Domain Sales

Afilias, the operator of the .info gTLD, is seeking permission from ICANN to allow the registration of one and two character .info domains. The names are currently reserved for administrative purposes. The .biz registry auctioned off its one and two character names several months ago with ICANN’s blessing, so Afilias’s …

After ending last year with 978,000 registrations, Belgium’s .be ccTLD has finally reached 1 million registrations. Despite a sluggish economy, .be has experienced solid growth. Earlier this week, we reported that every year for the last six years it has broken the previous growth record. Jo Van Gorp, general manager …

Sex.com, which became the most expensive domain ever after allegedly selling for $14 million in 2006, is slated to be put up for sale again as an asset in its owner’s foreclosure auction. According to ElliotsBlog.com, the auction will be held at Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP, 156 West …

In what is the highest .org sale ever, Poker.org has sold in a private transaction for $1 million USD. The domain was brokered by a prominent domain auction house and bought by PokerCompany.com. This sale is so significant because it shows more than anything that the .com extension is becoming …

A study conducted by ICANN on five gTLDs (including .com and .net) reveals that 77% of WHOIS data is at least partially inaccurate. In addition, only 46% of domain owners in the study could be successfully contacted. ICANN talked with a number of domain owners and found that they did …

Someone at Facebook headquarters just said, “Uh oh.” The social media site announced a new feature this morning: Facebook Zero. Slated for launch in a few weeks, Zero is a text-only version of Facebook available for free on mobile phones. The problem? The company forgot to register FacebookZero.com. After Facebook …

Afilias, a company well known for operating the .org and .info gTLDs, has purchased the .MOBI registry for an unknown sum. While Afilias has always been in charge of handling the technical aspects of the extension, this purchase gives it total ownership of the domain. While the company will leave …

For the sixth year in a row, the Belgian .be domain has broken the registration record set the previous year. Last year, 232,746 .be names were registered– a 4.4% increase from 2008. Given the huge popularity of ccTLDs lately, this news isn’t surprising at all. DNS BE, the operator of …

In yet another dispute regarding its Bing.com search engine, corporate giant Microsoft has won the domain wapbing.net. The Redmond company claimed the name violated its trademark for “Bing” and filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum. Microsoft also claimed that the registrant intended for the domain to be deliberately …

Entertainment and resort company Disney has won a dispute over the domain disneycondo.com. In a dispute the corporation filed with the National Arbitration Forum, it claimed the name violated its trademark on the term “Disney.” Although famous for its movies, Disney has a major stake in the vacation industry so …