Domain name news from the past few days.
Merry Christmas! Domain Name Wire has been missing in action for a couple days thanks to the Christmas holiday. Here are some news stories that slipped through the cracks.
Domain heavyweights join forces to start Bido.com. What is it? When will it launch? How will it help domainers? No one other than the founders knows. But the founding team includes DNJournal’s Ron Jackson and Recall Media co-founders Sahir Sarid, Jeff Bhavnanie, and Darren Cleveland. Register for updates from Bido here.
Microsoft sues domain registrar. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has sued domain registrar Red Register for typosquatting and cybersquatting. Microsoft alleges that Red Register has squatted on about 125 domains confusingly similar to the company’s trademarks. There are a number of registrars set up solely for domain tasting that frequently snap up trademarked names.
DomainTools auction deadline extended. DomainTools has extended the deadline for submissions for its January 3 online domain auction to December 27. Selected domains will be posted December 28. That gives DomainTools exactly 7 days to market the domains to potential buyers. If I were selling domains in this auction, I’d be worried about low bidding. I’ve complained about short lead times in auctions before, but this auction takes the cake. Plus, many people will be traveling or on vacation on January 3. Personally, I’ll be on a plane between Cancun and Austin. DomainTools should consider postponing the auction a couple weeks to give more time to market the selected domains.
Beware of inflated domain prices. Elliot Silver has a good blog post about domains being bought and sold between investors, thus inflating prices. I’ve been planning to write about that for some time. However, I don’t necessarily agree that there’s a bubble in three character domains, as Elliot suggests.
Registrar locked out of registry. Domain Name News reports that customers of Belgium Domains are in a pickle thanks to a lawsuit by Dell and Yahoo.
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