May flowers? A look back at the month in domaining.
Summer isn’t officially here in the northern hemisphere, but as schools call it quits for the year it certainly seems that way. Here’s a look back at the top stories on Domain Name Wire for May, ranked by number of page views.
Q: My future daughter hasn’t even been conceived yet, but I already Googled her name and bought the domain. Other than my husband, I’ve never told anyone I did this. I realize some people might think me silly or weird, but I believe in planning ahead.
26- year-old Elephant Orchestra Co-Founder Jan Barta has built a business empire that now stretches far beyond the domain world. His success marks a huge comeback for a family that had lost everything they owned in a Communist takeover of their homeland. We have the whole story in the latest DN Journal Cover Story.
Sure, you can try and register your company’s name as the URL, but what should you do regarding all those domain name extensions that are now available? Obviously a .com extension remains a default option, but what happens if someone is already parked there?
Company wants to trade up to better domain name through lawsuit.
Leisure Hotel Corporation has filed a lawsuit against the owner of Leisure.com claiming trademark infringement, counterfeiting, false designations of origin, and cybersquatting (pdf).
Let me ask you a simple question: If you were the person who plunked down $150,000 to buy Leisure.com a couple years ago, what would you plan to do with it? The most obvious thing would be a site about travel. It’s a great use of a good generic domain name.
Generic.
But not according to Leisure Hotel Corporation, which bills itself as providing “a wide array of services in the hospitality, restaurant, and resort businesses”.
The company claims that Leisure.com’s use as a travel booking comparison engine infringes its marks:
The Website prominently uses LEISURE nominative phrases, including without limitation, LEISURE, LEISURE.COM, LEISURE SEARCH, and LEISURE TRAVEL (collectively the “Infringing Marks”), in its domain name and throughout the content of the webpages accessible at the Website.
Well, duh. It’s a web site about leisure.
Among Leisure Hotel Corporation’s demands is a lot of money and to get its hands on the domain name.
Jothan has been in the domain name industry since 1994, and has helped launch numerous registries, registrars, TLD consultancies and domain conferences, and is currently a consultant in the New Top Level Domain name field, with deep experience and contacts in the domain industry and ICANN arena.
