Month: November 2011

Categories
Movies News

New Pinocchio film? Domains secretly registered by brand protection company

Pinocchio film

It’s only speculation, but according to several new domain registrations made through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, it appears a new Pinocchio film could be in the works.

On November 22, pinocchio-the-movie.com, pinocchiofilm.com, pinocchiothefilm.com, and thepinocchiomovie.com, were all privately registered to DNstination Inc, the WHOIS privacy service provided by MarkMonitor.

Currently, none of the domain names resolve to a web page.

While the company behind the names is not officially known, MarkMonitor is well-known for providing brand protection services to more than half the Fortune 100 companies in the world.  And considering Disney Enterprises, Inc. owns several “Pinocchio” trademarks, it’s nearly certain that Disney is the registrant.

Though nothing has been officially announced by Disney, the new domain registrations hint at a new movie in the making.

At the same time the Pinocchio domains were registered, another batch of names were privately registered with MarkMonitor, alluding to another film called “The Gold Mist”.  Here’s a look at those domain registrations:

gold-mist-movie.com
goldmist-movie.com
goldmist-themovie.com
goldmistfilm.com
goldmistmovie.com
goldmistthemovie.com
thegoldmistmovie.com

(Photo of of Pinocchio from the trailer for the film Pinocchio – 1940 via Disney)

Categories
Disputes News

Defendant in Lanham Act lawsuit turns over dozens of domains to Facebook

Facebook, Inc. v. Cyber2Media, Inc. et al

Back in July, Facebook filed a lawsuit in United States District Court seeking the cancelling of typosquatter domains that infringed on its trademarks, as well as damages and other relief against a number of defendants.

In the case of Facebook, Inc. v. Cyber2Media, Inc. et al, Facebook alleged violations of the Lanham Act, which among other things, prohibits trademark infringement.

One of the defendants identified in the lawsuit (read here), Ryan Johnson of Minnesota, has now transferred nearly 75 domain names to Facebook.

The domain names were transferred to Facebook, Inc. this week. 

Here’s a look at the full list of domain names that Ryan Johnson handed over.

acebookfans.com
acebookfriends.com
advertisingfacebooknow.com
bestfacebookcash.com
bestfacebookemail.com
bestfacebookfans.com
bestfacebookmarketing.com
bestfacebooksearch.com
bestfacebookstock.com
buyfacebookfansonline.com
buyfacebookfanssite.com
buyfbfansnow.com
buyfbfansonline.com
cheapfacebook.com
coloradofacebook.com
facebookbase.com
facebookbff.com
facebookbulletins.com
facebookcashsite.com
facebookcashworld.com
facebookeffects.com
facebookemailsite.com
facebookemailworld.com
facebookenthusiasts.com
facebookfindsite.com
facebookhuntworld.com
facebookmaildirect.com
facebookmailonline.com
facebookmessagesite.com
facebookmoneydirect.com
facebookmoneyworld.com
facebookpublicity.com
facebookresultsnow.com
facebooksearchsite.com
facebooksearchworld.com
facebookseek.com
facebookseekguide.com
facebookstocksite.com
facebookstockworld.com
fbadvertisingresults.com
fbadvertisingresultsnow.com
fbemailsite.com
fbemailworld.com
fbresultstoday.com
fbstockdirect.com
fbstockmarkets.com
fbstockonline.com
fbstocksite.com
fbstocktrader.com
fbstockworld.com
findfbfriends.com
freefbfans.com
freefblikes.com
getfblikesnow.com
greatfacebookgames.com
iowafacebook.com
myfacebookbff.com
newfacebookmarketing.com
statefacebook.com
superfacebookcash.com
superfacebookemail.com
superfacebookstock.com
thefacebookcash.com
thefacebookemail.com
thefacebookmarketing.com
thefacebooksearch.com
thefacebookstock.com
thefbgamecheats.com
thefbstock.com
unionfacebook.com
yourfacebookcash.com
yourfacebookemail.com
yourfacebooksearch.com
yourfacebookstock.com

I’ve reached out to Ryan for comment and will update this story if I hear back.

Categories
Disputes National Arbitration Forum News

Google going after YouTube typo domains that lead to survey scams

YouTube Scam Survey site

Google is going after several popular typos of the web address YouTube.com, all owned by the same person. 

Each typo domain leads unsuspecting users to a site that looks confusingly similar to the official YouTube site (as shown in the picture above of YouTub.com – minus the ‘e’).  Instead of landing on Google’s YouTube, users are taken to a survey scam that asks a series of questions and attempts to gather personal information by promising free gifts like Best Buy gift cards.

Google filed the complaint (Case No. 1416796) with the National Arbitration Forum this past week over the domain names: youtbe.com, youtub.com, youtue.com, youube.com, and yutube.com. 

The names are all registered to the same person as seen in WHOIS records, allowing Google to file one complaint that relates to more than one domain name, under UDRP rules.

According to rough traffic estimates provided by Compete.com, visitors number in the thousands to each site every month.  In October for example, YouTub.com reported over 6,000 unique visitors.

As with all domain disputes, each panel examines three elements before reaching a decision:

(1) is the domain name identical or confusingly similar to a trademark in which the complainant has rights
(2) the owner has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name and;
(3) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. 

If all three elements are satisfied, then the domain names will be ordered transferred to Google.

This will likely be an open-and-shut case for Google.  Earlier this month, Twitter Inc. won a similar dispute over the highly trafficked domain Twiter.com after filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

I’ve reached out to the owner of the disputed domain names for comment, and will update this story if I hear back.

Google had its own share of problems with the YouTube web address early on, but it found itself on the other side of a dispute.

Just weeks after acquiring the video site, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment filed a lawsuit in 2006 after its site (utube.com) continuously crashed because of millions of people looking for YouTube.  Universal Tube ended up using utubeonline.com for its business web address, and kept ownership of utube.com – a site that today averages a million visitors per month according to Compete.

Discussion:TechCrunch, Silicon Republic, The Verge, Softpedia, Techmeme, iG Tecnologia and Punto Informatico

Categories
News Video Games

Amazon to launch a Santa app in time for the 2011 holiday season [UPDATED]

Amazon Santa Claus app

Updated December 1, 2011 at 5:37am EST:  As expected, Amazon announced the launch of its Santa App for the Kindle Fire and iPad.  The press release was issued yesterday on November 30.  A day before the announcement, Amazon added a bunch of related domains to its portfolio including: amazonsantabooks.com, amazonsantacatalog.com, amazonsantafire.com,  amazonsantagames.com,  amazonsantagifts.com, amazonsantaholiday.com, amazonsantakids.com, amazonsantakindle.com, amazonsantamovies.com, amazonsantamusic.com, amazonsantatablet.com, amazonsantatoys.com, amazonsantavideo.com, amazonsantawishlist.com and amazonsboot.com.

**

Amazon is hinting at the launch of a Santa Claus app with several new domain registrations this week that include names like AmazonSantapp.com, AmazonSantaforFire.com and AmazonSantaforiPad.com.

On November 21, Amazon’s legal department registered a bunch of domains through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.  The names indicate the Amazon Santa app could be available on a number of different tablet devices, not just the Kindle Fire. 

The new domain registrations include:

amazon-santa-app.com
amazonsantaapp.com
amazonsantaclausapp.com
amazonsantaclausmobileapp.com
amazonsantaforfire.com
amazonsantaforipad.com
amazonsantaforkindlefire.com
amazonsantafortablets.com
amazonsantamobileapp.com
amazonsantapp.com

At the time of this story going online this morning at 5am EST, Amazon has not made any official announcements on its Press Releases site nor do any of the domain names above resolve to a web page. 

Santa Claus apps and websites have been popular during the holiday season, particularly Santa-tracking apps. 

NORAD’s Santa Tracker is one of the most highly trafficked websites each year.  According to a rough estimate by Compete, NORADSanta.org (which opens in December) had over 4 million visitors in December 2010.

Categories
News

Google registers ‘Google Gives Back’

Google Gives Back

Google Gives Back

It looks like Google has plans to give back this holiday season, as to who or what exactly, is unknown.

On November 20, the search engine giant registered three domain names: Googlegivesback.com, Googlegivesback.net and Googlegivesback.org.

According to Whois historical records, Googlegivesback.com was first registered back in 2008 by a resident of Orlando, Florida, before the name finally expired. 

As of today, none of the domains resolve to a web page, but with the holidays right around the corner and Black Friday this week, you can expect Google to make an announcement soon for its ‘Google Gives Back’ program.

[Updated on December 15, 2011:  Google launched Google Gives Back 2011 today, a site that shares information about Google’s charitable efforts.]

Discussion: Search Engine Land