Domain Name Wire » Search Results » network solutions

KeyDrive acquires Moniker and SnapNames

Andrew Allemann — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:15:29 +0000

Oversee.net sells off domain marketplace, expiring domain, and registrar companies.

[Update: read this follow up story to understand what this means for customers.]

KeyDrive, which owns domain name registrar Key-Systems as well as NameDrive, has acquired SnapNames and Moniker from Oversee.net.

Combined, KeyDrive says it is now the sixth largest ICANN accredited registrar.

Rumors about the acquisition have been swirling around DOMAINfest this week. KeyDrive has now updated its web site to confirm the acquisition.

Both SnapNames and Moniker were challenging acquisitions for Oversee.net. SnapNames lost its most important domain registrar, Network Solutions, shortly after the acquisition in 2007. It then dealt with the so-called “halvarez” scandal where a SnapNames employee was found shill bidding in auctions.

Moniker was also a challenge, primarily because it was purchased at the peak in early 2008. Oversee.net paid about $24 million for the domain registrar. Although the sale price hasn’t been disclosed, you can bet it took a sizable loss on the sale.

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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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GoDaddy’s patent portfolio still growing, but no offensive action yet

Andrew Allemann — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:07:10 +0000

Domain registrar continues to apply for patents but hasn’t gone on the offensive yet.

Will GoDaddy’s patent strategy change now that it has taken an investment from three private equity giants?

It’s an important question for the domain name and web hosting industries because of the size of the company’s patent war chest.

A search with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows 65 issued patents for The Go Daddy Group and close to 200 pending.

These patents cover a broad range of technologies and business processes, ranging from whois privacy services to domain name suggestion spinning and domain hijack protection.

But to date the company hasn’t sued any competitors for patent infringement.

Karl Fazio, Associate General Counsel – Patents for Go Daddy told Domain Name Wire that might not change despite the new investment by KKR, Silver Lake and Technology Crossover Ventures.

“We do have plenty of patents in our portfolio that are powerful and could be monetized if we chose to do that,” he explained, but added that he’s not aware of any plans to go on the offense.

“The new partnership [investment] doesn’t change the fundamental principles of why you have a robust patent portfolio,” he said.

The patent portfolio protects the company’s products and gives it “room to operate”. A strong patent portfolio also discourages other companies from suing it for patent infringement.

One company has tried. In 2006 Web.com sued Go Daddy for patent infringement. The settlement in 2009 included a cross-licensing agreement of the companies’ patent portfolios. The lawsuit was settled before Web.com acquired both Register.com and Network Solutions.

Although Fazio is not aware of any plans to go on the offense, you shouldn’t expect the company’s patent filing machine to slow down any time soon.

“As we are developing new products and services we intend to aggressively protect in the patent space our new technology,” said Fazio.

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Marchex Shares Down 40% In 3 Months

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:52:15 +0000

Marchex gets smacked around in the stock market.

The stock market isn’t showing any love to Marchex, one of the world’s largest holders of domain names.

Shares closed today at just $6.38, down nearly 40% from their $10.57 opening price on August 15.

This is despite the company topping both earnings and revenue estimates for the third quarter in earnings released November 2.

The company is focusing heavily on its pay-per-call services.

Here’s how some other companies tied to the domain name industry have done during the same period:

Tucows (TCX) is up 6% to $.75
Demand Media (DMD) is down 24% to $6.99
Web.com (WWWW), which recently closes its acquisition of Network Solutions, is virtually unchanged at $10.57.

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Did You Know? No Policy Against Registry-Registrar Cross-Ownership

Andrew Allemann — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:58:27 +0000

ICANN has never had a formal policy against registry-registrar cross-ownership.

ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom has responded to European Commission Commissioner Neelie Kroes on the issue of cross ownership between domain name registrars and registries, also know as vertical integration.

Kroes sent a letter to Beckstrom in June expressing concern over vertical integration and potential competition concerns.

Beckstrom explains (pdf) that ICANN has never had a strict policy against registry-registrar ownership. We all know that Afilias had a number of registrar owners.

Here’s how Beckstrom explains it:

Some have had the misperception that ICANN adopted a formal polity that restricted any registry from owning more than 15% of any registrar. That is not the case. ICANN has never adopted any overarching policy that restricts the ability of a registry to own an interest in an registrar. Although ICANN’s agreement with VeriSign (and certain other registries) does limit VeriSign’s ability to own an interest in a registrar, ICANN has long permitted registrars to own interests in registries (and several registrars today do own interests in registries). The “15%” limitation referenced in the [European Commission's] Non-paper was the product of negotiation (not any policy development process) and was intended to apply only to the parties to that particular contract (signed in 1999), at which time Network Solutions was the only commercial Internet registry and the only commercial Internet registrar.

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Web.com Plans .Web Top Level Domain

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:54:14 +0000

Company plans to apply for .web and says no one else should be allowed to get the TLD.

Publicly traded Web.com plans to apply for the .web top level domain name and says no one else should be allowed to apply for the TLD due to its trademarks.

The company has a pre-reservation form up on its web site and just filed a trademark application for the name.

This is the first I’ve heard of the company’s plans, although its trademark application says it has been using .web in commerce since June.

I expect multiple applications for .web. A number of companies have proposed it over the years, and an unofficial version runs outside the official root.

Still, Web.com is making it clear it thinks no one else should be able to operate the .web top level domain name. On its terms and conditions page for .web it states:

In addition to the significant common law trademark rights and consumer goodwill acquired in its Web.com business name and trademark, Web.com also owns several U.S. and international trademark registrations with respect thereto. Web.com and its predecessors have used these trademarks or variations thereof since 1996 and in the process have developed a strong reputation and unquestionable goodwill in conjunction with them. Web.com spends considerable resources building and maintaining this valuable goodwill and consumer recognition associated with its brand and services and is committed to enforcing its significant intellectual property rights related thereto.

Since the “.WEB” TLD is obviously very similar to the Web.com trade name, trademarks, and the character string associated with the main Web.com web address, www.web.com, it is clear that Web.com should be the company to operate and administer the .WEB™ domain registry and this is a role that Web.com expects to assume and looks forward to doing so. Moreover, the issuance of .WEB™ to anyone other than Web.com would not only infringe on the trademark rights in Web.com, but the use of .WEB™ by anyone other than Web.com would mislead and confuse consumers into thinking that any website with the .web suffix was associated with or sponsored by Web.com. Therefore, Web.com has taken steps to secure the necessary approvals to operate and administer the .WEB™ domain name registry and remains committed to aggressively continue to pursue such approvals.

Web.com owns Register.com and is buying Network Solutions, so if it actually runs the registry this would be another example of a registrar wishing to take advantage of possible loosened registry/registrar co-ownerships restrictions.

This will be an interesting one to watch.

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Athens Plans .Athens Top Level Domain Name

Web.com to Cut More Network Solutions Employees

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:44:43 +0000

Company plans more pink slips at iconic domain registrar.

Web.com plans to fire more Network Solutions employees after it acquires the company than it previously thought.

The company, which also owns domain name registrar Register.com, originally thought it would save $30 million through efficiencies. Now it expects to save much more by “cutting senior manager posts, including Network Solutions’ chief executive, and consolidating data centres and applications”.

“There is significantly more overlap than we originally estimated, and so it’s likely going to be more headcount reduction,” CEO David Brown told Reuters.

It looks like those cuts will come from senior management and not lower level and customer service employees.

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