Month: September 2011

Categories
News

Salesforce.com is the mystery buyer of $2.6 million Social.com [UPDATED]

Salesforce.com Social Enterprise

Salesforce.com appears to be the buyer who paid $2.6 million in late June 2011 for social.com, this year’s top selling domain to date, that has been publicly reported.

The buyer in the social.com sale, which was co-brokered by Marksmen’s Cyntia King and Moniker.com’s John Mauriello, was never revealed.  The purchase set off speculation about the new owner ranging from Twitter to Living Social and even Salesforce.com.

However, up until now there hasn’t been any clear idea as to the buyer.

The primary contact for the domain is Alica Del Valle who is the Trademark Counsel at Salesforce.com.  It didn’t take very much research at all to figure it out.  It started with a few Google searches and I was able to connect the dots after using Network Solutions’ “User ID recovery tool” even though the domain was behind its not-so-private registration services.

I went to the Network Solutions “Forgot Your Login?” page and entered the domain social.com, then clicked the button: Retrieve Your User ID.   The resulting page showed Alica Del Valle as the primary contact, as shown here.

No big news, as others had already done this before but just never connected the name “Alica Del Valle” to Salesforce.com.

Alica Del Valle according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, is not only the attorney of record for Salesforce.com (scroll to bottom of filing), but has been the Trademark Counsel at Salesforce.com since July 2011 according to Alica’s own LinkedIn page.

Earlier in the week I had guessed Salesforce.com was the buyer of Social.com after discovering Salesforce was the buyer of Do.com, a “Coming Soon” site for a yet-to-be launched business productivity app.  The company had brokered the domain Do.com through Marksmen.  Do.com was also hidden behind Whois privacy at Network Solutions using the very same moniker “ADV”.  The privacy was finally removed two days after my Do.com story ran, officially revealing salesforce.com as the owner.

Last week at Dreamforce, Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff welcomed more than 30,000 attendees to the Social Enterprise.

At the time of this story being published, the Whois information for social.com remains regsistered to “ADV” behind Network Solutions’ private registration services.

The web address still does not resolve to a web page, however the buyer no longer appears to be a mystery.

Updated Nov. 30:  Marc Benioff confirmed publicly at Salesforce.com’s Cloudforce New York that he did buy social.com.

**

Talking about this story: TechCrunch, Louis Gray, Domain Name Wire, BillHartzer.com and Elliot’s Blog (blog)

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Square Enix files new trademark application for Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

A recent trademark filing by Square Enix should reinvigorate fans’ hopes that Final Fantasy Versus XIII may finally come to fruition after first being announced years ago, way back in 2006.

Square Enix originally submitted a trademark application in May 2006 (serial number: 78873744), and now the company has submitted a new application (serial number: 85411360) which was filed on August 31, 2011, more than five years later after the original.

Here’s a look at the goods and services covered by the trademark application.

IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer game software; video game software; sound recordings in the form of optical discs, magnetic discs and semiconductor ROMs featuring music and fictional stories; audio visual recordings in the form of optical discs, magnetic discs and semiconductor ROMs featuring music and animated fictional stories; prerecorded compact discs featuring music; prerecorded video discs featuring music and animated fictional stories; mouse pads; straps for cellular phones; video game controllers; downloadable musical sound recordings; downloadable ring tones for mobile phones; downloadable wallpaper graphics for mobile phones; downloadable electronic publications in the nature of magazines, journals and newsletters in the field of computer games and video games

IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050. G & S: Computer game strategy guidebooks; video game strategy guidebooks; song books; musical score books; comic books; magazines featuring computer games and video games; posters; stickers; calendars; postcards; stationery; collectors’ cards; trading cards; photographs

IC 028. US 022 023 038 050. G & S: Dolls; toy figures; plush toys; stuffed toys; inflatable toys; toy scale models; toy vehicles; toy guns; toy swords; playing cards; card games; board games; jigsaw puzzles; hand held video game units

IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Providing on-line computer games; providing on-line video games; providing information on computer game strategies and video game strategies via computer networks and global communication networks; providing information on entertainment in the field of computer games, video games, card games, animated cartoons, comics, novels and magazines; providing on-line non-downloadable comics; providing on-line non-downloadable magazines, journals and newsletters in the field of computer games, video games, cartoons and general entertainment

Though no official release date has been announced, it looks as though it could be sooner than expected.

Categories
News Video Games

Electronic Arts files trademark applications for Road Trippin’

NBA Jam On Fire Edition

Electronic Arts Inc filed two trademark applications for Road Trippin’ with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on August 30, 2011.

The trademark filings (serial numbers 85410328 and 85410322) deal with computer game software and entertainment services, namely, providing an on-line computer game.

While no information has been given publicly by EA in regards to what the plans are for Road Trippin’, one would guess that it has to do with a sports game considering the phrase “road tripping” is used to describe the trips taken by sports teams to play away games.

In October, EA is planning to release the downloadable game NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. 

One of the features offered in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition is the game mode “Road Trip” that allows you to play all the NBA teams.  In addition to the game mode, there is also an in-game chievement on the Xbox called “Road Trippin” that you can aim for if you complete the road trip.

Mattel actually has an active trademark on Road Trippin’ (serial number 78681197) dating back to 2005 that has to do with toys, games and playthings, namely, handheld unit for playing electronic games.

Here’s a closer look at the EA filings.

Word Mark  ROAD TRIPPIN’
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer game software; Downloadable computer game software via a global computer network and wireless devices
Standard Characters Claimed 
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 85410328
Filing Date August 30, 2011
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Electronic Arts Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 209 Redwood Shores Parkway Redwood City CALIFORNIA 94402
Attorney of Record Vineeta Gajwani
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Word Mark  ROAD TRIPPIN’
Goods and Services IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Entertainment services, namely, providing an on-line computer game; Provision of information relating to electronic computer games provided via the Internet
Standard Characters Claimed 
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 85410322
Filing Date August 30, 2011
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Electronic Arts Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 209 Redwood Shores Parkway Redwood City CALIFORNIA 94065
Attorney of Record Vineeta Gajwani
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Categories
News

Why did Google buy Howtogomo.com?

Gmail email intervention

Google went off and purchased the domain names Howtogomo.com, Howtogomo.net, and Howtogomo.org this week.

I have no clue what to expect with these registrations, but I can imagine it may be another Google marketing campaign to convince people to use one of its products as it did with the web address EmailIntervention.com. 

The “Email Intervention” campaign (pictured above) went live in late July in an attempt by Google to attract more users to Gmail.  To date, almost 800,000 interventions have been sent according to the home page.

Maybe “GOMO” refers to “Get over it, Move on” and will be used somehow to draw new users to its Google+ social networking service. 

Who knows?

All three domain names were registered on September 1, 2011.

http://whois.domaintools.com/howtogomo.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/howtogomo.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/howtogomo.org

Categories
News Technology

Optus planning launch of the iPhone 5

iPhone 5 concept

Australian mobile service provider Optus is taking its first step in launching the iPhone 5 by having marketing automation company Eloqua register the domain name OptusiPhone5.com on its behalf.

Eloqua was the same company that registered OptusiPhone4.com (Whois) for its client in early July 2010, less than 3 weeks before the official launch of the iPhone 4 in Australia.  Optus used the web address to set up a launch page which provided details on its Apple iPhone 4 launch parties.

While rumors of the iPhone 5 release date swirl around the internet, it may be more difficult to pinpoint an exact release date for the device in Australia, since Apple usually launches in the United States first.

At the time of this story going online, the OptusiPhone5.com website has a short message that reads, “We are sorry but this is temporarily unavailable. “ 

Here’s a look at the Whois record for OptusiPhone5.com.

 Registrant:
Eloqua Corporation
   553 Richmond Street West
   Toronto, ON m5v1y6
   CA

   Domain Name: OPTUSIPHONE5.COM

   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
      Eloqua Corporation               
      553 Richmond Street West
      Toronto, ON m5v1y6
      CA

   Record expires on 01-Sep-2012.
   Record created on 01-Sep-2011.

Image credit: Michal Bonikowski