Fusible.com - Domain Name News and Trademark News

Take-Two registers Death to Founders, Vox Populi domains for Bioshock Infinite

J.B. | January 25, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet It appears Take-Two Interactive Software is going to ramp up online marketing for its upcoming first-person shooter Bioshock Infinite that is set to be released later this year. On January 23, 2012, the video game publisher registered the domains DeathtotheFounders.com (Whois), DeathtotheVox.com (Whois) and DeathtotheVoxPopuli.com (Whois). While the registrant of each name is hidden behind Whois privacy, the [...]
Facebook registers ‘newsroom’ domains, is a social news website on the way?

J.B. | January 23, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet Facebook has had a busy week with domain names. On January 18, the company registered a slew of domains with “FB Origin” in the name. It followed up those purchases with “timeline movie maker” domains. Facebook hasn’t officially been confirmed as the buyer of the timeline domains since the registrant is hidden behind Whois privacy, but the [...]
Microsoft acquires ClicktoHump.com and other Halo related domain names

J.B. | January 21, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet Microsoft has made some interesting domain name acquisitions this month that might create excitement for Halo fans. And I’m not talking about names like Halo 13 or Halo Kinect 3D, I’m talking about names like ClicktoHump.com and GetBattleReady.com. According to Whois records, Microsoft is now the owner of several Halo related domains, that were first registered years ago. Although [...]
Zynga sports games like football may be coming soon as more hints are dropped

J.B. | January 21, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet If you’ve been itching to play sports games developed by social gaming giant Zynga, they may actually be closer to launch than you think. In the past 12 months, the company has made moves indicating social sports games may be under development, like the hiring of EA Sports Creative Director Mark Turmell, who was also the [...]
Facebook registers domains for something called “FB Origin”

J.B. | January 19, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet This week, the social networking giant Facebook registered several domains for something called “FB Origin” ranging from dot-com to dot-biz. On the same day the company held a media event where it unveiled 60 new apps that you can add to your timeline, Facebook registered fborigin.com, fborigin.net, fborigin.org, fborigin.biz, fborigin.info and even fborigin.co.uk. The domains were registered [...]
Samsung files trademarks for ‘Samsung Joy’ and ‘Samsung Fresh’ smart phones

J.B. | January 19, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet With the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) now in the rear-view mirror, it’s the Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona in February where Samsung is expected to unveil its newest smart phones. The company’s latest trademarks may offer some clues as to the names of the devices. On January 13, 2012, Samsung filed two [...]
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder wants the domain name eddievedder.com

J.B. | January 13, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam, wants the web address eddievedder.com. A complaint (WIPO Case Number: D2012-0035) was filed this week with the World Intellectual Property Organization over the domain name. What’s interesting about this case is that according to WHOIS records, Pearl Jam owned the domain name back in the [...]
Sequel may be closer as Activision secretly acquires BlackOps2.com domain

J.B. | January 8, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet A sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, one of the best-selling games of all-time, may seem more likely as it appears Activision has secretly acquired the domain name blackops2.com. First registered in May 2010 shortly after Black Ops was announced, the domain remained under Whois privacy up until this week using Go Daddy’s Domains by Proxy service. Now, the domain blackops2.com (Whois) has [...]
Warner Bros. to launch photo sharing social network called Out My Window

J.B. | January 7, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet With photo sharing one of the fastest growing segments of social networking and services like Flickr and Instagram exploding in popularity, it looks like Warner Bros. is throwing its hat into the ring with a new photo sharing service called Out My Window. The Coming Soon page, which can be found on outmywindow.com, went live this [...]
Google wins dispute over YouTube typo domains, names ordered transferred

J.B. | January 6, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Tweet In a no-brainer, a single-member Panel with the National Arbitration Forum has ordered several YouTube typo domain names be transferred to Google. The domain names disputed in the case were: youtbe.com, youtub.com, youtue.com, youube.com, and yutube.com. The respondent, who filed no response in the proceeding, had been using the names to send unsuspecting users to a survey scam [...]

Rosemcgowan.com domain name ordered transferred to Rose McGowan

J.B. | January 27, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Actress Rose McGowan filed a complaint (Case Number: 1419570) over the domain name <rosemcgowan.com> with the National Arbitration Forum back in December 2011.

Now a three-member panel has ordered the name transferred to Rose McGowan, after finding the domain identical to the common law service mark in her name, that the respondent had no rights or legitimate interests in the domain, and that the domain had been registered and is being used in bad faith.

Respondent is using the website . . . to redirect Internet users to a website that contains information and advertisements . . . . Respondent presumably profits from this use of the confusingly similar disputed domain name in the form of click-through fees. Additionally, Respondent’s use of Complainant’s mark creates a likelihood of confusion regarding the source of the content resolving from the disputed domain name. The Panel finds this is an attempt by Respondent to profit from the goodwill associated with Complainant’s mark. Therefore, the Panel finds Respondent’s attempt to profit from its use of the confusingly similar disputed domain name constitutes registration and use in bad faith pursuant to Policy ¶4(b)(iv).

The full details of the ruling have been released and can be read online here.

SkylandersPatriots.com domain registration by Activision adds to mystery

J.B. | January 26, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Almost a week after I first reported that Activision had purchased several “Skylanders Giants” domain names like skylandersgiants.com and skylandersgiantsgame.com, it appears the video game company has registered another new Skylanders domain, further adding to the mystery of the company’s future plans for the Skylanders brand.

On January 24, it appears Activision registered the domain name SkylandersPatriots.com (Whois), through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, a service that over half the Fortune 100 rely on for online brand protection.

The “Skylanders Giants” story created quite a buzz among gaming and tech sites like Joystiq, Wired.com, and Giant Bomb, but as of today, there has been no official word from Activision.

At the time of this story, skylanderspatriots.com does not resolve to a website.

[Update 1 on January 26, 2012: Reporting Gamer suggests the registrations may be for a Skylanders sports game pitting the Giants vs Patriots.]

Academy Award nominated actor Ryan O’Neal wins domain ryanoneal.com

J.B. | January 26, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

A single-member panel with the National Arbitration Forum has ordered the domain name ryanoneal.com be transferred to Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominated actor Ryan O’Neal.

Ryan O’Neal was represented by Howard H. Weller of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP, who filed the dispute (Claim Number: FA1112001419531) against Ronald Garcia in early December 2011.

Ronald Garcia had owned the domain name since 2003 and recently had begun redirecting the web address to ronadgarcia.webstarts.com.

Sandra J. Franklin, Panelist, found that all three elements required under the ICANN Policy to transfer the domains were satisfied, including registration and use in bad faith, stating that the offer to sell the domain name was evidence of bad faith registration.

Full details of the ruling, which was issued on January 5, have been posted online.

(Mugshot image of Ryan O’Neal via The Smoking Gun)

Take-Two registers Death to Founders, Vox Populi domains for Bioshock Infinite

J.B. | January 25, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

It appears Take-Two Interactive Software is going to ramp up online marketing for its upcoming first-person shooter Bioshock Infinite that is set to be released later this year.

On January 23, 2012, the video game publisher registered the domains DeathtotheFounders.com (Whois), DeathtotheVox.com (Whois) and DeathtotheVoxPopuli.com (Whois).

While the registrant of each name is hidden behind Whois privacy, the domain servers listed (NS.TAKE2GAMES.COM, NS6.ROCKSTARGAMES.COM, NS5.TAKE2GAMES.COM) belong to Take-Two Interactive.

For those not familiar with Bioshock Infinite, the Founders are the ruling party of Columbia, a city built by the US Government in the late 1800s to serve as a floating world’s fair. The Vox Populi (which means “Voice of the People” in Latin) are the group opposing the Founders.

At the time of this story being published, each of the web addresses returns a 403 error page on BioshockInfinite.com.

Discussion: This is Xbox

(Image of Bioshock Infinite via official website)

Electronic Arts files trademark applications for ‘Trouble Makers’ game

J.B. | January 23, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Electronic Arts filed two trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on January 18, 2012, for the term “Trouble Makers”.

Serial number 85519088 covers: “Entertainment services, namely, providing an on-line computer game; Provision of information relating to electronic computer games provided via the Internet.”

Serial number 85519072 covers: “Computer game software; Downloadable computer game software via a global computer network and wireless devices; Video game software.”

At the time of this story going online, EA has not made an official announcement. However, if EA has any serious interest at all in developing a “Trouble Makers” game and launching it online, it may have to open its wallet wide to get the matching web address.

Troublemakers.com has been listed for sale on the web for years. The current asking price is $50,000 USD or best offer.

Care to guess what EA has in store for “Trouble Makers”?

Could it be the next installment of Need for Speed rumored to be out later this year?

Discussion: Game Informer and This is Xbox

Facebook registers ‘newsroom’ domains, is a social news website on the way?

J.B. | January 23, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Facebook has had a busy week with domain names.

On January 18, the company registered a slew of domains with “FB Origin” in the name. It followed up those purchases with “timeline movie maker” domains.

Facebook hasn’t officially been confirmed as the buyer of the timeline domains since the registrant is hidden behind Whois privacy, but the names were registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor and the web addresses re-direct users to the Facebook Timeline page.

Now the social networking giant has bought up “Facebook Newsroom” names like facebook-newsroom.com.

Altogether, the company registered three domains: facebook-newsroom.com (Whois), facebook-newsroom.net (Whois), and facebook-newsroom.org (Whois).

It’s unknown what Facebook will do with its latest domains, but if it has anything to do with the word newsroom, maybe the plan is to launch a social news website where users submit content, similar to Reddit.

In case you’re wondering, facebooknewsroom.com (missing the hyphen) was registered by a resident of Kansas in 2011.

[Update 1 on January 23, 2012 at 3:53pm EST: Turns out these domain registrations aren't all that exciting. I just received an e-mail from The OutCast Agency (one of Facebook's PR teams) who say, "The domains you reference are part of an upgrade to Facebook's press room, not part of a new product."]

Discussion: Mediagazer, Fast Company, Journalism.org, 10,000 Words, All Facebook, NBC Bay Area, Marketing Land, Index, @ckanal, Simply Zesty, mediabistro.com, @PRNewswire, @cschweitz, brandchannel.com, and The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum

Microsoft acquires ClicktoHump.com and other Halo related domain names

J.B. | January 21, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Microsoft has made some interesting domain name acquisitions this month that might create excitement for Halo fans.

And I’m not talking about names like Halo 13 or Halo Kinect 3D, I’m talking about names like ClicktoHump.com and GetBattleReady.com.

According to Whois records, Microsoft is now the owner of several Halo related domains, that were first registered years ago.

Although the domains may be nothing more than part of the company’s intellectual property strategy to protect its Halo brand, they are certainly interesting.

Here’s a look at the company’s latest Halo related domain acquisitions.

[Update 1 on January 23, 2012: I've discovered many more domains acquired by Microsoft via Melbourne IT DBS and added them to the list above like itshumpday.com and ridebrokeback.com.]

Discussion: The Next Web, GeekWire, Business Insider, Neowin.net, MSNBC, halo.bungie.org, @PatrickKlepek and This Is Xbox

(Image of Halo player repeatedly crouching while standing over a dead enemy via Halo Wikia)

Zynga sports games like football may be coming soon as more hints are dropped

J.B. | January 21, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

If you’ve been itching to play sports games developed by social gaming giant Zynga, they may actually be closer to launch than you think.

In the past 12 months, the company has made moves indicating social sports games may be under development, like the hiring of EA Sports Creative Director Mark Turmell, who was also the lead designer of NFL Blitz (picture above) while he was at Midway.

Zynga’s latest move: acquiring the domain name ZyngaSports.com.

I did a little domain sleuthing today and found that the domain ZyngaSports.com (Whois) was transferred this week to the intellectual property law firm, Keats McFarland & Wilson, who of course acts as Zynga’s attorneys in IP matters such as that of the Blingville dispute.

So which sports game will be first out of the gate?

It’s anyone’s guess, but if I had to pick it would be Zynga Football.

And yes, Zynga owns ZyngaFootball.com, ZyngaFootball.net, and even ZyngaFootball.org.

It acquired those web addresses in April 2010 with the help of internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, along with over 500 domains based on existing and possibly future games.

The names which were transferred over a two day span in April, are too many to list here in this post, but included domains like animalvillegame.com, bountyville.com, casinoblitzgame.com, coasterville.net, crimevillegame.com, friendempires.com, hotelvillegame.com, ranchville.info, zyngadopewars.com, zyngadragonwars.com, zyngaglamourlife.com, and of course, zyngafootball.com.

While the imminent launch of Zynga Sports is purely speculation, it looks like a very good possibility.

Though not an exhaustive list, you can see hundreds of the domains Zynga acquired in April 2010 here.

Discussion: Kotaku, Games.com, Gawker, All Facebook and Gamezebo

Domains show Activision may create a new game called “Skylanders Giants”

J.B. | January 21, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Activision, which is a known client of the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, has apparently gone on a small buying spree for “Skylanders Giants” domain names, hinting that a new game is in the works.

On January 19, the video game company that released Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure last year, acquired six domains with Skylanders Giants in the name like SkylandersGiants.com and SkylandersGiantsgame.com.

Although the owner of each name is hidden behind Whois privacy, because MarkMonitor is in the business of protecting brands of some of the biggest companies, the owner is all but guaranteed to be Activision.

Here’s the list of names that were registered:

http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.dk
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.it
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiantsgame.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiantsgame.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/theskylandersgiants.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/theskylandersgiants.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.fr

At the time of this story none of the domains resolve to a website and Activision has made no official announcement.

Discussion: Giant Bomb, Joystiq, Wired.com, Co-Optimus, Multiplayer.it, VG247, Eurogamer.se, Eurogamer.it, Game Rant, darkSpyro Forums, Shacknews, Family Gamer and NeoGAF

Facebook Timeline getting a movie maker app? Domains privately registered

J.B. | January 20, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Facebook announced dozens of new apps for its Timeline feature this past week, and now it looks like another app to help users tell their story may be on the way.

This is merely speculation at this point, but it appears a top brand has privately registered the domains timelinemoviemaker.com (Whois), timelinemoviemaker.net, and timelinemoviemaker.org, through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

Because the owner of the domains is hidden behind Whois privacy, it may not be known for some time what the plan is. MarkMonitor counts among its clients Facebook, Microsoft, and other internet giants, so it could literally be any of dozens of companies.

Facebook has had its share of drama since announcing Timeline. Back in September, Timelines.com filed a trademark-infringement suit against Facebook. Then last month, Facebook filed a counter lawsuit. “Facebook dropped the legal equivalent of a bunker-buster on its rival with a new filing that asks a court to strip Timelines.com of its trademarks. The claim asks the court to declare that Facebook is not infringing and to cancel the marks because they are generic,” wrote Jeff Roberts for paidContent.

Timeline Movie Maker may be something, it may be nothing. It may not even have anything to do with Facebook Timeline.

But for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

[Update 1 on Jan. 22, 2012: It does appear Facebook is behind the registration. Today, the web address began redirecting today to http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline.]

Discussion: All Facebook