.Aero- The domain that never quite took off

.Aero is a gTLD created in 2002 for the aviation industry. There’s nothing wrong with giving users options, but the problem with .aero is that it came too late.

By the time it was released, the Internet had already gained wide adoption in the aviation community. Who would give up a well-linked .com, particularly a major airline, for the relatively unknown .aero?

Just take a look at the domain’s site directory to see how few use it. Had the gTLD been introduced a decade earlier it probably would be more prominent today.

Other factors have also curbed .aero’s growth. Only airlines and aviation professionals can register the name. In the United States, “aero” is a rarely-used term. People prefer the term “air” instead. Maybe .air would have been a better choice?

Qant.as sells for $1.3 million

Qant.as, a domain that resembles you know, the Australian airline Qantas, was sold for $1.35 million USD. The seller, Dominic Holland, said in a statement, “The domain name Qant.as could be snapped up by a competitor so damage to Qantas’s business could be in the millions of dollars.”

The .as ccTLD is used by American Samoa. Personally, I think the idea that this domain could hurt Qantas is absurd. While the name does spell the name of the airline, most Internet users still aren’t comfortable with including the extension as part of a spelled name. No one would confuse it for the real thing.

There is some question as to whether it violates the airline’s trademark or not, but since extensions usually aren’t considered part of the domain name, I don’t think Qant.as is in violation. Either way, the buyer got a horrible deal.

Source | The Domains
Photo | Flickr

Lufthansa wins star-alliance.net domain

German airline Lufthansa has won a dispute over the domain star-alliance.net. The firm claims the name infringed on the trademark of Star Alliance, an alliance of airlines of which Lufthansa is a member.

The case was heard by a WIPO arbitration panel. The initial registrant of the name, Lord Oxford from “Top Banana Piggabeen,” seems a bit eccentric to say the least. In addition to demanding $50,000 from Lufthansa, he declared:

MY domain www.Star-Alliance.net is allied with www.UnitedSpaceAgency.com and www.Air-Alliance.net. and many other domains.
I’m a legend in my own mind, if not in my own time, which is the future. One a lot better than we’re headed for … see my ‘www.SavingThePla.net

Source | Domain News
Photo | Flickr

Delta wins arbitration case

Delta Airlines won a dispute over the domain delta-tickets.com at the WIPO last week. The name was originally registered by Jannie Blazek, a citizen of the Czech Republic.

The one-person arbitration panel sided with Delta, agreeing with the airline that the domain was being used in bad faith.

According to the WIPO, Blazek was using the Delta name fraudulently, claiming to sell airline tickets and collecting credit card numbers in the process. He also failed to respond when the dispute was filed by Delta.

Sounds like an open-and-shut case to me.

Photo | LeeA