WWW.PERSIAN.DOMAINS

However, with the publication of RFC 7686, it has become official. The IANA list has already been updated. One of the two authors of the RFC, Jacob Appelbaum, posted a blog post on the news, briefly covering the "long journey" to approval. In it, he also noted that it will soon be possible to get encryption certificates for .onion domains, making it even harder for users of the Tor network to be tracked. Meanwhile, there is another draft in the IETF that would expand the special-use protection to a number of other domains that are used in peer-to-peer software, including .gnu, .zkey, .exit, .i2p, and .bit. ®

Verisign, operator of the .com and .gov registries as well as two of the internet's 13 root servers, has warned that the "unprecedented" introduction of hundreds of new dot-word domains may make the internet unstable. In a quarterly filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week, the tech biz included extensive details about the new generic top-level domain program run by domain overseer ICANN under "risk factors" that could impact its financial health. Generic top-level domains – gTLDs – are things like .book and .science (eg: theregister.science) which exploded onto the internet in 2014 and into 2015. "Under its new gTLD program, ICANN has recommended delegations into the root zone of a large number of new gTLDs," it notes. "In view of our role as the Root Zone Maintainer, and as a root server operator, we face increased risks should ICANN's delegation of these new gTLDs, which represent unprecedented changes to the root zone in volume and frequency, cause security and stability problems within the DNS [domain name system] and/or for parties who rely on the DNS." And what risks are those? "Potential instability of the DNS including potential fragmentation of the DNS should ICANN's delegations create sufficient instability, and potential claims based on our role in the root zone provisioning and delegation process." Verisign also warns of "security, stability, and resiliency degradation if the delegation of new gTLDs into the root zone causes problems to certain components of the DNS ecosystem or other aspects of the global DNS, or other relying parties are negatively impacted as a result of domain name collisions or other new gTLD security issues, such as exposure or other leakage of private or sensitive information." This is not the first time that Verisign has warned about the potential stability impacts of the program. A previous report outlined extensive concerns, and prompted ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) to dig into the issue. A specific review of potential stability issues was also due to start work in Q3 of this year but has yet to do so. Big jump The program has seen over 750 new internet extensions added to the internet in the past year, with another 500 planned within the next 12 months. It is a huge expansion, given that for the past decade there have only been a little over 300 extensions on the internet. Verisign's rundown of business risks spends quite a lot of time worrying about the impact of this program, from increased competition to the fact that its contracts to run the .com and .net registries may change in future. It also worries about how the upcoming transition of the IANA contract from the US government to ICANN may impact its role as the "root zone maintainer." It notes: "While it is uncertain how the transition of oversight of the IANA function and related root zone management functions will affect our role as Root Zone Maintainer, it is anticipated that performance of the root zone management function would be conducted by us under a new root zone management agreement with ICANN once the root zone management function obligations under the Cooperative Agreement are completed." It adds: "There can be no assurance that the transition of the IANA function, the transition of the related root zone management functions, and associated transition processes will not negatively impact our business." Others chime in Verisign is not the only one hating on the new gTLD program right now. BIND author and maintainer of the F root server, Paul Vixie, derided the program this week as a "money grab." Speaking at a conference in Melbourne, Vixie was asked about the new extensions and responded: "I think it is a money grab. My own view is that ICANN functions as a regulator, and that as a regulator it has been captured by the industry that they are regulating. I think that there was no end-user demand whatsoever for more extensions." He also attacked ICANN's role in making the program happen by noting that it is supposed to "serve the public not the companies" and that there is no "actual public benefit reason" to create more top-level domains. ®

Google has finally launched a domain-name shop, providing a clean and simple management interface that will put it in direct competition with market leader GoDaddy. Called Google Domains, the service emerged from testing today – and allows anyone in the United States (international expansion coming soon) to register domain names under 80 or so gTLDs from dot-academy to dot-ventures. Domains cost between $12 to $30 to register, and $12 a year to renew. Notable by their absence are top-level domains that Google itself owns, such as .google. The ad giant was the second largest applicant for new gTLDs, paying $185,000 each for 101 different dot-things ranging from .ads to .zip and pretty much everything in between. Instead, the gTLDs today listed in Google's domain store are owned by other registries – for example, .builders is owned by Donuts. The shop may well expand one day to include Google's own new top-level domains. There has been speculation for some time that the web goliath will offer domains from its own registry for free. That, combined with free hosting, email, cloud storage, chat services and domain management, could see the company up-end the registrar market in a similar way to what it did with Gmail and the hosted email world. However, for now, Google looks like a less confusing version of GoDaddy. It offers simple domain management tools such as creating sub-domains, email and website forwarding, free private registration, domain locking, name servers configuration, and so on. It has also partnered with website building companies to make the creation of a site as painless as possible, although it offers some of its own offerings including its Blogger platform and Google Apps alongside them. A long time coming The move has been known for some time: Google became an ICANN-accredited registrar back in 2005, and it first told of its Google Domains plans in June last year. That was enough to cause GoDaddy to delay its IPO. GoDaddy says it is still planning to go public early this year, but investors have been warned that Google's foray into the domain world may hit GoDaddy's own evaluation of $4.5bn. With Google's technical proficiency, its extensive free services and its huge storage and bandwidth capabilities, everyone in the market will be worried. The one area where GoDaddy is likely to still have an edge is in customer service. What will be more interesting to see is how Google uses its market power within the registry arena. With more than 450 new top-level domains launched in the past six months, and with a further 500 or so due to launch in the next six months, the route to market can be the difference between success and failure. As by far the biggest registrar (with just under 40 per cent of the market), GoDaddy has been able to dictate terms to the registries whose domains it sells, even charging them for the privilege of appearing on its pages. Google may be in a good strategic position to shake up those power politics and steal market share. However, if it does launch dozens of free domains, as some expect, that could put it in conflict with the rest of the market, which is desperate to recoup their investment. As many have noted this week in Las Vegas at the NamesCon domain name industry conference, 2015 is going to be a very interesting year for domain names. Assuming, of course, that people actually start buying the new gTLDs. Doesn't everyone type just the name of the site into the browser these days? ®

Hoping to put a dent in ever-growing piracy rates, the MPAA will try to convince domain names registries to stop doing business with pirate sites. In addition, Hollywood's anti-piracy group plans civil action to force registries to seize domain names of illicit torrent and streaming sites. pirate-runningLast December a leaked document from the MPAA exposed Hollywood’s global anti-piracy priorities for the coming years. The leak listed the mysterious term “Fujian” as one of the top priorities, without explaining what the name of a Chinese province has to do with online piracy. Additional documents seen by TF shed more light on the issue. It turns out that the MPAA is slowly but steadily testing a novel legal procedure through which it hopes to seize the domain names of top pirate sites. Fujian actually refers to the company “Fujian Sharing Import & Export Ltd,” which was sued several years ago for selling counterfeit Polo Ralph Lauren and The North Face clothing. The counterfeiters used thousands of websites to sell their knockoffs using just as many domain names. If one was taken down, Fujian would simply replace it by a new one selling the same counterfeit gear. To stop this game of Whack-A-Mole a federal court in New York ordered various intermediaries, including domain name registries, to stop working with the company and hand over the domain names to the clothing manufacturers. If they failed to comply, the registries themselves would be held liable. In recent years both The North Face and Polo Ralph Lauren frequently updated the list of counterfeit domain names and had them seized by their registries and deleted from search engines. The movie studios are now planning to use the same strategy against pirate sites. Besides asking reputable domain name registries to take voluntary action, they also plan to use the “Fujian” model in court. In a detailed overview of its strategies the MPAA says that it wants to “persuade or compel domain name registries that control the reputable gTLDs (e.g., .com, .org) to terminate domain services for demonstrated pirate sites.” “Efforts principally include civil litigation (Fujian strategy) and outreach to registries seeking to ensure they do not provide domain services to pirate sites,” they add. Thus far they have had some success in the U.S. in a lawsuit against a ring of counterfeit DVD sites. However, the tactic has yet to be tried against sites that offer streaming services, torrents or links to pirated material. Behind closed doors the MPAA admits that targeting domain names will be less effective than site blocking, which is also on the agenda, as sites can move to so-called “rogue” registries. But it is still expected to have a decent impact. “Nevertheless, domain name termination can be very effective in disrupting pirate sites and the user experience in visiting them. At least temporarily, thesite is made inaccessible,” MPAA notes. “Even sites that come back online can be expected to see reduced traffic, with a corresponding impact on profitability and sustainability,” they add. And there’s more to worry about. Looking at one of the most recent (24th!) supplemental order in the Fujian case we see that the court grants rightsholders powers that go much further than targeting domain names alone. The order also requires search engines to delist the infringing URLs, banks to seize the site’s assets, and forbids ISPs, back-end service providers and web designers to do business with the domain name owners. Whether the MPAA will be successful with their efforts has yet to be seen but persistent pirates may want to learn the IP-addresses of their favorite sites by heart, just in case.

Lisota’s comments are intriguing on another level. He had no idea the domain he registered at Name.com was a “premium domain”. Search for Dallas.coffee at Name.com and you’ll see a price, but not that it’s a premium domain name. Same goes for Google Domains. Some other registrars, such as GoDaddy, mark these domains as “premium” and denote what the renewal price will be.

Online financial services entrepreneur, Simon Burgess, is releasing from the British Money intellectual property portfolio what he believes is the most valuable domain name in the UK - x.uk. Essex-based British Money has appointed intellectual property advisors HW Corporate Finance to broker the deal and Burgess is hoping x.ukwill sell for £10million. Burgess describes the domain name as the rarest and most prestigious in the UK, likening it to ‘online Mayfair real estate’. He said there are only 36 single character domain names available in the UK – 10 numbers and 26 letters. He commented: “It is the shortest web address in the world near impossible to ‘cyber squat’ – i.e. plagiarise and pass off as something else - and has a brand equity no other can match. X has universal appeal and gravitas, just think of XBox, X-Men or the X Factor. No wonder PayPal owns x.com.” Burgess is releasing the domain name in order to fund a new loan venture and this is supported by a number of other intellectual property assets including a UK registered trade mark and other supplementary domains. Andrew Bennett, independent domain expert from 28.co.uk,said: “In the age of social media ultra-short domains have become increasing popular. With x.uk being only four characters long, this makes it extremely valuable." http:// ww w. mortgagefinancegazette . com/technology/burgess-puts-domain-name-x-uk-up-for-sale- at-10-million/

FCesteghlal.Org           £400       Buy Now !

The release of more than 1,000 new Top Level Domains (TLD) by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) this year is being hailed as one of the biggest changes to the internet since its inception, resulting in expanded consumer choice and industry competition.Until this new program, web users could only choose from 22 generic top-level domain names such as .com, .org and .biz. New TLDs signify the next major milestone in the expansion of the Internet and a brand’s digital presence. However, with this opportunity also comes the risk of cybersquatting, identity theft and trademark infringement. The new generic TLD program (gTLD) offer significant potential to businesses of all sizes. However, cybersquatters who have registered new gTLDs threaten many of the world’s most valuable companies, according to new research from the ICANN assigned Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH). For example, in January 2014, third-parties with absolutely no relationship to the respective brands registered names such as “Adidas.clothing” and “Burberry.clothing.” There are a number of scams that domain name owners need to be aware of such as domain name registration scams and domain name renewal scams. For instance, if you own the domain Brooklyn.coffee you might get a renewal notice for a very similar domain, such as broklyn.coffee, from a company that hopes you won’t recognize the difference between the two names. Another fairly common renewal scam is when a domain name owner receives a renewal notice for his or her exact domain name, but the renewal notice is sent from a company that the domain name owner has no relationship with and that is unauthorized to collect renewal fees on behalf of the registrar. In order for businesses to ensure that their domain name is secure, they should review the following tips: 1) Understand what country’s privacy laws your domain name operates under. For example, in 2010 GoDaddy stopped registering domains in China because, in their opinion, the privacy laws were too restrictive. The government policy required individuals and businesses that wished to register a .cn domain name to submit a headshot as well as a serial number identifying their business license in China. Related Resources from B2C » Free Webcast: Marketing Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards 2) Make sure the domain has built-in registration security. Many registrars offer domain name owners a service that allows the registrant to “lock” the domain name through the admin panel. This helps ensure that your domain name does not get hijacked. Domain name hijacking occurs when an attacker gains unauthorized access to registration data for a domain name, thereby gaining administrative control over the domain that enables them to modify several elements of the domain, including the website to which the domain resolves, or even to change the registered owner of the domain name. 3) Don’t let your domain name expire and beware of similar domain names. If you forget to renew your domain name after it expires, you’re giving hijackers or anyone else the opportunity to purchase your domain. For this reason, it is also crucial for a company to make sure that the email address used when the domain name was registered is fully functioning, since this is where most registrars send their renewal reminders. Additionally, if you’re a large organization, you need to be aware of similar domain names that people may use to parody your company. For example, in the mid-90s an Austin, Texas computer company named Zero Micro Software registered a domain name at “micros0ft.com.” The contents of this web page were largely aimed at criticizing Microsoft’s president and the company’s products. 4) Get WHOIS protection. Whois is used to look up records in a Registry database. Whois can provide information about domain and registrar records. This could include your email, phone number and contact address. All this information could be harvested by spammers. WHOIS protection hides this information from the general public. 5) Use DNSSEC technology. DNNSEC is a technology that was developed to protect against DNS (domain name system) poisoning. By enabling DNSSEC for your live domain name you can reduce the risk of DNS poisoning to a minimum. 6) Register your trademark in the TMCH database. A valid registration of your trademark in the database will result in notification when a domain name that matches your trademark is registered. A record in the TMCH also gives you the possibility to be pro-active and register your trademark in the new gTLD namespace. Today’s businesses must have an online presence in order to reach their full potential, yet at the same time Internet security is becoming increasingly complex. A stolen domain name can be incredibly costly and result in significant brand reputation damage.It is essential for businesses of all sizes to be aware of the potential threats that come with having a web presence and take steps to prevent domain name vulnerabilities. Read more at www . business2 community.com/tech-gadgets/top-tips-securing-domain-name- 0896801#4EyX4b hyf5WIiqqI.99

But as long as your site has been around for longer than those first few months when domain age is a big factor, you should be able to swing with the oldest of them and claw your way to the top of your Google rankings!

Keyword research is one of the most important components of search engine optimization (SEO) as well as any other online marketing initiative. Whether you’re a small business owner, a Fortune 500 company, or a new blogger, the time you spend developing a keyword strategy is critical to your success on the web. By narrowing down keywords that accurately describe your business or product, you’ll help potential visitors find you online. There are countless guides that explain how to do keyword research, but most are either too brief in their explanations or too advanced for the average website owner. The following 5-step plan for researching keywords is the perfect guide for beginners and intermediate users. It will take you from identifying relevant keywords to implementing a successful keyword strategy for your website. Step 1: Write down search queries you would use to find your business online To start, you need to come up with 10 phrases that your ideal visitors would enter into a search engine. If you’re having trouble thinking of phrases, then ask yourself the following questions and write down the answers: 1. How would you describe your business in an elevator pitch? These quick, on-the-spot pitches force you to get to the point. In doing so, you’ll find that certain phrases and descriptions come out naturally as your describe your service offering. 2. Which of your products makes you the most money? Focusing on your most valuable product makes sense when investing time into keyword research. Consider how you might describe this product to someone who has never seen or heard of it before. These descriptions will likely come to be part of your keyword strategy. PRO TIP: If your competitors still include meta-keywords in their code, you can easily find them by installing a product like the MozBar. If you’d like to learn more about the MozBar and other great SEO tools, be sure to visit my post on the best free SEO tools. Google and other search engines no longer use meta-keywords in their ranking algorithm, but it can be helpful to know which keywords your competitors target. Step 2: Research your initial search queries using a keyword research tool Once you’ve narrowed down a list of queries that visitors would ideally use to find you, you’ll want to enter those into a keyword research tool. By doing so, you’ll discover whether people are actually searching for those keyword phrases. You’ll also be given a large list of related queries that you can use to form your final list of terms. The best starting point is the Google Adwords Keyword Planner. This is a free tool, but it can only be accessed by signing up for a Google AdWords account. It’s absolutely worth signing up, as this tool has been the bedrock of SEO and keyword research campaigns for years. Once you’ve created your account, you’ll want to follow the steps below (or watch the animation above): 1. Select “Tools” in the top navigation bar. 2. Click “Keyword Planner.” 3. Choose the first of four options: “Search for new keyword and ad group ideas.” This section will allow you to find new keywords, as well as average monthly search estimates, based on your initial list of relevant queries 4. Enter your list of search queries into the field provided. 5. Adjust the targeting of your query entries. For instance, if your potential visitors are mostly based in the United States, then be sure to set the “Targeting Location” to “United States.” 6. Once you’ve entered your list of queries and adjusted your targeting, you’ll see a list of ad group ideas. These are filtered lists of keyword ideas based on various ad groupings that are relevant to your search queries. 7. You can review each of these, or you can select the tab labeled “Keyword ideas.” This tab features a complete list of keyword ideas, as well as their average monthly search numbers. PRO TIP: The actual number of visitors you receive for these keywords will always be much lower than the “average monthly searches” numbers that are shown in Google Adwords Keyword Planner. The number of visitors that come to your website will depend on your ranking in search engines and the click-through rate. The easiest way to manage this long list of keyword suggestions is to download it as a .CSV file. This will allow you to open it in either Google Spreadsheets, Microsoft Excel, or your preferred spreadsheet tool. From there, you can remove certain phrases that you don’t like or that don’t necessarily make sense for your website. Step 3: Select your keywords and filter out the unnecessary ones Now that you have a long list of keyword ideas, how do you know which terms to select and use on your website? The first piece of the puzzle is to understand the three main types of keywords: short-, medium-, and long-tail. Short-tail keywords have higher search volumes, but they are very difficult to rank well for (especially new websites). They are generally 1-2 words in length. Ex. “juice shop” Medium-tail keywords have moderate search volumes, but they are also fairly hard to rank for—though not quite as tough as short-tail keywords. These are generally 2-3 words in length. Ex. “organic juice shop” Long-tail keywords have low search volumes, and they aren’t nearly as competitive to rank well for. These queries are usually 4+ words in length. Ex. “organic juice shop san francisco” PRO TIP: When it comes to keyword phrases, search engines do not pay attention to “stop words.” These are extremely common words such as the, is, at, which, and on. You may see keyword phrase suggestions such as “organic juice shop san francisco.” But when you’re adding a keyword like this to text on your website, don’t forget to add the stop word back in. When you’re starting a new website, I’d suggest selecting only medium- and long-tail keywords. This will give you the best chance of getting visitors via search engines. As your website grows and if you begin to rank well for all of your medium- and long-tail keywords, you can always adjust your keyword strategy to include a few short-tail keywords. Once you’ve selected your list of medium- and long-tail keywords, you should duplicate that list and then add modifiers to each them. Generally speaking, there are four different modifiers that work very well with almost all keywords. Time and/or Date: “organic juices 2014″ Quality and/or Price: “cheapest organic juices”, “organic juices under $5” Intent: “buy organic juices”, “find organic juices” Location: “organic juices online”, “organic juices in san francisco” Step 4: Find out which websites rank on Page 1 of Google for each of your keywords You absolutely need to see which websites are ranking on the first page of Google for each of your proposed keyword ideas. This is the best way to discover whether your website can compete for the keywords you’ve selected. If your list of keyword ideas is long, inputting each keyword phrase into Google may seem like a daunting and time-consuming task. But it’s a crucial step, so please do not skip it, as it will cost you website visits in the future. If you’d prefer to enter each keyword phrase into Google and take a look at each website on the first page of Google, be sure to ask yourself and document the following: Are all of the websites big and authoritative (e.g. Apple, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s)? What is the PageRank of each of these websites? What is the Domain Authority of each of these websites? To find the PageRank and Domain Authority of websites in search results, you’ll need to install the free MozBar plugin. If the websites that appear on the first page are not well-known or especially authoritative, then you should consider using that specific keyword. These low-competition keywords will give you the best chance of ranking on the first page. And Page 1 search results account for 92% of the traffic for an average search query. For those of you that prefer to use actual hard data to drive your decisions, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Moz Analytics. They have a “Keyword Difficulty and SERP Analysis” tool, which allows you to enter a keyword phrase and see various data points that will help you easily decide whether to pursue a particular keyword. If you’re interested in learning more about using the tool, Moz offers a helpful video guide on the Keyword Difficulty Tool. Step 5: Apply the chosen keywords to your website Once you’ve hand selected relevant and attainable keyword phrases, you need to insert these terms into various parts of your website. Here are the three most important areas of your website where keywords should be added: Title tags Meta descriptions All other text on your website Title tags A title tag is essentially the title of a web page—it’s the first line of text that you see when results appear in a search engine. It’s also one of the most important on-page SEO elements for ranking well in search. As I mentioned in my local SEO marketing post, small businesses should consider implementing the following title tag format for their homepage: industry-specific keyword(s) – city, state abbreviation – business name. Organic Juices – San Francisco, CA – Asterisk Juice Co. As you build out other pages on your website, you should ensure that a relevant keyword is positioned at the front of that page’s title tag. Be careful not to make these too long, as Google will truncate the text after ~55 characters (including spaces). Meta descriptions A meta description is the preview snippet for a given page. It can be seen below the title tag in search results. While Google and other search engines have said that meta descriptions aren’t used in their ranking algorithms, it’s still important to include relevant keywords here while also explaining what exactly the page is about. A meta description is a web page’s best call to action, so be sure to write compelling copy here, as it will greatly affect your clickthrough rate. All other text on your website Lastly, and arguably the most important, include your keywords in the copy of your website. No page should have the same keyword more than a few times per page, and the keyword should also fit naturally into the copy at all times. For example, don’t write sentences like this: I love the organic juice at that best cheap organic juice under $5 place in San Francisco. PRO TIP: The majority of traffic to your web pages will come from keywords you didn’t optimize for. Don’t ever over-optimize a website or a web page for just few terms. If you write compelling copy that also naturally includes a few relevant keywords, you’ll do much better in the long run.

Hint: don’t count on just one registrar. Registering domain names under new TLDs when they hit the market is similar to dropcatching expired domain names. From the registrar’s perspective, it involves prioritizing domains and hitting pinging the registry as quickly as possible. Some registrars are better than others at this. There’s some general know-how involved, plus a lot of technology. Registrars will also perform differently with different registries based on their systems and where they are located. Results will also depend on how many domains they’re doing after. So with that caveat, I’m going to show a little bit of data from .xyz. I pre-ordered 15 .xyz domain names at GoDaddy. I’m not going to expose the actual domain names, but they’re all keywords that would sell for at least six figures if they were under .com. Here’s who “caught” the domain names: GoDaddy 5 Hexonet 4 eNom 1 Host Europe 1 Network Solutions 1 United Domains 1 Let me start by pointing out that I have no idea if there was competition for the five domain names GoDaddy caught. I also don’t know how many of these domains were pre-ordered at other registrars. A heads on comparison would require pre-ordering them at all registrars. You can’t look at this data and say eNom (for example) sucks. It’s possible it caught the only domain of the 15 that was pre-ordered there. Now add up all of the domains and you’ll notice there are just 13. That’s where things get strange. About 90 minutes after the initial launch I noticed that Uniregistry was offering .xyz domains for $8.88 each. That’s a lot less than the $13-$15 other registrars were charging. So I went to Uniregistry to try to register some of the domains that I didn’t pre-order at GoDaddy. I plugged my entire list into the bulk search (Uniregistry has great bulk search, by the way) and noticed that two domains showing as available were ones I pre-ordered at GoDaddy. I figured this was an error. After all, I had just tried to register a few “available” .xyz domains at Uniregistry only to find they were registered by the time I checked out. But I checked out, the domains showed up in my account, and I verified my ownership in whois. Let me be clear: 90 minutes after .xyz general availability opened, I was able to go to a registrar and hand register two domains I had pre-ordered elsewhere. This suggests to me that something went horribly awry with the pre-orders at GoDaddy. Whatever happened, there’s a lesson in this: Pre-order at more than one registrar. - See more at: http://domainnamewire.com/2014/06/02/new-tld-preorders/#sthash.3OM3Ksox.dpuf

The breakthrough and boom of the internet and the speed with which it developed brought about many conflicts and abuses related to the improper use of domain names. Among those abuses, it is worth noting the registration of domain names using denominations which include the unauthorised use of a trade mark or trade names that belong to a third party. This procedure is known as cybersquatting (the intentional or speculative registration of a domain name including a third party's trade name or trade mark in order to block its use on the internet or to force a third party to pay a certain amount of money to acquire such a domain). In this sense, we must remember that trade marks play an essential role in the domain name field, and the owners of trade mark rights have been the main promoters of the regulatory process of domain names. Since it is extremely important for companies to register as domain names their own trade names or the trade marks they market (so that internet users would find it easy to locate and have access to such a website), those trade mark owners have been the main parties damaged by the cybersquatting phenomenon. New Resolutions In this sense, the issuance of Resolution 80/2013 by the Legal and Technical Secretary, (in force since March 5 2014), according to which a fee must be paid for the registration of a domain name and an annual fee for its renovation, will probably help to stop the cybersquatting practice. It is important to point out that before the issuance of that Resolution, the domain name registration was free of charge. Moreover, it should be noted that according to certain statistics, about 70% of the total domains in .com.ar remain inactive. Additionally Resolution 19/14 has also established that new registrations and their renovations shall be published in the Official Bulletin of the Republic of Argentina, which implies an important step for third parties to be informed about the use of their trade marks or trade names. It is expected that the issuance of the previously mentioned Resolutions will contribute to discourage the cybersquatting practice.

Multi-year deal for forty .xxx domains valued at $5 million. The domain name Sex.xxx has been sold as part of a $5 million deal between ICM Registry and Barron Innovations. The two parties pegged the price of Sex.xxx itself at a whopping $3 million. The $5 million deal includes 40 .xxx domain names including cam.xxx, phone.xxx and black.xxx. Each of these three examples were valued at six figures. A press release about the deal describes it as a “multi-year deal,” meaning it’s not an upfront cash purchase. Rather, payments for the domains will be made over an undisclosed number of years. Barron Investments credits the strong SEO value of .xxx domain names as a key factor in its purchase. Under ICM Registry’s Domain Matching Program, Barron will also get the matching .porn, adult and .sex domain names should ICM Registry be awarded them. - See more at: http://domainnamewire.com/2014/05/29/sex-xxx-sells-5-million-deal/#sthash.wnIlVw1y.dpuf

Finn.no AS of Oslo, Norway just lost a Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) on the the domain name Finn.sexy. The domain name is owned by North Sound Names which is a company associated with Frank Schilling, who also owns Uniregistry and of course John Berryhill, Esq represented the domain holder. This is the first URS case decided that involved North Sound Names and the 1st URS represented by John Berryhill. North Sound Names is the company that was set up to register New gTLD’s of Uniregistry. North Sound Names registered this domain on March 15th and the Complainant Submitted the URS on May 9, 2014 Complainant has established that it is the proprietor of the valid trademark FINN, registered in Norway, No. 192448 on August 27, 1998, in classes 35, 36, 38, 39, 41 and 42. Respondent registered the domain name on April 15, 2014. It resolves to a website offering the domain name for sale and containing links entitled “First Names”, Selfies”, “Diet”, “Fitness”, Social Networks”, Dating” and “Modeling”. The word “Finn” is a common name. There is no evidence that Respondent registered the domain name otherwise than to benefit from its significance as a common name. Although the domain name is for sale, there is no evidence that Respondent registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling it to Complainant or to a competitor of Complainant. Although Respondent was notified of Complainant’s trademark as part of the registration process, the generic nature of the word Finn and the content of the website to which the domain name resolves militate against any finding that Respondent intended to take advantage of the trademark significance of that name. DETERMINATION After reviewing the parties’ submissions, the Examiner determines that the Complainant has NOT demonstrated all three elements of the URS by a standard of clear and convincing evidence; the Examiner hereby Orders the following domain name(s) be returned to the control of Respondent; finn.sexy

Buying a new domain name isn’t difficult to do, but if you’re looking to score something a bit special – and don’t want to pay over the odds for it - your job can be a bit harder. And if you’re looking to buy a domain that isn’t being registered for the first time, the task can be even harder. Thankfully, armed with a few tips and some time for research, there are a bunch of places that can help you find the best names. On this occasion, we looked at the DNPric.es database – which lists more than 300,000 domain resales from the past 14 years or so – and a few other services, like Domai.nr. It’s worth noting that the DNPric.es service doesn’t track original domain sales, just resales of popular domains. Of course, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration when buying a domain name, but testing the water to see how popular certain words are certainly isn’t a bad starting point. Shrtr’s bttr Some of the most common advice on buying domain names is to keep it as short as possible – fewer characters makes it more likely that people will remember and type out your URL. It also means fewer potential spots for misspellings. However, contrary to what you might expect there are a few exceptions to this. For example, judging from DNPric.es URL stats filtered by length, you’d be better off going for a five letter domain name than a three or four letter one. Historically, five letters have sold for an average of $6,054.86 whereas for four letters it’s only $3,641.86. Nonetheless, two letter domains are still the most prized and have an average resale price of $16,887.56. There’s also another bonus to having a short URL – most people know they cost more than longer ones, and as such your brand is instantly imbued with feeling like a ‘premium’ player. Anything longer than 12 characters is more difficult to remember and to type, and as such, is not recommended, although it will obviously be cheaper. At the other end of the scale, you have the longest URL ever sold - an unwieldy 53 character affair. And the most expensive? Well, as we’ve told you before, that was VacationRentals.com. Creativity isn’t necessarily key As well as keeping it short and sweet, keep it simple. Having oddly spelled words, or worse, including a hyphen (-) in your URL is a real dampener on popularity (and therefore its onward value). It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with hyphens, but when was the last time you clicked on one, particularly with multiple hyphens and didn’t think it looked a bit dodgy? In fact, less than 3 percent of all URL resales included a dash, and it’s likely that some of those were only made as defensive acquisitions, according to Mark Kychma, a partner at MAKTIG VC., the company behind the DNPric.es database. If you’re trying to think of an original available name that fits the bill, tools like Domainr can give you some inspiration and help you along the way. If you’re really stuck you can use Bust A Name (shown above) or Dot-o-Mator to make some suggestions including suffixes and prefixes. Or if you’d rather just put your typing skills to the test you can check out Domain Hole’s Domain Drop game. All the names that fall are available URLs and all you have to do is type them before they reach the bottom. Don’t be blinded by .com Obviously, having a .com domain isn’t a bad idea, but it could also be worth considering a .org, .info, .me, .tv, ,co, or .ly address. Kymcha said that “if they are jingly and match the context of your service, Google will rank them very well anyway”. It’s also worth noting here that the value of .com domains has actually been falling for the past few years to an average of $3,007.23 for 2013. So far in 2014, the average has rebounded and currently sits at around $4,800. It’s also handy to take a look at this list of average resale values for all TLDs to get an idea of popularity and value. Do your homework Research, research, research. It’s the key to many things in life, and domain names are no different. Think that registering immense.me is a good idea? Go right ahead, but a quick search would reveal that there have been no public resales involving the word immense at all – clearly, not a popular option for URLs. At the other end of the scale you have the most frequent domains resales, boot.net, bracelets.net and 1ow.com. Each of those has been resold seven times, so far. It’s probably also best to avoid URLs that potentially infringe on existing businesses. For example, Facebook probably isn’t too happy with some of these URLs. As well as giving you an indication of popularity of certain words, it can also lead you to nuggets of information like that someone bought catsinhats.com in January 2013 for $5,000 and still hasn’t done anything with it. No doubt, a (dubious) investment for the future. Negotiate You have two options: you can pay sticker price, or you can try and negotiate. Before you get to the point of handing over cash, you can do yet more research to see what the domain may have sold for in the past, or what similar domains have sold for. The better armed you are with info, the more chance you have of a successful negotiation. Kymcha advises to “always negotiate below the average, which [would be] around $2,000″. That said, it isn’t always easy to draw comparisons in domain name values. Some might cost a relative fortune and flop, and others might be a bargain waiting to be discovered – though these are obviously harder to find. Generally, shorter names are more expensive and anything that involves an existing business is going to be a lot more pricey and more complicated to purchase – even if the page is dead or inactive. http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/05/26/5-short-sweet-tips-help-find-buy-popular-domain-names/

The intent was to open new opportunities for domain names, but not all opportunities are good. As you can tell, I’ve been watching this space as I’m interested in how the new gTLD program will evolve. In the coming months, I’m planning to write about interesting trends I see and specific topics related to new gTLDs. In fact, I’ll give you a little teaser on my next blog - I plan to address the dirty little secret around new gtld that you’re not going to want to miss, especially if you’re thinking of adopting one for your business. Given the myriad opportunities available, I want to make sure that small business owners know their facts before considering a journey down the new gTLD path. Love to hear your thoughts. Have you considered purchasing a new gTLD?