J.B.

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

Sony working on ‘Van Helsing and Dracula’ movie according to domains

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

Sony Pictures appears to be working on a new film based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel called “Van Helsing and Dracula” or “Dracula and Van Helsing”.

This week, Sony Pictures registered a slew of domain names through the brand protection company MarkMonitor that revealed the movie’s possible titles.

At least eight domains were purchased, all on January 17, 2012.

Here’s a look at the registrations:

http://whois.domaintools.com/draculaandvanhelsing-movie.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/draculaandvanhelsing-movie.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/draculaandvanhelsing.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddracula-movie.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddracula-movie.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddracula.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddracula.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddraculamovie.com

Last June, Pajiba reported that Universal Pictures was developing another Van Helsing movie based on the Bram Stoker character.

At the time of this post, Sony Pictures has not made an official announcement, nor do any of the domains resolve to a web page.

Discussion: Movieline, Celebrities.com and I Watch Stuff

(Image of Gary Oldman as Count Dracula via Bram Stoker’s Dracula)

Facebook registers domains for something called “FB Origin”

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

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 through the brand protection company MarkMonitor.

I scoured through the list of new apps, looking for something with the name “Origin”, and didn’t find anything.

Though it’s only speculation at this time, with all these new domain registrations, it appears Facebook has plans to launch a new product or service called “Origin” to go along with its other services like Timeline.

At the time of this story, none of the domains resolve to a web page.

Discussion: Techmeme, @RobinWauters, ZDNet (blog), All Facebook, Inside Facebook, Marketing Land and Ubergizmo

Samsung files trademarks for ‘Samsung Joy’ and ‘Samsung Fresh’ smart phones

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

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 separate trademarks for the Samsung Joy (Serial Number: 85515853) and Samsung Fresh (Serial Number: 85515850) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The goods and services in both filings cover telephones; smart phones; mobile phones; computer software for mobile phones, portable media players and handheld computers.

Samsung has yet to officially announce the Samsung Joy or Samsung Fresh.

The Mobile World Congress is just over a month away.

Discussion: Phandroid, MobileSyrup, Electronista, Geeky gadgets, phoneArena and Ubergizmo

(Photo of Samsung announcing the GALAXY Note via Samsung.com)

Apple secures SteveJobs.xxx domain

J.B. | January 18, 2012 | Comments 0 Comments

Apple has secured the dot-xxx adult domain SteveJobs.xxx (Whois), preventing anyone else from using the name of the company’s late co-founder.

This week, Apple officially took control of the domain through the registrar Corporation Service Company (CSC), a company that helps protect many of the world’s most valuable brands and patrols the internet for incidences of brand abuse.

The acquisition of SteveJobs.xxx comes the same week the company officially revealed itself as the owner of RememberingSteve.com, a web address that has been re-directing to Apple’s online memorial since early October when Steve Jobs passed away.

Apple has owned RememberingSteveJobs.com for months and now the Whois record for RememberingSteve.com shows Apple as the registrant.

Surprisingly, to this day Apple does not own the web addresses of Steve Jobs in dotcom, dotnet, or dotorg. SteveJobs.com is owned by a resident of South Korea according to Whois records, while the dotnet is owned by the company InternetWebDesign.com Inc.

SteveJobs.org is up for sale by its owner, who also owns SteveJobs.es.

(Image of Steve Jobs unveiling Apple products in Sept. 2010 via Apple.com)