December 2013 | FairWinds

New gTLDs: No More Waiting, Watching, Dreaming

Posted on December 19, 2013 by jbourne

Coffee houses have long served as places where individuals come together to discuss ideas and exchange information – from current events and politics to the latest innovations and inventions. This tradition made Busboys and Poets a natural venue for “The Impact of the New gTLD Program,” a panel discussion hosted by The D.C. Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-DC) and FairWinds Partners.

After welcoming everyone to the event, Elizabeth Sweezey of FairWinds Partners pointed out that the words on the coffeehouse wall – Waiting, Watching, Dreaming – might resonate with those who’d been eagerly following the progress of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications. Taylor Frank, also of FairWinds, provided a helpful, straightforward description of the program and the important role of corporate applicants.

Each of the speakers/panelists then touched upon a range of possible implications of the New gTLD Program, including the potential for domain name collisions, the challenge of managing defensive registrations in new gTLDs, the need to involve the southern hemisphere to a greater degree, and the marketing of domain names in new gTLDs.

Following these remarks, Moderator David McAuley, of BloombergBNA, led a lively panel discussion. Fortunately for those “waiting, watching, and dreaming,” the discussion made clear that the waiting is (almost) over: users will begin seeing new gTLDs in their search results, address bars, and advertisements in early 2014. For the most part, the panelists agreed that new gTLDs represent significant opportunities for corporations, smaller businesses, and individuals to create and innovate on the Internet.

Now that the watching, waiting, and dreaming is almost over, it’s time to dramatically increase efforts to educate end-users about what new gTLDs can offer. As Frank explained, “marketing [for domain names] in 2014 is going to look very different than marketing in 2013 by virtue of the number of organizations and the types of organizations involved. It’s not going to solely rest in the hands of a few registrars to spread the word, to increase popularity, and educate people. It’s going to rest in their hands [and] in the hands of corporations. It’s going to be all across the board.”

If you want to learn more about new gTLDs, visit www.beyondthedot.com – a fun and educational resource. To watch the webcast of this panel discussion, please click here.

FairWinds would like to thank ISOC-DC for giving it the opportunity to co-sponsor this discussion, as well as the esteemed panelists for participating in and ensuring a lively, balanced discussion on this cutting-edge topic.

Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 19, 2013 by jbourne

’Tis the season to not only be jolly but thankful, as well. FairWinds Partners has had an extremely busy, but exciting year, and we are now counting our blessings.

As we wind down 2013 and prepare for the New Year, we would like to say thank you to our fantastic clients, our creative vendors, and most of all you, our readers, for your subscriptions, views, comments, and other encouraging words. We craft each blog post with you in mind and we hope you will continue to find our content useful.

The holiday season is also a time to give back and help others. This year FairWinds pledged to donate to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Incredible Teddy Foundation based on the number of unique views our holiday card received. We are happy to report that we exceeded our goal and will donate $1,000.00 to each organization, which will enable further research and treatment for pediatric diseases in order to improve the health and quality of life for children worldwide.

Best wishes for a happy and productive New Year!

Short But Sweet

Posted on December 16, 2013 by slevy

In one of the shortest UDRP cases I’ve ever seen, LivingSocial was able to reclaim the domain name officiallivingsocial.com, represented by yours truly. We submitted the complaint to the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) against a respondent named Amber Robinson.

LivingSocial’s argument revolved around the fact that the domain name was being used by the Respondent to forward visitors to Ms. Robinson’s employer, a competitive website called my-city-deals.com, thereby diverting LivingSocial’s current and potential customers for the Respondent’s own commercial gain.

In my opinion, the Respondent (in the form of Ms. Robinson’s boss) gave a completely bonkers rationale for the domain. His short response was rather amusing, stating that the domain name means “off ici all iving so cial” rather than “Official Living Social,” clarifying that “ICI” is an abbreviation for various medical terms, “IV-ING” refers to intravenous therapy, and “CIAL” is a type of skin treatment. Since UDRP respondents are supposed to be taken at their word (most of the time) it was rather surprising that the my-city-deals.com site wasn’t showing more discounted offers relating to those trendy IV based skin treatments.

As you could have guessed, the Panel’s response was extremely brief. It quickly found LivingSocial to have proven all three elements of the UDRP and that the domain name should be rightfully transferred to the Complainant, cutting short the Respondent’s cybersquatting career.

MOOC a New gTLD Developing Market

Posted on December 12, 2013 by jbourne

New Top-Level Domains (TLDs) promise to open up new business models from those thinking creatively. So perhaps the new TLDs will also lead to new educational models – especially ones that harness the growing interest in online coursework, like MOOC (massive open online courses).

Higher education is an enormous business in the United States. According to Fast Company, we spend approximately $400 billion annually on universities, a figure greater than the revenues of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter combined.

But with climbing student debt – a recent Harvard University poll found 58% of college graduates have student debt and 57% say it’s a major problem – online degrees, certificates, and courses could be the answer for more affordable learning. As it stands, Forbes notes that there are more than two billion potential secondary students in the world, but only 70% can afford higher education.

Online education could also be the answer for increased global access to learning.

The MOOC Experiment

Enter MOOCs, which represent a developing market bolstered by traditional universities banding together to experiment with online content.

One popular MOOC company – Coursera – offers online classes and verified certificates through a partnership between Stanford, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan.

Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) have their own partnership, edX, which offers certificates for courses at their universities.

The MOOC experiments are the most visible result of efforts to adjust traditional teaching in a way that works for the online medium. Providers also continue to look for reliable ways to measure the success of online education to better adjust for shortcomings. Some of the biggest proponents of MOOCs, for example, now doubt MOOCs’ viability due to low graduation rates.

The prestige of these degrees, courses, and certificates is also in flux. According to research, 56% of employers prefer a job applicant with a traditional degree, whereas 17% prefer the online degree. As with any innovation, doubt and failures are inevitable.

New TLD applicants, for their part, are betting on the future of online learning. Entrepreneurs applied for the following extensions, anticipating robust sales for websites attached to them:

.ACADEMY.
COLLEGE
.DEGREE
.EDUCATION
.INSTITUTE

Innovative educators and the companies they create could change the face of education using these extensions, solving financial and other the problems, and pushing the online learning movement forward.

Respondent Proves It Is No Square

Posted on December 9, 2013 by slevy

When it comes to UDRP complaints, we often see cases in which the Respondents are completely absent, failing to present any sort of defense or argument. This was not the case in a recent National Arbitration Forum filing over the domain name squaregrouper.com, in which the Respondent fought back and was able to convince the NAF panel to deny the complaint.

The Complainant, Castaways Bar, LLC, apparently operates a bar and restaurant in Jupiter, Florida under the name SQUARE GROUPER TIKI BAR, the location for the filming of the famous Jimmy Buffet and Alan Jackson music videos “5 O’Clock Somewhere” and “Long, Long Way to Go”. The Complainant alleges that the Respondent has been holding the domain name in question “hostage” and routinely traffics in domain names for the purpose of speculation and resale profiteering.

In return, the Respondent questions the Complainant’s trademark rights in the mark, and also points out numerous other uses of “Square Grouper” by restaurants and bars throughout the country. In addition, the Respondent points to its long ownership of the domain name before the “sudden ambush” by the complainant, indicating that laches may apply in this case.

In its (rather lengthy) decision, the NAF panel addresses the issues raised by both parties. While finding that the Complainant HAS acquired common law rights in the trademark SQUARE GROUPER TIKI BAR through use, and that the domain name is confusingly similar to this mark, this was not enough to convince the panel to order than the domain name be transferred.

In fact, the panel goes a step further to conclude that not only was the Respondent not guilty of cybersquatting, but that the Complainant is guilty of reverse domain name hijacking (RDNH). The panel states that its finding of RDNH is based on the Complainant’s actions of filing a UDRP complaint in an attempt to deprive the registrant of the domain name, despite knowing it wasn’t registered in bad faith.

Dealing With Baggage – When Acquiring Domains, Be Sure to Check for Surprises

Posted on December 5, 2013 by jbourne

What does it take to build a strong domain name portfolio? Obviously a company must consider domain names that match its trademarks and slogans. It should also consider leveraging generic-term domain names to demonstrate leadership in its industry. Search terms used to find the company and its products can be used as domain names. And country code extensions will help a company with a strong customer base in foreign countries.

But that’s not all.

Companies must also ensure that they address problems that may arise as the portfolio is being built. For example, if a company acquires a domain name that had a previous owner, the company would do well to investigate the history of the domain name so it knows the baggage it will be taking on.

The baggage may be helpful, say, if the previous owner worked to deliver good content and developed strategies that increased the visibility of that domain name. The brand might continue to benefit from increased visitor traffic to its new site. Or, the baggage may be harmful. Perhaps, unbeknownst to the company, a newly acquired domain name had previously been used to host unsavory content like adult entertainment. In that case, the domain name may be classified in a way that servers automatically block it – even if the new content is squeaky clean.

When acquiring domain names, companies must do their due diligence. They must examine past uses of the domain name before launching any content or using the domain name in advertisements. Any existing issues can then be addressed by security firms that offer web cleaning or reputation enhancement technology. These types of firms can help reclassify domain names and eliminate links from other sites that could undercut a company’s good reputation.

Have questions about how to scrub a domain name clean? Feel free to reach out to us.

Developing an Online Community with New gTLDs

Posted on December 5, 2013 by jbourne

The internet offers a wealth of weight loss content, from websites that help you calculate calories consumed to online trainers who guide you, in real time, through exercises via video messaging.

In addition to weight loss information, just think about the amount of lifestyle, career, general health, and self-improvement content you encounter each day – and then consider the channels through which you’re digesting that information.

Probably via television channels like HGTV and the Food Network, online news websites like the New York Times Health section or Yahoo! news stories, or a blogger’s review of fitness apps that your friend shared on Facebook. Don’t forget lifehacker.com, one of my favorite rabbit-hole websites devoted to tips and advice on everything from more efficient computer use to the optimal length of a nap.

This sort of self-improvement content is readily available, easily digested, and deceptively productive – and it’s about to get even more powerful, perhaps more personal, thanks to new gTLDs.

Online Community Development Using a New gTLD

Because new gTLDs are the next step in connecting online identities to communities – and the relationship between identity and community is key to achieving fitness and weight loss goals, as was recently demonstrated in a study of weight loss success stories that involved social media.

Given the powerful connection between identity and community (not to mention identity and brands), will future fitness trackers link to [yourname].FITNESS? Will Oprah’s favorite life coaches buy domain names on the recently approved .GURU? Will Martha Stewart snag marthastewart.LIVING?

But wait, there’s more!

Though some of the following gTLDs will be restricted or closed, I’m pretty confident that whoever is behind any of these gTLDs is betting that our society’s fascination/obsession with well-being, lifestyle, and fitness will pay off in a big way (especially given that the total revenue of the fitness industry reached $21.8 billion last year):

.SPORT
.SPORTS
.YOGA
.DIET
.LIFE
.LIFESTYLE
.RUN

FairWinds’ own Phil Lodico, an avid runner, uses a Garmin to track his fitness and progress. Phil is, in fact, so dedicated to running that he recruited employees for the recent Washington D.C. Ragnar Race.

I don’t really, um, run – but I can say that the race has increased the amount of bonding in the office and that, not surprisingly, our digitally savvy staff has embraced all that the Internet has to offer them as they train – from apps to websites to Ragnar fan pages. Maybe if I just find the right app and tracked my stats on Facebook – I, too, could run through the night with my colleagues and swap race stories in the office. Until then, I’ll just focus on optimizing my nap times…

Fun Fact: if you search for the term “gym” in ICANN’s new gTLD application database, the result is the application for “.PIZZA”…?!

Navy Sinks Conquistador

Posted on December 2, 2013 by slevy

According to Wikipedia, conquistadors were “soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Portuguese and Spanish empire” whose goal was to conquer new territory for both church and crown. Apparently, an individual in Germany now seeks to take on that mantle but has had some difficulty in finding the right formula for success in his quests.

Involved in a recent National Arbitration Forum (NAF) UDRP complaint, this ambitious yet clueless soldier of fortune lists himself as “Conquistador Sat” and sought to plunder the riches of American retailing by registering the domain OnldNavy.com. However, the opposing forces of The Gap, Inc. led an experienced and respected UDRP Panelist to decide that this particular conquistador had no legitimate interest in the domain name and had registered and used it in bad faith by having it resolve to a pay-per-click (PPC) website with links to the Complainant’s competitors.

Unfortunately, this was just the latest in a string of defeats for this sad soldier. Earlier this year he also lost UDRP decisions relating to the domain names brawnypapertowels.com; webesteronline.com; and advaneautoparts.com. Surprisingly, despite the fierceness of conquistadors of yore and their skill in the use of a wide range of armaments, this particular Respondent also lost a decision against the domain name underarmmour.com.

So what can we expect in the future from Conquistador Sat? A quick reverse WHOIS search for this name turned up no results and so it may be that our anti-hero has marched off into the sunset in search of new adventures. Hopefully, he leaves behind yet another lesson for would-be cybersquatters that domain name knockoffs of famous brands lead to neither treasure nor glory but only heartache and ignominy. It’s actually quite surprising that such blatant squatters as this still walk the earth in light of the past 15 years of UDRP jurisprudence. Unfortunately, with the upcoming launch of over 1,300 new gTLDs, it seems more than likely that there will continue to be young and still naïve explorers who will seek their fortunes by plundering the domain names of others.