Domain Sales

1.info, 2.info, 3.info, 4.info… ICANN has given official approval to Afilias to sell one and two letter .info names, just like Neustar did with .biz several months ago. The one-letter .biz domains attracted a decent level of attention at auction. Considering that .info is much more popular extension, I wouldn’t …

1&1 Internet has launched a new domain package feature designed to help businesses protect their brand online. At first glance, it looks like a great deal. It not only conveniently suggests names cybersquatters could pick up, but offers a discount on the registration cost: three domains for $19.99 and five …

German file hosting site RapidShare has filed a domain dispute to take control of six domains containing the term “rapidshare.” This is rather ironic because intellectual property advocates have attacked the site in the past for hosting pirated content, but now the 35th-most-visited site is trying to protect its own …

Elliot’s Blog covered a story this week about a domain dispute involving wooot.com at the URDP . Although the complainant, Woot.com, won the case, it did not get the domain. What happened? As it turns out, the URDP doesn’t necessarily always transfer the domain to the winner. In this instance, …

In this year’s second-biggest ccTLD sale, Brazilian domain Imoveis.com.br (Portugese for “real estate”) sold at auction, earning seller Gustavo Volcan $300,000 USD. Brazil’s economy has grown steadily over the last decade and is a rising power. Whoever bought the domain is very smart. Although there might be a slump in …

AuDA, the regulator of Australia’s .au ccTLD, is seeking public comment on a proposal to release two new second-level domains: .event.au and .blog.au. Currently, only Australians are allowed to register .au domains and this would continue to be the case with the two new extensions. Derek Whitehead, chairman of the …

Every day, thousands of domains sell in private transactions and publicly on auction sites. Here’s a recap of some of the more recent domain sales of note. First up is Bateaux.com. This domain, which means “boats” in French, sold for a solid €25,000. Meanwhile, Swisstv.com and tires.org sold for $15, …

In an effort to market it’s meme.yahoo.com social networking site, Yahoo has bought the me.me domain name through a special sale with the .Me Registry. The domain currently redirects to the meme page, but does Yahoo have bigger plans for it? Perhaps it is planning a URL redirect, just like …

Four registrars have come under fire from ICANN for various breaches of contact. Last week, the California agency contacted the four and told them to fix the breaches within 15 days. If the misconduct is not fixed, the registrars will face termination. Three of the firms– Western United Domains, Inc., …

Victoria’s Secret just won a case it filed with the National Arbitration Forum over the domain victoriassecretzone.info. The company claimed the name violated its trademark and was confusingly similar to its brand name. The registrant did not respond– probably because he had no clue why Victoria’s Secret wanted the name …