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Since Google announced changes to its privacy policies, it has come under an onslaught of criticism from all directions including rivals. 

Microsoft has already taken aim at Google with its ”Putting People First” advertising campaign and a YouTube video called “Gmail Man”.

Now it looks like Microsoft may have something more in store for Google in the coming days, something that is powered by everyday people.

On January 31, 2012, Microsoft Corporation filed a trademark application (Serial Number: 85530034) for “People Powered Stories”.  And as the phrase and trademark description suggest, Microsoft may launch an advertising campaign that is supplied by user-generated content.

The goods and services covered by the trademark filing cover two categories:

Advertising and marketing services; Advertising consultation; Providing information in the field of advertising

Providing online, non-downloadable software and tools for creating advertisements that include user-generated feedback and content

As of today, Microsoft has made no announcement as to its plans for “People Powered Stories” and no website exists.

One thing also to note with the filing is there no first-use date reported, indicating that Microsoft has not started using the mark.

[Update 1 on Feb. 5, 2012:.  A resident of China registered the domain name peoplepoweredstories.com (Whois) shortly after this story ran.]

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It looks like Ubisoft could be taking mobile gaming more serious in 2012.

On February 1, the video game publisher registered the domain names Ubisoftmobile.com (Whois) and Ubisoft-mobile.com (Whois).

While domain name registrations are not necessarily concrete indicators of a company’s plans, social and mobile gaming is big business. 

In the past year, Ubisoft has been ramping up its social gaming efforts by growing its Bay Area workforce and releasing new social gaming titles on Facebook.  But according to AppData, Ubisoft barely breaks the Top 100 developer leaderboard with only 3.5 monthly active users on Facebook, led by The Smurfs & Co.

Zynga by comparison, has nearly 240 million monthly active users on Facebook as of today.

As of the time of this story, ubisoftmobile.com and ubisoft-mobile.com are parked pages and do not direct users to an Ubisoft site.

Discussion: Ubergizmo

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Sony may have revealed what the ‘S’ stands for in its new Xperia S smartphone expected to be released in March.

On January 30, 2012, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB filed a trademark application for “Xperia Sola”. 

‘Sola’ means ‘alone’ or ‘only’ in English.

The goods and services covered in the filing (Serial Number: 85528680) include mobile phones and accessories.

In early January, Sony introduced four new smartphones at CES 2012: the Xperia Ion, the Xperia NX, the Xperia Acro HD, and of course the Xperia S, Sony’s first smartphone in the next generation series.

If the ‘Xperia Sola’ is actually a different device other than the ‘Xperia S’, Sony hasn’t made any official announcement at the time of this story. 

So, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Discussion: MobileSyrup.com, Electronista and Xperia Blog

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It looks like Microsoft may have something in the works for a new publication, focusing perhaps on Latin America.

On January 24, 2012, Microsoft filed a trademark application (Serial Number: 85524272) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for “Latinzine”.

The goods and services listed in the application include “streaming of video material via the Internet and mobile networks” and “providing on-line magazines accessible via the Internet and mobile networks in the fields of lifestyle, news, entertainment and sports; On-line journals, namely, blogs featuring content in the fields of lifestyle, news, entertainment and sports“.

Microsoft has opened two major technology centers in Latin America in the past six months. 

In January, the company inaugurated a major technology center in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  In October 2011, it inaugurated its first Latin America MTC in Mexico City.

At the time of this story, Microsoft has made no announcement about Latinzine.

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Google employee Pooja Srinivas appears to be one of the people behind Google’s latest web initiative called “Women Entrepreneurs on the Web” (or WeOW, for short).

Srinivas, a resident of India, registered several domains earlier this month like Womenentrepreneursontheweb.com (Whois), which transferred to Google’s ownership this past week and a website is already up and running.

What is the Women Entrepreneurs on the Web initiative?

Well, according to the site, “Women Entrepreneurs on the Web is an initiative aimed at helping women-owned businesses grow their online presence. This initiative is currently being piloted in India.”

Any women-owned business is eligible for the program, as long as one of the founders is a woman and as part of the program, the people involved will learn to use various web-based technologies in their day to day business.

Google has been launching a number of initiatives online in the past year aimed at getting more people online, like the Google-led program “Get Your Business Online” dedicated to helping local businesses in various U.S. states.

Discussion: @DashBurst

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Nearly two weeks ago, David Ellis of 343 Industries, the company that is developing Halo 4, warned Halo fans through Twitter that if you see a site claiming to allow you to sign up for a Halo 4 beta  it’s a fake.

The site in question was hosted at Halo4beta.net (pictured above), and now Microsoft’s legal team is taking action by going after the domain name.

A complaint (Case No. 1426106) has officially been filed with the National Arbitration Forum.

Apparently wanting to avoid legal troubles after gaming sites went abuzz with David Ellis’ warning, the operator of Halo4beta.net took the website down, but that’s not going to be enough for Microsoft.

Microsoft can fully expect to have the National Arbitration Panel order the name be transferred, in what should be an open-and-shut case.

Stay tuned as I’ll be posting the details of the decision as soon as they’re available, likely no more than a few weeks from now.

Halo 4 has a holiday season 2012 release date.

Last June, Microsoft acquired the domain name Halo4.com for an undisclosed amount of cash, rather than filing a domain dispute.   When I asked the seller about the selling price/negotiations with Microsoft, the seller told me via e-mail, “The only term of the agreement that I can disclose is that I can’t disclose any terms of the agreement.”

Discussion: Kotaku, Joystiq, GameSpot, Hard OCP, Game Informer, Eurogamer.net, VentureBeat, Blue’s News, ITProPortal, Game Rant, VG24/7, Digital Spy, Piki Geek, Strategy Informer, The Escapist, Neowin.net, WebProNews and 411mania

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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.

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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.]

Discussion: Wired UK

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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)

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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 and The Bioshock Wiki

(Image of Bioshock Infinite via official website)