Review: “The Domain Game” Book Released

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 - Courtesy - Domain Name Wire

Long-awaited book about the domain name industry released today

What do you get when you take current reporting about the domain name industry, put it into the hands of an accomplished journalist, and give him a year to research and write about it? You get The Domain Game, the most thoroughly researched and interesting coverage of the domain name industry ever printed.

 

Author David Kesmodel was introduced to the domain name industry while writing a few articles for Wall Street Journal Online. He took time off to write The Domain Game, and has since returned to the WSJ print edition. 

The Domain Game starts with the story of Frank Schilling, the legendary domainer who took his family’s $200,000 life savings and invested it (and more) in domain names. It also features other feel good stories, such as that of watermelon farmer Scott Day, who now owns arguably the best portfolio of domain names in the world, including Recipes.com, Shops.com, and, of course, Watermelons.com. Or the single father who lived a life in debt until he discovered domain names.

The book also does a fine job of explaining the history of domain names and in particular the expired domains drop. It details how people like Yun Ye mastered the expired domain drop to build a portfolio worth over $100 million.

But of course there’s a dark side to the domain name industry, and that’s where Kesmodel’s long hours or research hit paydirt. The book discloses little known facts about some of the biggest people and companies in the industry. Some of it’s good; some of it’s bad. Whereas many in the domain industry have merely made accusations about various domain companies, Kesmodel researched court filings and connected the dots. He gets into the details of iREIT’s trademark fiasco. He writes about how domain registrar Dotster tasted domains and told its employees to not disclose its ownership to anyone who inquired. Including Neiman Marcus, one of its customers that ultimately turned around and sued it for owning trademark typos of its brands. He connects the dots between Oversee.net and NameKing and Chesterton Holdings, another trademark infringer.

I’ve recommended a handful of books to domainers, but this is one I don’t need to recommend. This is a book that every domainer will be talking about in the coming weeks.

The book can be ordered online at Xlibris.com for $19.99 in paperback and $29.99 in hardcover.

Update From Anwar Mehdi 

 Watch this blog for a complete review of this book once I've had a chance to read and summarize it. 

April 30, 2008 - 9:23AM

Melbourne IT Ltd has acquired US company VeriSign's Digital Brand Management Services business (DBMS)

 for $US50 million ($A53.33 million).

The deal is expected to be earnings per share (EPS) accretive in 2009 contributing more than $US30 million

 ($A32 million) as well as annualised cost synergies in excess of $US1.5 million ($A1.6 million), 

Melbourne IT said.

 

Melbourne IT, a supplier of domain registration and other online services, said combining

 its Corporate Brand Service division with Verisign's DBMS business would boost its scale 

and market share in digital brand protection and performance market.

"The acquisition of VeriSign DBMS is expected to quadruple our current enterprise client base, 

provide a leading market position in the Americas and deliver a 200 per cent increase 

in the number of digital brands managed on behalf of our clients," 

Melbourne IT chief executive Theo Hnarakis said.

Melbourne IT said it expected no contribution from the acquisition in 2008, 

after accounting for the anticipated one-off integration and transition costs.

 

Melbourne IT said it also would establish "world class data centre facilities and digital brand support services

 during the year".

Melbourne IT will rename the newly combined business Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services.

Reposted from Original Source: http://news.theage.com.au/melbourne-it-buys-verisigns-dbms/20080430-29gw.html

Coming on the heels of the massive PR blunder by Network Solution's alleged Front Running practice, we now hear that Network Solutions is facing a class action lawsuit (and ICANN has been named as a defendant in the lawsuit as well). What do I think? -- I think this was a policy blunder by Network Solutions but they have corrected it and filing a class action lawsuit against them is probably taken it farther than I would've suggested.

Here is the complete article: Network Solutions' policy of automatically registering searched domain names has sparked a class-action lawsuit. A class-action lawsuit filed on Monday against Network Solutions alleges the company has unfairly profited from its domain name registration business. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California,takes issue with a policyNetwork Solutions implemented in December. The company says the policy is intended to protect people trying to reserve a domain name, but others say steers business to Network Solutions.

The company automatically reserves a domain name after someone merely conducts a search on Network Solutions' Web site. If someone goes to another domain name registrar just seconds later, the domain name won't be available. The only option a person has is to buy the domain name from Network Solutions, which can cost as much as US$34.99, according to a news release from Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP, a Los Angeles law firm.

Network Solutions will eventually give up the domain name before the end of the Add-Grace Period, which lets someone get a refund for a domain name within five days of registering one. The Add-Grace Period is allowed for some Top Level Domains (TLDs) by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the overseer of the Internet's addressing system, which is also named in the class-action suit. Network Solutions says its policy counters "front running," a practice where scammers get access to domain name search records and immediately register searched domains names.

Sometimes those domains are stacked with pay-per-click ads during the five-day period to see how much traffic the sites get, a practice known as domain "tasting." Other times, the person who registered the domain hopes to sell for a profit to the person who searched for it. Network Solutions was heavily criticized for implementing the policy without notifying people who searched for domain names. It has since posted moredetailed informationon its Web site. The lawsuit alleges Network Solutions' domain registration fees are too expensive, and that the same domain name could be registered for as little as $9.99.

The policy has netted the company millions of dollars, and essentially allowed it to create a monopoly, the law firm said. Last month, Network Solutions said it would halt its policy if ICANN approves a change under consideration to the Add-Grace Period. As part of its fiscal 2009 budget, ICANN is considering keeping the $0.20 fee it charges for registering domains, regardless if one is given up during the grace period. The move is intended to make it much more expensive to taste domains in bulk.

Full Article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022601062.html</a>

The domainer in you must have wondered at some time as to how exactly can an expiring domain name become available for re-registration by a new owner. To know the answer to this question, you must understand the Status of a domain as listed in the whois database. Here is the URL of the whois lookup provided by Domain Tools. When observing the results of a whois lookup, you will see a record similar in format to the one below:

ICANN Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Created: 1997-09-15 
Expires: 2011-09-14 
Registrar Status: clientDeleteProhibited 
Registrar Status: clientTransferProhibited 
Registrar Status: clientUpdateProhibited 
Name Server: NS1.GOOGLE.COM 
Name Server: NS2.GOOGLE.COM 
Name Server: NS3.GOOGLE.COM 
Name Server: NS4.GOOGLE.COM 
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com

There is a line item in the lookup data labeled Status. In the case of this domain, the status are listed as clientDeleteProhibited,clientTransferProhibited and clientUpdateProhibited Listed below are the various states that can appear in this field, and what they mean (There are two standard protocols, RRP and EPP - RRP is the older protocol that is being phased out in favor of EPP which is more fine grained. There is a specific mapping of statuses between the older RRP and EPP).

Below are the all RRP statuses, followed by EPP statuses.

Registry Operator Status codes: (RRP) Registry Registrar Protocol (Com/Net Registry Operator – Verisign Global Registry)

ACTIVE: The registry sets this status. The domain can be modified by the registrar. The domain can be renewed. The domain will be included in the zone if the domain has been delegated to at least one name server. A domain can only change registrars if in this state.

· REGISTRY-LOCK: The registry sets this status. The domain can not be modified or deleted by the registrar. The registry must remove the REGISTRY-LOCK status for the registrar to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will be included in the zone if the domain has been delegated to at least one name server.

· REGISTRAR-LOCK: The sponsoring registrar sets this status. The domain can not be modified or deleted. The registrar must remove REGISTRAR-LOCK status to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will be included in the zone.

· REGISTRY-HOLD: The registry sets this status. The domain can not be modified or deleted by the registrar. The registry must remove the REGISTRY-HOLD status for the registrar to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will not be included in the zone.

· REGISTRAR-HOLD: The sponsoring registrar sets this status. The domain can not be modified or deleted. The registrar must remove REGISTRAR-HOLD status to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will not be included in the zone.

· REDEMPTIONPERIOD: The registry sets this status when a registrar requests that the domain name be deleted from the registry and the domain has been registered for more than 5 calendar days (if the delete request is received within 5 days of initial domain registration it will instead be deleted immediately). The domain will not be included in the zone. The domain can not be modified or purged; it can only be restored. Any other registrar requests to modify or otherwise update the domain will be rejected. The domain will be held in this status for a maximum of 30 calendar days.

· PENDINGRESTORE: The registry sets this status after a registrar requests restoration of a domain that is in REDEMPTIONPERIOD status. The domain will be included in the zone. Registrar requests to modify or otherwise update the domain will be rejected. The domain will be held in this status while the registry waits for the registrar to provide required restoration documentation. If the registrar fails to provide documentation to the registry within 7 calendar days to confirm the restoration request, the domain will revert to REDEMPTIONPERIOD status. The domain status will be set to ACTIVE only if the registrar provides documentation to the registry within 7 calendar days to confirm the restoration request.

· PENDINGDELETE: The registry sets this status after a domain has been set in REDEMPTIONPERIOD status and the domain has not been restored by the registrar. The domain will not be included in the zone. Once in this status all registrar requests to modify or otherwise update the domain will be rejected. The domain will be purged from the registry database after being in this status for 5 calendar days.

EPP Domains (The newer better protocol)

Domain Status: Normally operating domains have a status of "OK" or "Active." Other status values detail pending operations and restrictions regarding the domain. If the status is OK then the domain can be transferred.

· OK: This is the nominal status value for a domain object at all times, whether or not the domain has pending operations or prohibitions.

· New: This is the nominal status for a newly created domain object. The domain can be modified unless locked.

· Active: The domain can be modified and appears in a zone file. This is the nominal status for a domain object once it has been published in a zone.

· Locked: The domain cannot be transferred, renewed, or deleted. (Though the status value can be changed.) Hierarchical and associated objects cannot be added or removed from the domain object. Domain names involved in Sunrise and other disputes may be locked, subject to registry policies.

· Hold: The domain will not be published in a zone for DNS resolution. Names without at least two nameservers may be placed on Hold status; in this case submit nameserver data through your registrar.

· pendingTransfer: A transfer request has been received for the domain, and completion of the request is pending. The domain cannot be renewed, deleted, or updated while in this state.

· pendingDelete: A delete request has been received from the registrar for the domain. The domain has been removed from the zone, but has not yet been purged from the registry database. The domain cannot be renewed, deleted, transferred, or updated while in this state.

· clientHold: The domain will not be published in a zone for DNS resolution. This status is placed on the domain by the registrar.

· clientLock: The domain cannot be transferred, renewed, deleted, or updated. This status is placed on the domain by the registrar. An update command may be used to change the status value. Hierarchical and associated objects cannot not be added or removed from the domain object.

So, for those of you interested in registering previously registered - but now expiring domains: the domain will always go into REDEMPTIONPERIOD status before it is released to be re-registered.

It will remain in REDEMPTIONPERIOD status for 30 days at which time it will then move to PENDINGDELETE status. After 5 days in PENDINGDELETE status, the domain will be released to be re-registered.

If a domain is renewed by the original registrant during the REDEMPTIONPERIOD status, the domain will NOT go to PENDINGDELETE status. Once a domain reaches to PENDINGDELETE status, it will become available to re-register.

Hope this helps