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CentralNic is on the premium domain hamster wheel

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

The premium domain hamster wheel will be in effect later this year.

CentralNic is on a hamster wheel with premium domains.

Domain name registrar and registry company CentralNic (AIM: CNIC) reported first half 2017 financial results today.

The company reported first half revenue of £10.59 million, up 18.5% from £8.93 million in the first half of 2016. But this was down from £13.20 revenue in the second half of last year.

While that might suggest the company is going to see a drop in revenue this year, never fear…CentralNic has a trick up its sleeve. It’s the premium domain hamster wheel.

The reason CentralNic had a stellar second half last year was that it sold off some of its premium domains. One customer paid £3.555 million for premium domains. Click to continue reading…

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XYZ files opening brief in request for Verisign to pay $1.6 million

by — Policy & Law 0 Comments

Domain registry says lower court erred in three ways.

.XYZ’s fight with Verisign continues.

XYZ.com LLC and Daniel Negari have filed their opening brief in an appeal against Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) over legal fees.

If you haven’t been tracking this saga, here’s a quick overview:

Verisign, the registry that operates the .com and .net top level domains, sued the .xyz operator alleging false advertising. Basically, Verisign said XYZ inflated its success and disparaged Verisign’s domains.

After extensive discovery, a judge tossed out Verisign’s suit on summary judgment. XYZ then asked the court to require Verisign to pay its $1.6 million legal bill, but that was put on hold as Verisign appealed the lower court’s ruling to an appeals court.

The appeals court ruled against Verisign and then the lower court considered the request for fees. It denied the request other than about $57,000 in discovery fees.

XYZ appealed the court’s decision to not award legal fees. In its opening brief, XYZ makes three arguments:

1. Proving that the case is exceptional should only require a preponderance of the evidence rather than clear and convincing evidence.

2. XYZ doesn’t need to show bad faith on the part of Verisign.

3. Circumstantial evidence is sufficient to prove facts.

The opening brief is available here (PDF).

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.XYZ working to make domains available in China again

by — Policy & Law 10 Comments

Domains haven’t been available at Chinese domain registrars since early May.

Many Chinese domain name registrars stopped offering .xyz domain names back in May at the behest of China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

At the time, XYZ CEO Daniel Negari said “CentralNic is updating RNV providers to ensure there is stability in the RNV process and do our best to stop fraudulent registrations and abuse. We remain committed to a zero tolerance policy on abuse and I think we are on the right track to maintain that.”

CentralNic is XYZ’s registry services provider. RNV is Real Names Verification.

Nearly three months later, .xyz domains still aren’t available through Chinese domain registrars. I reached out to Negari to ask what’s going on. He released this statement to Domain Name Wire:

We received approval from ICANN for a new RNV solution. We are going through the contract amendment process now and will be live in China again after that. 

As a leading registry operator, we put compliance with our registry agreement and international laws as a top priority, which is why we have been working with CentralNic and ICANN to operate a compliant RNV solution in China. My understanding is that XYZ is one of the few registries that is operating under 100% clear approvals, while many others are in a grey zone or maybe be operating without any ICANN approvals at all.

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XYZ asks appeals court to force Verisign to pay legal expenses

by — Policy & Law 2 Comments

Keeping the legal system busy.

The long-running court battle initiated by Verisign against .XYZ continues as XYZ has asked an appeals court to help it recover legal expenses.

A quick synopsis: Verisign sued XYZ for false advertising. A federal district court granted summary judgment to XYZ, and XYZ asked the court to award it legal fees of over $1 million. Verisign then appealed the original case and lost the appeal. The federal district court then ruled against awarding legal fees (beyond about $57,000 related to discovery.)

Now XYZ has appealed the last decision on fees to the same court that heard the other appeal.

The district court ruling on legal fees declared that XYZ “did not prove with clear and convincing evidence that this is an exceptional case.”

In its initial appeal filing, XYZ states “By doing so, the district court did not follow Georgia-Pac. Consumer Prod. LP v. von Drehle Corp., 781 F.3d 710 (4th Cir. 2015), which held that a clear-and-convincing evidence standard does not apply in a Lanham Act motion for attorney fees.”

 

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New uses for domain names? Good luck with that.

by — Uncategorized 21 Comments

It would be nice to find new uses for domain names, but there’s a reason nothing has come to fruition yet.

.XYZ’s new promotion comparing numeric .xyz domain names to bitcoin is certainly bizarre.

One of the pitches in Uniregistry’s promotional email yesterday was that cheap number .xyz domains could be used in ways domain names currently are not used:

Nominal overhead costs allow businesses and entrepreneurs to affordably register blocks of .xyz domains (e.g. everything between 1230000.xyz – 1239999.xyz or all dates between 01012018.xyz – 12312018.xyz), which can then be paired with Internet of Things (IoT) device serial numbers, used as vanity addresses for system networks, matched to phone numbers or identification numbers, traded as digital currencies, or repurposed for any other type of creative function.

Finding new uses for domain names is the only hope the domain name industry has for faster growth. Unfortunately, domain names as they are currently orchestrated under ICANN are not well positioned.

One example is the Internet of Things.

We have 40+ connected devices in our home including an oven, our garage door, locks, lightbulbs, window shades and more. It’s what my wife does for a living. (Listen to her podcast!)

There’s no use for a domain name for any of these devices. Believe me, I’ve tried to think of unique ways domain names could be used with connected devices. I see a role for registry technology but not traditional domain names.

The closest thing we have to a domain name being assigned to a device is having an email address assigned to a connected picture frame.

Even if there is a use for domains and devices like these it wouldn’t work well under the new top level domain name program. Between registry fees (25 cents) and ICANN tax (18 cents), it’s an expensive way to use domains.

I could see a .brand domain owner justify this from a branding perspective. The brand owner would also not have to worry about a third-party registry jacking up prices. Still…there’s little point to this.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love for a good use like this to come along. I just don’t see how unique second level domain names are a more efficient and effective way of accessing devices.

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