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Domain Capital gets reverse domain name hijacking win

by — Policy & Law 0 Comments

University in Spain filed dispute after it inquired about buying the domain name.

Reverse domain name hijacking graphic

Domain Capital has successfully defended its domain name UAX.com in a UDRP, and the Complainant was found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.

Universidad Privada De Madrid, S.A., a University in Spain, filed the complaint after it first tried to buy the domain name. It wasn’t happy with the asking price, so it followed up with a cease & desist letter. Domain Capital’s attorneys responded to the letter explaining Domain Capital’s rights, but the university filed a cybersquatting complaint anyway.

The university failed to convince the panel that the three-letter domain was registered in bad faith. Instead, it appears that Domain Capital acquired the domain because of the value of short domain names.

In finding reverse domain name hijacking, the three-person World Intellectual Property Organization panel wrote:

When the Complainant’s failure to appreciate the weaknesses of its case, despite being placed on prior notice by the Respondent, is coupled to the fact that it only launched the Complaint after unsuccessfully attempting to acquire the disputed domain name at its own chosen price, the Panel accepts the Respondent’s submission that the Complaint was what is popularly known as a “Plan B case”, was brought in bad faith and constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding.

Domain Capital was represented by ESQwire.com. The university was represented by Legal Things Abogados.

Your choice of top level domain can impact site performance

by — Services 3 Comments

Some have faster response times than others.

A Domain Name Wire reader recently notified me about a speed study that BunnyCDN performed. The content delivery network that helps speed up load times tested 42 top level domain names for their DNS resolution time. Here’s what it found:

Chart showing DNS resolution time

The top six performers—.biz, .buzz, .club, .co, .us and .in—use Neustar for registry services.

The next eight top level domains are Donuts’ domains, which seem to use Neustar’s DNS services as well. You’ll note other clusters, such as Verisign’s .tv/.com/.net.

BunnyCDN noted that part of the problem with some TLDs is that some of their nameservers performed worse than others. Also, the group found that response time degraded significantly outside of North American and Europe for some TLDs.

The content delivery network pointed out that DNS response time isn’t the biggest factor in a site’s performance, but I found the study and results interesting.

(Hat tip: Jorge)

How a lawyer turned his business around with new domains – DNW Podcast #273

by — Podcasts 1 Comment

After other marketing methods failed, Clay Burgess built sites using new top level domains.

Clay Burgess is a lawyer and owns a law firm in Louisiana. Until a couple of years ago, his business was struggling. The SEO and marketing consultants he hired weren’t delivering results. Then he tried something everyone told him wouldn’t work: he built lead generation sites on .lawyer and .attorney domain names. It turned his firm around, and now he has so many leads that he’s helping other lawyers build their businesses. It’s a fascinating end user story.

Also: Frank Schilling cashes in.

Sponsor: Name.com

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ICANN Board quizzes Internet Society over .Org sale

by — Policy & Law 14 Comments

Board questions how the deal is in the spirit of the original decision to assign .org contract to Internet Society.

Logo for .org domain, featuring a blue circle with white letters spelling ORG

ICANN’s Board of Directors is asking Internet Society (ISOC) pointed questions about the proposed sale of Public Interest Registry, which operates .org, to private equity company Ethos Capital.

Maarten Botterman, chair of the board, sent a letter (pdf) to Gonzalo Camarillo, chair of the ISOC Board of Trustees, on February 13. The letter asks 18 questions, and many of them relate to how .org will be run as it relates to Internet Society’s proposal when it was awarded the domain extension.

Botterman wrote:

When ISOC applied for and was awarded the right to manage .ORG in 2002, ISOC made commitments to the Internet community on how it would differentiate and uphold the
unique purpose of the .ORG TLD. ICANN awarded the management of the .ORG registry with the belief that ISOC was uniquely positioned to live up to these commitments for the long
run. These commitments have been maintained since that 2002 award, and ICANN has heard loud and clear that the community of .ORG registrants is concerned that these
commitments already have been abandoned or will be abandoned if the transfer to Ethos Capital is completed. ICANN has also heard concerns raised that the .ORG community was
not consulted by ISOC as part of the ISOC’s consideration of the proposed transaction.

That ICANN’s Board is considering the transaction and the spirit of the original deal to assign ISOC the .org contract is an interesting development.

Among the more interesting questions the board has asked ISOC:

  • There have been public statements that ISOC received multiple bids for the sale of PIR. Did ISOC solicit any responses from bidders as to how each would continue to uphold any/all of the 2002 Commitments?
  • What has Ethos Capital committed to do in regard to the 2002 Commitments? And are such commitments included in any of the transaction documents, organization documents or elsewhere in a manner that insures they will be sustained and enforceable by .ORG registrants or others in the future? [emphasis added]
  • We understand that ISOC received a written proposal from Ethos Capital in September 2019. Were any prior proposals made or prior discussions had with Ethos Capital or any of their representatives or advisors? If yes, when did those discussions occur? [This gets to the issue of if discussions were held in conjunction with ICANN dropping price caps on the .org domain.]
  • Please describe how, in deciding to sell PIR to Ethos Capital, ISOC balanced the interests of the .ORG community with ISOC’s interest in achieving a sizeable endowment to support ISOC’s future operations separate from PIR and .ORG?
  • Given the public reaction to the announced sale of PIR, will ISOC commit to completing any additional engagement with the .ORG community prior to consummating the proposed transaction with Ethos Capital? [PIR has pushed back on ICANN’s request for more time to evaluate the deal. Now ICANN is effectively going directly to ISOC with this request and a request to engage with the community.]

ICANN’s board has requested that ISOC respond by February 24.

Uniregistry adds GoDaddy branding to landers

by — Domain Sales 8 Comments

Landing pages now show GoDaddy logo and say that Uni Market is being acquired by GoDaddy.

Uniregistry and GoDady branding

GoDaddy’s acquisition of Uniregistry hasn’t closed yet, but Uniregistry has already added GoDaddy branding to its parked pages and for-sale landers (pictured above).

The message shows both Uniregistry’s and GoDaddy’s logos, noting that “Uniregistry Market will join Godaddy.”

This is a smart move. I’ve always wondered if Uniregistry’s brand, which is not well known, impacts leads and sales. Now, Uniregistry is able to leverage GoDaddy’s brand recognition immediately.

It will be interesting to see if this impacts conversion rates and gives buyers more trust.