What is the biggest threat to the Domain Industry?
That government action or over reaction to attempt to deal with trademark infringement issues is the biggest issue we face as an industry.
Looking toward 2008 I believe that the trademark issues still are the biggest threat.
Here are some domains that are dropping today which already have multiple backorders at namejet.com:
bankofamericanonline.com
geraldrford.com
dienychannel.com
directvoffer.com
jessicasimpsen.com
sprintbill.com
verizonaccount.com
disenchannel.com
diseychannal.com
forbsmagazine.com
hondarepairs.com
nbadunks.com
nbarosters.com
armaniaexchange.com
atvhonda.com
briteneyspears.com
countrywidemorgtages.com
directtvemployment.com
customercountrywidebank.com
You have to be kidding me.
Completely indefensible, ridiculous, just lawsuits waiting to happen.
According to Ron Jackson’s Publication the 20th biggest sale of last week was
Wikipeadia.com with a sales price of $9,400 at pool.com
Horrible for the industry
Keep doing it and you will see what congress and the courts do. It won’t be pretty and it won’t just effect what we would consider the obvious abusive names. In 2007 an organization was formed by trademark holders “dedicated to ending the systemic domain name abuse”. They are well funded. They will be relentless in getting something done in 2008.
What is going to be there approach, no guesswork here, it states it right on their site:
“Lobby the relevant agencies of jurisdiction in the United States government, and actively communicate with members of Congress”.
What we as an industry need to do:
1. Do NOT register, backorder, or participate in any auction containing these types of domains.
They are poison.
Not just to you, but everyone in this industry.
2. The drop services have to stop taking backorders for these obvious trademark infringing names.
Pool.com, and Namejet, not only take the orders, they basically advertise them on the front of their sites everyday, as one of the most active backorders.
Pool.com send out an e-mail with these types on names on it inviting further backordering.
Shame on those who backorder them.
Same on those who allow it to happen, and facilitate the transfer of these infringing domains.
3. Stop domain tasting.
It’s a loser. It’s an industry killer. It’s taking the short money in a long term business.
We have never domain tasted. I don’t think we have ever used the five day grace period for any domain.
There is enough money to be made in this business without engaging in this conduct.
4. Join the Internet Commerce Association (ICA), They represent our industry. They employ a professional lobbyist. They deal with tons of issues you aren’t even aware of on a daily basis that effect our industry. We need a lobbyist on our side. In actuality we need several.
We joined The ICA this year and gave a lot of money to them. I get e-mail several times a week and see that they are working hard for the industry. They watch our backs. Someone has too.
We need it.
You can join for as little as $295.
That’s less than some idiot is going to pay one of the drop services today to buy bankofamericaonline.com.
You have car insurance don’t you?
Mike –
Excellent post!
Our industry is on a path of self destruction if this continues to be encouraged by companies like Pool, NameJet & many others…Not to mention the fools who buy these ticking time-bombs.
Please keep the spotlight on this issue
Rob
Thanks
I agree Trademarks are tricky but, and there is a BUT…..Our company buys related trademark names for our clients who have rights to the trademark usage. For example Hondarepairs.Com would be a great name for use with one of our many Honda Dealership Clients. I agree that Trademarks are a slippery slope, but NOT for those who can legitmately use them. That being said an “out and out” ban of the sale of these names is NOT the answer. The onis should be on the purchasers not the registrar.
Excellent post that addresses the most relevant issue in our industry. The speculators who continue to covet these indefensible names will soon find themselves ostracized by the rest. They are cybersquatters in the truest sense of the word and open a window for those corporations who would engage in reverse name hijacking to paint all of us with a broad brush.
It’s called a “feeding frenzy” and only about money and sad to say that strong action is inevitable. These practices are purely selfish and do nothing to help the internet, visitors or industry. We will all be considered guilty by association. This could make the term “domainer” a bad word.
Jeffrey
There are not 10 Honda dealers placing bids on that domain.
The other names cannot be used legitimately and when you see all of them on one domain registrars drop list, Houston we have a problem.
David
Thanks for the kind words.
I think 2008 will be a pivotal year in regards to the trademark issue.
I hope we can get the ICA or someone else to step up and right the ship before congress steps into do it.
Greetings…
I whole-heartedly agree with your reprimand of the subject practices and the sentiments of your post in general. I would point out though, that the threat you have identified was created by domain name businesses – not domain name investors. No investor would buy those names.
The distinction between a domain name business and a domain name investor was faint a decade ago when a rare few domain names were even selling. The few thousand (or hundred) dollars that were passed around then insured that almost everyone selling a domain name was an individual owner.
Today domain names are often little more than inventory that’s valuated on the basis of a formula – a formula that uses as its primary consideration the amount of advertising revenue generated from one-way relationships with mega digital media companies such as Google and Yahoo.
As much as the infringement issues you have addressed, formula treatment of domain names has created a threat for domain name investors.
It’s way past time to stop mixing the apples with the oranges. For the domain name investor, there is no benefit in being clumped together with domain name businesses. Investors clearly do not share the same goals and objectives as domain name businesses and there should be a wider understanding of that fact.
As an example, look at the ICA. While it appears to be a fantastic idea for domain name businesses, I believe it serves as a poor representative for domain name investors. By their own account the ICA is “a business organization made up of individuals and companies that own, buy, sell, resell, host and manage Internet traffic which comes from search engines, domain names and Internet links.”
Similarly, their stated issues make clear the organization is focused only on domain name businesses (which makes sense, since their middle name is commerce).
Issues like Accelerated Depreciation and Elimination of Click Fraud don’t interest pure play domain name investors. Specifically:
– Depreciation is usually only calculated on assets used for professional or business purposes and pure play investors don’t use it.
– Click fraud is actually a good selling point for convincing a company to go ahead and buy good domain names instead of paying click businesses for links on them.
– Direct navigation pay-per-click/action schemes always represent the least valuable exploitation of a good domain name. So, of course, any trend to use the profits from such schemes as the basis for a domain name’s value would be harmful to domain name investors.
Just to be clear; I don’t mean to pick on the ICA – I’m sure the have a great organization. But so does the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Internet Local Advertising & Commerce Association (ILAC). In fact, many of their core objectives appear to be similar to those of the ICA.
My point is only this: none of these organizations have investors as a priority constituency, and therefore, domain name investors’ time and resources may be better spent on finding or creating an organization that considers domain name investors to be a top priority constituency.
But that’s just me.