PersonalLoans.com was the highest selling .COM domain name in the first half  of 2012,based on the date from DNJournal . DomainNameSales brokered the deal,which saw PersonalLoans.com sell for an impressive $1 million .

Here are the top 30 .COM domain name sales in the first half of 2012 :

1.PersonalLoans.com    $1,000,000   
2.Jackpot.com    $500,000   
3.BJ.com    $325,000   
4.60.com    $310,000   
5.FO.com    $245,000   
6.BowlingBalls.com    $225,000   
7.MovingCompany.com    $195,000   
8.PhoneMarket.com    $180,000
9.LOV.com    $160,000   
10.Kboing.com    $150,000   
11.Frame.com    $148,000   
12.ULE.com    $145,000   
13. SOL.com    $127,400   
14.AFW.com    $125,000   
15.Channel.com    $125,000   
16.Airline.com    $125,000   
17.LEO.com    $120,000   
18.Indi.com    $115,000   
19.Ahha.com    $112,000   
20.Bosnia.com    $100,000   
21.eDiscovery.com    $100,000   
22.End.com    $100,000   
23.Let.com    $100,000   
24.OnlineFreeGames.com    $90,000   
25.Aili.com    $90,000   
26.ApartmentListings.com    $87,500   
27.Bohe.com    $85,000   
28.ConferenceCalling.com    $80,000
29.LiveTicker.com    $80,000   
30.Resultados.com    $80,000

The .eu registry EURid is putting the .eu Internet extension in front of European air travellers this summer by running an advertising campaign at four airports. The adverts at Brussels, Copenhagen, Milan Linate and Munich airports feature sports entrepreneur and former cycling world champion, Mario Cipollini.

“At EURid, we see how businesses make use of .eu websites to successfully raise awareness of their products and services across the European Union. I consider that sharing examples of business ambition through promotional activities can help inspire others,” said EURid’s General Manager, Marc Van Wesemael.

Mr Cipollini uses a .eu website to blog about international cycling competitions, including this summer’s Tour de France and Olympics. The Italian businessman also uses mariocipollini.eu to share his passion about cycling while signalling his European cross-border entrepreneurial ambitions. For more information, visit http://www.mariocipollini.eu/.

“I want my website to be a meeting place for cycling enthusiasts from around the world. An online place where we can passionately and expertly discuss this beautiful sport that has given me so much and still represents a fundamental part of my life,” said Mario Cipollini. “I chose the .eu extension because it allows me to work more professionally, broadening my horizons and those of my business.”

The announcement was sourced from :

http://www.eurid.eu/en/content/eu-features-cycling-entrepreneur-airport-adverts

An arbitrator with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center has awarded the domain name iTunes.net to Apple.

The company filed a complaint with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center,asserting legal rights over the disputed domain name.According to whois records the current registration dates to March 1,2004 and the owner seems to have bought iTunes.net domain name from BuyDomains in 2006.

Apple owns many trademark registrations for the “iTunes” mark all over the world.Therefore,it was more than obvious that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to its trademark.

The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center examined if the domain name is confusingly similar to the trademarked name,it the respondent has rights over the domain name and if the respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith.The domain name has been passed over to Apple because it fell under all three of these stipulations.

One of the four applicants for the .RADIO gTLD, BRS Media, is claiming “ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee has a ‘direct conflict of interest’ over the gTLD,” reports Domain Incite. The issue comes about from another applicant, the European Broadcasting Union, having observer status at the GAC.

It is well known that many Christians publicly oppose anything to do with sex, and this opposition has transferred to the new gTLD arena with Domain Incite reporting “Morality In Media, one of the groups that fought the approval of .xxx for years, has launched a letter-writing campaign against the proposed .sex, .porn and .adult top-level domains.” The complaints, so far anyway, are only against gTLDs ICM Registry has applied for. But there are two .SEX applications – the second is from Internet Marketing Solutions Limited, while there is also an application for .SEXY.

The International Olympic Committee has been busy not only preparing for the London Olympics in a few weeks, but also “for domain owners, and anyone else, who uses a word or phrase that could be construed as being sponsored by the IOC or any of its affiliates,” notes Dan Duval, one of Sedo’s legal staff.

“Decisions dealing with the 2012 Olympics have shown that World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) panels are willing to broaden their interpretation of the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) beyond traditional trademark rights, especially when dealing with domains containing any word that could be associated with the Olympics,” continues Duval.

Success by the IOC included “a WIPO panel forced the transfer of mylondon2012.com to the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG). The owner registered the domain in 2005, the same day the IOC announced the location of the 2012 Summer Olympics.”

The article concludes suggesting registrants “steer clear of domains containing words or combinations of words that could result in the forced transfer of such domains to the IOC, as with a domain as seemingly harmless as mylondon2012.com.”

The Paris based registry start-up Starting Dot submitted five applications for community-based new gTLDs as part of ICANN’s new gTLD programme. The TLDs are .ARCHI, .BIO, .SKI, .DESIGN and .IMMO and will use the registry system of the German based provider KSregistry GmbH as technical framework. Starting Dot is a new registry managing a portfolio of new industry-related TLDs that was founded in Paris in October 2011.