CentralNic Sells $2,5 Million in Premium Domain Names
CentralNic announced recently that it has sold premium domain names for $2,5 million.These sales are not related to new TLDs.
Moreover, the company said that the release of the new Top-Level domain names has been much slower that they anticipated.
CentralNic didn’t disclosed yet which are the premium domain names that sold.
The company also confirmed that they are the exclusive distributor for the following new TLDs : .Site , .Design and .Tickets.
ICANN Heads Back To Buenos Aires For June 2015 Meeting
The ICANN board decided on 3 December the 53rd public meeting for the organisation will be held in Buenos Aires from 21 to 25 June.
It will be the second time in less than two years ICANN will have headed back to the Argentinian capital having held the 48th meeting there in November 2013. With recent return trips to Singapore and London it appears, whether it be for cost, ease of organisation or other reasons, the adventurousness of options for ICANN meetings appears to be diminishing.
The meeting has a budget of $1.5 million from the ICANN coffers.
ICANN has also called for nominations to its Fellowship Programme for those interested in attending the Buenos Aires meeting from developing countries interested in the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s unique identifier system. The goals of the Fellowship Programme are to help broaden the base of knowledgeable constituents engaged in ICANN’s Multistakeholder process and to encourage the participation of new voices from around the world.
The application process closes on 16 January 2015, with successful candidates announced on the ICANN website on 6 March 2015.
Nominet Report Shows Tiny Number Of .UK Domains Used For Criminal Activity
Nominet last week published a report [pdf] on .uk domains that showed the number suspended for criminal activity over the past six months is miniscule.
The criminal activity report showed 948 .uk domains were suspended between May and October 2014. This represents less than one-hundredth of a percent (0.009%) of the 10.5 million .uk domains currently registered.
Nominet suspends domains following notification from the police or another law enforcement agency that the domain is being used for criminal activity.
The report also provides an update on domains suspended under Nominet’s offensive names policy, introduced in May this year following recommendations from Lord Macdonald QC. Nine domains were suspended and blocked after a review of all domains on the register when the policy was introduced. A further two have been suspended and blocked in the subsequent six months.
In another report, Netcraft warned of a typosquatting scam taking advantage of the new second level .uk registrations.
According to Netcraft, the scam involves scammers registering domains such as nameco.uk in the hope they will confuse internet users with the newly introduced second level .uk domains and the pre-existing name.co.uk third level domains.
Many of these typosquatting domains are being monetised by displaying ads related to the legitimate domains they are impersonating, or by using referral schemes to redirect visitors to the corresponding legitimate site — or even driving visitors towards competing services, according to Netcraft.
US Government Announces Seizure Of 30,000 Domains In Global Action
Europol announced last week they had seized just 292 domain names in a global operation with 24 other law enforcement bodies across 18 countries including the U.S. government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The domains were involved in the sale of counterfeit goods online.
But a day later the ICE announced 100 times that many domains had been seized in the operation. The ICE announced 29,684 domain names were seized as part of Project Transatlantic/ Operation In-Our-Sites V.
The HSI-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (National IPR Center) continues to work vigilantly to protect the U.S. public from counterfeit products that pose health and safety concerns or have an adverse effect on the U.S. economy. With its industry partners, the National IPR Center initiated a coordinated effort to disrupt the operation of these infringing websites. During this past year and leading up to Cyber Monday, the National IPR Center and its partners used both criminal and civil actions to successfully shutdown websites selling counterfeit goods, significantly bolstering the overall impact of this year’s efforts. The operation demonstrates the great collaboration between industry members and personnel from the National IPR Center, who effectively worked together to combat this ever growing problem. The National IPR Center extends its appreciation to rights holders representing name brand apparel, handbags, shoes, eyewear, cosmetics, consumer electronics, athletic apparel, sporting goods, personal care products, as well as the entertainment industry. All contributed to this operation’s success.
This is the fifth year the HSI-led National IPR Center worked with its international partners to target websites selling counterfeit products online culminating on Cyber Monday. Due to the global nature of Internet crime, the National IPR Center partnered with Europol who, through its member countries, seized top-level domains as part of Project Transatlantic/Operation In-Our-Sites V.
“Working with our international partners on operations like this shows the true global impact of IP crime,” said National IPR Center Acting Director Bruce Foucart. “Counterfeiters take advantage of the holiday season and sell cheap fakes to unsuspecting consumers everywhere. Consumers need to protect themselves, their families, and their personal financial information from the criminal networks operating these bogus sites.”
Each year, the market is flooded with counterfeit products being sold at stores, on street corners and online. In this ever changing world, the Internet has facilitated the sale of counterfeit merchandise online and counterfeiters have taken advantage of the Internet to deceive, sell and ship counterfeit products directly to unsuspecting consumers. The most popular counterfeit products seized each year include headphones, sports jerseys, personal care products, shoes, toys, luxury goods, cell phones and electronic accessories, according to the National IPR Center.
“The infringement of intellectual property rights is a growing problem in our economies and for millions of producers and consumers. Europol is committed to working with its international partners to crack down on the criminal networks responsible for this illegal activity,” says Rob Wainwright, director of Europol.
The HSI-led National IPR Center is one of the U.S. government’s key weapons in the fight against criminal counterfeiting and piracy. Working in close coordination with the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property, the National IPR Center uses the expertise of its 23-member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions and conduct investigations related to intellectual property theft. Through this strategic interagency partnership, the National IPR Center protects the public’s health and safety and the U.S. economy.
Highest Reported Non .COM gTLD Sales For November 2014
World.estate and Everything.org were the highest selling non .COM gTLD in November,2014.The domain names changed hands for $35,000.
Here are the top 20 highest reported non .COM gTLD sales in November,2014:
1. World.estate $35,000
2. Everything.org $35,000
3. Drones.net $17,500
4. Jobs.global $15,000
5. Ola.mobi $15,000
6. Signup.net $13,000
7. Applied.global $12,000
8. Banking.global $12,000
9.tie Apple.global $10,000
9.tie Online.global $10,000
11. Ocean.cruises $9,900
12.tie Penguin.club $8,000
12.tie Sports.global $8,000
14. Facts.net $7,700
15. Paket.net $7,655
16. RentalCars.global $7,000
17. OnlineJobs.org $6,600
18. Hailo.net $5,952
19. IDW.global $5,200
20.tie Flights.global $5,000
20.tie Job.global $5,000
20.tie Offices.global $5,000
