Domain Sales

Topping all other domain sales so far this week is free-sms.de, which sold at auction for €115,000. Considering the name contains a hyphen, this is a very good price for the seller. With text messaging continuing to rise in popularity, however, it was also a good deal for the buyer. …

Data collected from a number of arbitration panels, including the WIPO and National Arbitration Forum, show that cybersquatting may be on the decline. Last year saw a 9% decline in the number of cybersquatting cases filed overall, a three-year low. Unfortunately, this decrease does not necessarily mean the number of …

CNNIC, the operator of the Chinese .cn ccTLD, has for some time placed heavy restrictions on .cn registration. In the past year, it has banned individuals from registering .cn names. It also does not allow foreign entities to register the extension and registrars cannot act as proxies for foreign companies …

Clothing retailer Lacoste won the domain lacostebuy.com in a recent dispute it filed with the WIPO. The name was used by a Chinese citizen, Liu Dong Ping, to sell counterfeit merchandise. For this reason and because of trademark infringement, Lacoste requested that it be given ownership of the name. In …

The Russian division of business periodical Forbes has won a dispute over the name Forbes.ru. In addition to the name, a Moscow arbitration court has awarded the company $300,000 USD in damages. This is the largest compensation ever awarded to an American company in a Russian court case. Because Forbes …

According to the Vietnam Internet Centre (VNNIC), the operator of the .vn ccTLD, the 100,000th .vn domain has been registered. This makes the extension the second-most popular in Southeast Asia after Singapore. The VNNIC wasn’t expecting this milestone to occur until the end of 2010. If anything, this shows how …

Millions from around the world have donated to help earthquake victims in Haiti. With people so readily giving money, it’s no surprise that domain scammers are trying to take advantage of the situation. As is the norm after all disasters in the Internet age, unscrupulous con artists are registering domains …

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti earlier this week has killed 50,000 people and destroyed much of the capital. Currently, access to the nation is mainly limited to the few relief planes that can get in. Amid this tragedy there is at least some hope for Haiti, as its DNS …

Goodwill Industries, an American non-profit charity, has dropped a lawsuit filed against company Cyber2Media over the domain Goodwill.com. Cyber2Media acquired the same at auction for$55,978 several months ago when the owner, a Japanese staffing company, allowed it to expire. The company parked the name and displayed charity-related PPC ads. Claiming, …

Topping all other domain sales this week is credit.fr, which has sold for €587,500 ($851,875 USD). It is the highest sale ever recorded on the .fr ccTLD. The previous domain to hold this spot, mutelle.com, sold for $116,221 in October of 2009. Other recent ccTLD sales include Südtirol.eu for $14,355 …