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DomainTools appeals injunction decision in .NZ case

by — Policy & Law 0 Comments

Cyber security service wants injunction thrown out.

Whois data and security service DomainTools has appealed a preliminary injunction brought against it by .NZ registry Domain Name Commission Limited (DNCL).

DNCL sued DomainTools in June 2018 over DomainTools’ collection and publication of .NZ Whois data. It argued that DomainTools’ actions violated DNCL’s terms of service, which are provided with each Port 43 Whois query result.

A Federal District judge granted an injunction that ordered DomainTools to not collect any more .NZ Whois records and to remove any previously published records while the lawsuit proceeded.

DomainTools appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In its opening brief (pdf), DomainTools argues that DNCL’s terms of service were not binding on DomainTools because of how the terms of service were published. Including the terms with each Whois result is considered a “browsewrap” agreement; the other party does not check a box or make any other affirmative action to agree to the terms.

DomainTools notes that “The lower court acknowledged that so-called “browsewrap” agreements like DNCL’s terms of use are not enforceable unless “the user has actual or constructive knowledge of the [terms of use].” In the court’s view, however, DomainTools’ repeat queries established sufficient knowledge.”

The company says that the lower court’s view should not apply because all of DomainTools’ Whois queries were “conducted by an automated program on a dedicated computer-to-computer channel acting without human intervention.”

It also says that the terms were written in a way that didn’t suggest that DomainTools’ use of the data violated the terms.

DomainTools wants the court to weigh the negative impact to DomainTools’ customers against the impact on .NZ registrants whose information is published.

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Does this domain registration drop a hint about A Quiet Place 2?

by — Uncategorized 1 Comment

Paramount makes an odd domain registration for A Quiet Place.

Picture from A Quiet Place movie

Is the sequel to A Quiet Place really a prequel?

One of last year’s biggest movie hits was A Quiet Place, which follows a family surviving after aliens invade earth.

A sequel is definitely on tap, but it might not be a sequel in a traditional sense. One idea based on director John Krasinski’s recent comments on a podcast is that it will follow other people surviving post-invasion.

But Paramount Pictures made an odd domain name registration today that got me thinking. The company registered 2aQuietPlaceMovie.com.

This is kind of weird. Wouldn’t it be AQuietPlaceMovie2.com?

That domain isn’t registered. Why put the 2 in front?

One idea is that the 2 is a play on ‘to’, and the sequel will actually be a prequel. The first movie picks up well after the invasion, and there’s a big storyline before the first movie even begins.

While I like this idea, I should note that ToAQuietPlaceMovie.com isn’t registered, and I’d think the studio would want this domain if ‘2’ really is a play on ‘to’. Of course, since this domain registration is so fresh, they could just be getting around to it now.

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My favorite domain names in the NamesCon auction

by — Domain Sales 8 Comments

These are some of the most compelling names in the auction (for the price).

People holding bid cards in an auction

This year’s NamesCon live domain name auction is less than two weeks away. Prebidding is already underway with many domains already at 10+ bids.

Most of the names in the auction have a reserve. So far, the most expensive domain to meet its reserve is Multiplexer.com at $2,100.

I reviewed the list to find my favorite domains at the reserve range. There are obviously better names in the auction than many of the ones I selected, but given the reserve ranges, these are the ones I find most compelling.

Give.com (reserve > $1 million) – This domain sold for $500k in 2015. It reminds me a bit of Great.com and Super.com, which sold last year for about a million dollars each. Depending on how high over a million this domain is, it has good potential.

Lucky.com (> $1 million) – Between Lucky.io selling for $67k on park.io a few months ago, online gambling, and brands that use this name, it’s a winner.

Piano.com ($400k-$500k) – I’m thinking more as a brand than as an instrument site.

Document.com ($300k-$400k) – Files.com just sold for $750k. Document.com has more uses.

Athlete.com ($200k-$300k) – I’m including this one because it sold for $122k in the 2008 TRAFFIC auction. I’m curious if it can fetch near that amount ten years later.

Leukemia.com ($100k-$200k) – I realize this is difficult to spell but probably not for people who are fighting this horrible cancer. Health Union bought the .net last year for $9k. They build lots of sites on .net, but it might be worth spending a bit more for the .com in this case. Otherwise, perhaps a charity or drug maker can use this domain.

Adverbs.com ($5k-$10k) – I like this as a brand, but would prefer the singular version. The domain sold for $1,800 in 2011.

Bullied.com ($5k-$10k) – Perfect for a bully prevention organization or help group. This domain sold for $3,400 in 2007.

Wipeout.com ($5k-$10k) – I don’t know what you’d use it for…maybe a game? Even though it has a negative connotation, I think it’s a fun name for the right site.

The auction takes place January 28, 2019 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas and online. It is presented by Right of the Dot in conjunction with NameJet.

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15 end user domain sales up to $60k

by — Domain Sales 0 Comments

A pet products company, ceramic coatings manufacturer and truck enthusiast website bought domain names this past week.

graphic of briefcase full of money related to end user domain name sales

This week we have end user sales from both Sedo and PerfectName.com. I’ve denoted the PerfectName sales; all others are at Sedo.

The beginning of the year is usually a good time for domain sales so I look forward to seeing a bunch of good end user sales soon.

Let’s get to the list, and you can view previous lists like this here. Click here to see the list…

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How the competitive domain registrar market keeps prices down

by — Domain Registrars 5 Comments

No matter what Verisign charges them, registrar profits on .com are limited by competition.

Last year the U.S. Government granted the ability for Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) to raise prices on .com domain names pending approval from ICANN.

Where does that extra money go? As the sole wholesaler of .com domain names, every penny that Verisign raises the price of .com domain names goes to its bottom line. Domain registrars do their best to pass the price increase on to consumers, but their margins continue to be held down by the competitive market.

Indeed, while domain registrars can charge whatever they want for .com, market forces prevent them from charging much over the wholesale cost.

Take a look at this chart from Tucows’ (NASDAQ: TCX) third quarter investor Q&A:

Chart of Tucows (TCX) revenue and gross margin from .com

It shows the revenue that Tucows generates each year from .com sales as well as the gross margin. As you can see, it sells more and more .com domains but it makes roughly the same amount of margin ($8 million) each year.

Tucows CEO Elliot Noss wrote:

… .com has a strange place for us, and I suspect most registrars. It is still by far the largest top level domain. It is still by far the one that end users want as first priority. It still dominates our discussions with resellers. And over time it has become less and less impactful to our gross margin dollars. The data, going back to the launch of OpenSRS in 2000 speaks volumes. The unit volume of .com sold goes up every year. The amount of money we pay to Verisign goes up commensurately. And the amount of money that the competitive registrar market allows us to generate stays flat. Like the prairies. Amazingly flat over now 18 years. And on a % basis it has gone from us making 40% of the .com revenue generated in 2000, all the way down to 12% in 2018. We make a little under $8 million per year on .com. That was true in both 2000 and 2018. They made roughly $19 million from our .com sales in 2000. In 2017 that number was nearly $67 million. This price increase only exacerbates that trend. And of course we believe that registrars do, by far, the lion’s share of the work to generate that revenue.

While the price of .com has increased from $6.00 to $7.85 over the past 18 years, the biggest impact on profits is competition amongst domain registrars.

Noss is also pointing out that registrars (not Verisign) do the most work to promote .com’s growth.

If .com prices increase in a couple of years, Tucows will have to pass these costs directly to customers. It will probably still generate a gross margin of about $8 million a year from .com but on a bigger revenue base.

I’ve heard the argument that Verisign should have price flexibility for .com because registrars have complete price flexibility. The difference is that Verisign has a monopoly while the registrars work in a highly competitive market.

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