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GoDaddy files vanity phone number patent applications

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

Patent applications discuss using domain, website and Whois information to generate vanity numbers.

Logo for GoDaddy's SmartLine service

GoDaddy has applied for patents related to generating vanity phone numbers.

GoDaddy has filed two patent applications related to vanity telephone numbers.

Patent application numbers 15/990163 (pdf) and 15/990169 (pdf) describe methods of finding relevant vanity numbers for people based on factors such as their domain name, Whois information or website content.

The company offers phone numbers in conjunction with its SmartLine service.

Tapan Kamdar, SVP & GM, Productivity Applications at GoDaddy, is listed as the inventor. Kamdar is an inventor on at least 20 of GoDaddy’s patents or patent applications.

The applications were filed in 2018 and published last week on November 28.

Judge dismisses harassment suit against Uniregistry

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Judge rules that plaintiff waited too long to file lawsuit.

Picture of books and a judge gavel

A U.S. Federal District judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought against Uniregistry and one of its former employees for sexual harassment by granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment.

The former employee sued (pdf) the company and one of its former employees in July 2018, claiming sexual harassment and retaliation.

But judge Josephine Staton agreed (pdf) with the defendants that her lawsuit was time-barred.

There are strict time requirements for filing such as case, including a 90-day window after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission closes an investigation. The time limits are in place, in part, to ensure that potential witnesses to the activities are available and the parties have the best recollection of events.

In this case, some of the witnesses of the alleged harassment had left Uniregistry before Uniregistry was aware of the plaintiff’s claims.

NameSilo posts $7.85 million revenue, readies domain brokerage system

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Registrar continues to grow, readies domain brokerage platform.

Picture of stock ticker board with words "earnings announcement" below it

Domain name registrar NameSilo (CSE: URL) reported third-quarter earnings last week.

The company posted revenues of $7.85 million, up 58% from $4.97 million in the same quarter of 2018. Total revenues through the first three quarters were $21.29 million, more than double last year’s $10.59 million.

NameSilo currently has 3.37 million domains under management. It added 20,000 new customers and 220,000 net new domains under management last quarter.

While the company reported over $1 million net income before tax for the quarter, that’s for the registrar operating subsidiary. The parent company appears to be holding some of the costs, and reported a loss of $0.75 million for the quarter.

The company is getting ready to launch a website builder and, for domainers, a domain brokerage platform called NameLot.

Tutorial: How to register and purchase a domain using GoDaddy API

by — Domain Registrars 5 Comments

Alvin Brown provides a tutorial on how to use GoDaddy’s API to register and purchase domains.

Today’s tutorial aims to help many domain investors with a desire to harness the power of technology to streamline the registration and purchasing of domains using GoDaddy’s API.

Instead of using GoDaddy’s web interface and having to perform many time-consuming clicks at risk of losing out on hand registering domains, this tutorial will be the foundation for what could become an automated purchasing script (with a bit of elbow grease and database integration).

Script automation and database integration won’t be covered in this tutorial, but you can likely search the web for a few simple tutorials on automating PHP and MySQL database integration. [Read more…]

GoDaddy looking for president of domain registrar & investor business

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GoDaddy seeks executive to take over for Kevin Doerr.

GoDaddy logoGoDaddy is looking for a new person to lead its domain name business.

The President, Domain Registrar & Investor Business, will oversee GoDaddy’s largest business segment. GoDaddy confirmed to me that Kevin Doerr, who was SVP of Domains for the company, has left and this position is his replacement.

The role oversees all of the company’s domain name business, including the aftermarket. Responsibilities include:

  • Define and execute strategy to grow our Domains Registrar and Investor business and strengthen GoDaddy’s leadership position in Domains and Naming
  • Manage P&L to deliver short term results AND long term growth trajectory
  • Ensure security, performance, availability and quality for GoDaddy’s DNS infrastructure, a core component of the global internet infrastructure
  • Deliver continuous cadence of customer-centric product innovation
  • Lead a distributed team consisting of engineering, product management and sales
  • Build GoDaddy’s reputation and engagement in key Domain’s policy forums and act as GoDaddy’s primary public face to Domain Name Industry
  • Identify attractive opportunities for M&A
  • Collaborate with internal and external partners to create solutions that globally scale and meet our rapidly growing business needs

Prior experience in domain names is not required, and GoDaddy has historically hired people for its senior roles that don’t come from the domain name business. However, there are several people in the domain industry that are probably qualified for this role. This might also be an opportunity to hire from within.

The position will be located in Seattle, Sunnyvale or Phoenix/Scottsdale.