Central Michigan University continues to buy up .xxx domains and recently completing its purchase of a third and waiting on final approval of a fourth…

In an effort to prevent adult companies from using branded names and trademarks, the nonprofit group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) allowed universities, businesses and groups back in October, 2011, to buy up domain names that end in “.xxx”.  Since then, Universities across the country have raced to buy all related domains ending in .xxx. Adult websites have been known to use the image and logos of popular universities to create college-themed material. Under law, new adult websites are required to register their domains ending in .xxx.

The Detroit Free Press reported that CMU was among the first schools to snatch up .xxx domains, along with Penn State University, Purdue University, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Indiana University.  The University of Michigan bought 21 .xxx domain names in December, 2011 as an effort to protect the school’s identity. U-M spent $28,000 to reserve 14 .xxx domain names, according to the report.

According to Steven Smith, the school’s Director of Public Relations, “The reasoning for the purchase is to protect the university from inappropriate use of its name.”  Smith went on to say that “in addition to protecting the CMU image, purchasing .xxx domain names will help prevent users from coming across adult websites while searching for university-related events or pages.”

Without a doubt, people will get confused and it appears as though Universities and businesses are proactively procuring brand and trademarked-related .xxx domain names as opposed to being reactive… Are you protected??

@AndrewHazen

A district court in California dismissed a claim that Go Daddy was liable for cybersquatting. It also dismissed claims that Go Daddy was liable for contributory cybersquatting.

Cybersquatting occurs when businesses buy website domain names with the purpose of selling them on to trademark owners for a profit.

The court ruled that Go Daddy had not used the domains and was therefore not liable for cybersquatting under the terms of Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).

“The forwarding of the disputed domains does not amount to ‘use’ of the domain names,” the district court in the northern district of California ruled.

“Domain name forwarding is a standard service that has been provided by Go Daddy and virtually all registrars for more than a decade. Go Daddy provides forwarding services for millions of domain names under its management, and has provided such service in combination with its other domain name routing services since 2002 or before. Go Daddy does not charge customers for domain forwarding, but rather offers this routing option as part of its registration services. Go Daddy’s registration customers, using Go Daddy’s dashboard, can configure the name server to forward a domain name to an existing website. This automated process is accomplished without any interaction between the registrant and Go Daddy personnel,” the ruling said.

“The evidence shows that Go Daddy simply provided the infrastructure to the registrant to route the disputed domains to the website of his choosing. Only the domain name registrant or the registrant’s authorized licensee can ‘use’ a domain name for purposes of the ACPA,” the court ruled.

I’m sure many domain registrars are breathing a sigh of relief with this decision…

@AndrewHazen

As some of you may know, I have been OBSESSED with bobbleheads for nearly 15 years and have quite the personal collection!!  I am also involved with FadToys.com, which ranks on page one of Google for a search on bobbleheads and more recently AllBobbleheads.com, which makes custom bobbleheads.

I of course have tested our custom bobbleheads….what do you think?

I must say, custom bobbleheads ALWAYS make people smile from ear to ear and that to me is priceless!  Whether it’s a gift for graduation, wedding, retirement, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.; custom bobbleheads are extraordinary unique gifts that people enjoy for countless years.

Today we did our first Groupon offer of a custom bobblehead doll for only $69 (a $130 value) and thus far the results have been outstanding!!

So now that you know I bobble, do you?

@AndrewHazen

According to Domain Name Wire, a Receiver is asking ICANN to “undo” a handful of transfers that were completed under UDRP.  The transfers include typo domain names now controlled by companies such as Apple and Public Storage.

Learn more about the case here

@AndrewHazen

According to the Portland Press Herald, Selectmen have agreed to pay $3,500 to the individual who owns the domain name www.BelgradeMaine.com to relinquish ownership of the website name to the town.

Town Manager Gregory Gill said the town last week signed an agreement with Matthew Hunt, owner of A2Z Computing Services Co. in Oakland, to buy the domain name rather than take the case to court.

Gill said the town paid Hunt $150 to set up the website 12 years ago, but it’s been unclear who actually owned the domain name.

“You have to look at the cheapest way to get out of this,” Gill said. “The board thought this was the way to handle it.”

Gill said the select board wanted the town to own BelgradeMaine.com so staff and department heads could place information on the site without going through Hunt. He said selectmen also wanted to rid the site of advertising.

@AndrewHazen

This week will bring the long-awaited opening up of a new realm of Domains Names and Web addresses in which just about any word—such as dot-furniture (.furniture), dot-hotel (.hotel) or dot-FloridaVacations (.FloridaVacations) —can serve as a domain name. And of course to entrepreneurs and domainers, that means OPPORTUNITY is knocking!

Beginning this Thursday, the organization that oversees the Internet (ICANN) will start accepting applications to manage new top-level domains (TLDs) —the names that appear at the end of website addresses, like dot-com and dot-net.  The application fee itself is $185,000 per name!

Masahable did a nice post on 9 Things You Need to Know About ICANN’s New Top Level Domains…

From what I’ve heard thus far, surprisingly (to me) only a few Fortune 500 companies are applying for its TLD (ex. .Cannon); most seem to think that any squatter who wrongfully infringes their trademarks and copywrights will quickly use a battle to gain control.  However entrepreneurs and domain investors are PUMPED and raring to go, and spend SIGNIFICANT money, when it comes to applying for new generic TLDs such as .Vacation, .Hotel or .News

I will certainly keep you posted as the applications come in and news develops…stay tuned!

@AndrewHazen

According to WhoIs records, Desk.com is now owned by Salesforce.com and according to WhoIs history records, the domain Desk.com was owned by Reflex Publishing Inc.

It will certainly be interesting to see what Salesforce.com does with its newly acquired domain name; seems like the transfer took place in November 2011.  Will the domain simply be redirected? Will it be used for a marketing/branding campaign? Is a new service coming from Salesforces?  Only time will tell so stay tuned!

@AndrewHazen

With well over 100,000 EXACT searches a month, the organic industry seems to be doing quite well in terms of growth and acceptance from the general public.

According to the Organic Trade Association, the organic industry continues to grow worldwide.  Here are some statistics regarding this market:

• U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have grown from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010. Sales in 2010 represented 7.7 percent growth over 2009 sales. Experiencing the highest growth in sales during 2010 were organic fruits and vegetables, up 11.8 percent over 2009 sales
  Source: Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey
• Organic non-food sales grew 9.7 percent in 2010, to reach $1.97 billion.
  Source: Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey
• Total U.S. organic sales, including food and non-food products, were $28.682 billion in 2010, up 9.7 percent from 2009.
  Source: Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey
• Mass market retailers (mainstream supermarkets, club/warehouse stores, and mass merchandisers) in 2010 sold 54 percent of organic food. Natural retailers were next, selling 39 percent of total organic food sales. Other sales occur via export, the Internet, farmers’ markets/ Community Supported Agriculture, mail order, and boutique and specialty stores.
  Source: Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey.
• According to Organic Monitor estimates, global organic sales reached $54.9 billion in 2009, up from, $50.9 billion in 2008. The countries with the largest markets are the United States, Germany, and France. The highest per capita consumption is in Denmark, Switzerland, and Austria.
  Source: The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics & Emerging Trends 2011

Speculating on the Organic market, I recently purchased OrganicMarket.com, which I feel is a phenomenal and highly brandable name to own for this market and OrganicGroceries.net and OrganicRecipes.net, ….but it’s not too late, I also see that OrganicApplePie.com & OrganicApplePies.com, OrganicPumpkinPie.com & OrganicPumpkinPies.com and OrganicVendingCo.com are all about to drop very soon and you can grab them yourself if you’re interested by back ordering them….you can learn more about domain name investing at my new venture Domain Wealth

To your domaining success,
@AndrewHazen

With just a week left before ICANN begins to accept new generic top-level domain applications, the organization has confirmed that it might release a new draft of the Applicant Guidebook.

Senior Vice President Kurt Pritz said in an emailed statement:

Since its opening, our customer service center has received a number of questions requesting clarifications on some Guidebook points. These clarifications have been made through the responses by the customer service.

We will summarize those clarifications in one document – that might be an Advisory or in the form of an updated Guidebook. In either case, the positions of applicants will not be affected as the information will repeat that in previously answered questions.

Stay tuned….

@AndrewHazen

Michael Berkens from TheDomains has posted about the 1st Strange UDRP Decision of the New Year and this time its the Trademark Holder that can complain.

Inter-Continental Hotels has lost a UDRP on the domain name intercontinentalkabul.com and what’s even more interesting is the domain name holder didn’t even respond to the UDRP; imagine that!

You can read the entire post here

@AndrewHazen