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DirectNIC and United Domains now fully integrated with SedoMLS Premium

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:23:26 +0000

Customers can list their domains on SedoMLS at Premium level.

Sedo has announced that domain name registrars DirectNIC and United Domains are now fully integrated with SedoMLS at the Premium level. This means that customers of these domain registrars can add their domains to SedoMLS’ instant transfer system and also purchase domains directly through the registrar.

Both registrars were previously integrated with SedoMLS but only on the purchasing end; customers could not list their domains with SedoMLS Premium.

In terms of .com registrations, DirectNIC was the 24th largest domain name registrar at the end of September. United Domains was the 54th largest.

SedoMLS Premium is similar to AfternicDLS Premium. Registrants at participating registrars can list their domains for sale and take advantage of instant transfer technology. That means customers at any participating registrar can buy the domains in their shopping cart and immediately get control of them.

For example, last week I sold a domain name through Afternic that was registered at Moniker but purchased by someone at Network Solutions. The transfer occurred instantaneously without any involvement from me.

From a registrar perspective, the Sedo program differs by allowing registrars to add their own mark up to the price.

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Judge Dismisses Verizon Lawsuit Against DirectNIC

Andrew Allemann — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:32:06 +0000

Judge grants Motion to Dismiss against large domain name registrar and its parent company.

The judge presiding over Verizon’s cybersquatting lawsuit has granted a Motion to Dismiss (pdf) filed by Intercosmos Media Group, Inc., directNIC, LLC and Domain Contender, LLC for lack of personal jurisdiction. Domain Contender is a subsidiary of directNIC and directNIC is a subsidiary of Intercosmos.

Verizon argued that the entities had operations in Florida. The court found otherwise:

Verizon argues that the IMG Defendants are subject to specific jurisdiction under the long-arm statute because they purportedly have an office in Florida. However, as pointed out by the IMG Defendants, there is not a shred of plausible evidence in support of this contention.

Verizon pointed to a press release suggesting DirectNIC was opening to open an office in Tampa, but the court deemed it insufficient that a release mentioning future plans for an office proved that an office existed.

Verizon also noted that Donny Simonton, which the company says is CIO of Intercosmos, attended TRAFFIC in Florida in 2007:

In addition, the non-Internet activity alleged (specifically, the presence of one IMG employee at a Florida trade show) does not constitute minimum contacts with Florida.

The companies told the court they are Louisiana entities.

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Which Domain Name Registrar is Best?

Andrew Allemann — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:09:45 +0000

Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who is the greatest registrar of them all?

When it comes to top domain name registrars, Go Daddy has been a clear winner in all five years of the Domain Name Wire survey. Last year it grabbed 41% of the vote, compared to just 16% for the runner up.

Now the sixth annual survey is upon us. Will Go Daddy retain its crown?

This year I’ve expanded the list of domain name registrars to include more of the mainstream top 25 domain name registrars. This means you’ll no longer have to write-in the likes of Name.com, Gandi, and DirectNIC. Last year Name.com came in fifth on the survey despite not being an option — all of its votes came from write-ins.

Please take the next five minutes to let your voice be heard and complete the survey.

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SedoMLS Beta Now Open to SedoPro Customers

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:45:49 +0000

Company expands beta for listing syndication and fulfillment service.

SedoMLS, which syndicates your Sedo domain name listings across multiple sites and instantly transfers domain names upon purchase, is now available for select Sedo customers.

Sedo launched the service last year but it has been closed to most domainers. The new beta phase permits SedoPro customers to list domains at the MLS level. Other Sedo customers with 5,000 or more domain names may request access as well.

SedoMLS listings are syndicated to a number of partners, many of which enable domains to be sold and transferred instantly without seller involvement. Partners include Name.com, InternetX, and DirectNIC.

The system is a competitor to AfternicDLS. AfternicDLS has a number of large registrars already in its stable including Network Solutions, Register.com, and Name.com. eNom and Moniker will be added before the end of the year.

Despite not having the same major registrar distribution as AfternicDLS, Sedo may be able play to its strength in the international market. The company has a leg up on Afternic for selling ccTLDs and foreign language domain names.

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Two Defendants Respond to Verizon Cybersquatting Lawsuit

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:18:33 +0000

Response filed in Verizon domain name lawsuit.

Two defendants in a lawsuit filed by Verizon alleging cybersquatting have responded to the suit.

Both The Producers, Inc., and Michael Gardner have responded to Verizon’s allegations that they registered domains related to Verizon trademarks. The somewhat bizarre case revolves around what DirectNIC does with domain names when they expire but are not yet deleted. Like most registrars, DirectNIC removes the registrant’s details from whois and places a parked page on the domain.

In their defenses, The Producers and Gardner didn’t say much, other than denying most of the allegations made by Verizon. They also have terse affirmative defenses, including that Verizon has “unclean hands”:

Some or all of Plaintiffs’ claims and/or remedies are barred in whole or in part by the doctrine of “unclean hands”.

This basically alleges that Verizon is engaging in some of the same behavior that it alleges the defendants have engaged in. Although the response doesn’t elaborate, this could be about Verizon’s practice of displaying a parked page to its ISP customers when they type in a domain name that doesn’t exist.

The defendants also claim estoppel, statute of limitations/laches, ACPA Immunity, Communications Decency Act immunity, actions permitted by contract (that defendants are permitted to operate a proxy registration service), failure to mitigate damages, and third-party liability (that third parties are liable to The Producers and Gardner for all or part of the Plaintiffs’ claims).

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Verizon Sues DirectNIC for Parking Expired Domain Names

Andrew Allemann — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:29:56 +0000

Suit claims registrar parked trademarked domain names for the period between expiration and deletion.

Verizon has a filed a lawsuit (pdf) against domain name registrar DirectNIC and related companies, alleging that the defendants parked expired domain names infringing on Verizon’s trademarks in the period between expiration and deletion.

The lawsuit also names directors of DirectNIC and related companies as defendants, and uses a gripe site and UDRP decisions as part of the basis for linking together the company with a number of other entities, which the suit calls “shell companies”.

Verizon claims that the defendants have registered 288 domain names that infringe on its marks. But the crux of its argument is that DirectNIC became, in effect, the registrant of these domain names for the period between when the domain names expired and were deleted. The Verizon lawsuit also claims that the defendants then transferred some of these expired domains to other entities for a fee prior to deletion.

Most major registrars replace the whois information for expired domain names with their own information or domain privacy, and often times display some sort of message about the domain being expired. During this period, the registrar places a parked page on the domain name. The domains are later auctioned off or transferred to other entities.

For example, Network Solutions places a notice and parked page on expired domain names. It then sends the domain name to an auction on NameJet. If there’s a buyer, the domain is then transferred to the new owner. Some domain registrars also have deals with buyers to sell domains to them outside of the auction process.

It’s not clear why Verizon sued DirectNIC and related other companies rather than a competitor. Verizon makes a lot of allegations in the lawsuit linking the defendants together, even though the point of the lawsuit doesn’t seem to address these linked entities and instead goes after the practice of parking expired domain names.

Depending on the outcome, this suit could have ramifications for most major domain name registrars and their expired domain parking practices, let alone “coming soon” placeholder pages.

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Domain Companies Head to Austin for SXSW

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:15:52 +0000

Domain companies en route to Austin later this week.

Several domain name companies are heading to Austin later this week for the start of the annual South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Festival. The Interactive portion of the event attracted over 10,000 attendees last year. Many stay in town for the music festival, which kicks off in the middle of next week. Although the interactive festival is big, music is a big draw: over 2,000 musical acts will play at 80 official venues next week, and many more unofficially.

So here’s who I know will be in town for SXSW 2010:

DirectNIC – domain registrar will have a booth at the Interactive trade show. Swing by booth 932 to say ‘hi’.

Name.com – will be at the show

Demand Media – the company has a big contingent in Austin, thanks to its acquisition of Pluck

Traverse Legal – one of the attorneys at Traverse Legal, which handles a number of domain name cases, will be here

If you’re with a domain name company and heading to Austin for SXSW, feel free to leave a comment.

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