awarded two trademarks on its brand.

Trademark registration number 4,079,040 covers “DomainTools” for several uses, including “Downloadable computer software for providing access to internet domain registration and hosting data” and “advertising services in the field of internet domain names; services related to the analysis, evaluation, and sale of domain names.”

Registration number 4,079,041 is for the DomainTools logo.