Month: January 2012

Categories
News

Apple secures SteveJobs.xxx domain

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

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)

Categories
Disputes News WIPO

Columbia Pictures files dispute over FantasyIsland.com [UPDATED]

Fantasy Island

Fantasy Island

Last summer DotWeekly wrote about the domain name FantasyIsland.com selling in a Go Daddy expired domain auction for $22,005 USD. 

The first comment made by a reader of the article was that the purchase was a waste of money.

“What a waste of money IMO.  That purchase makes no sense unless you own the rights to the show Fantasy Island. If not, what the hell can one do with it? A titty bar? “Boss boss, de UDRP, de UDRP,”” wrote Mike.

Well, now Columbia Pictures Industries, which has owned the Fantasy Island trademark since the early 1980s, has filed a domain dispute (Case Number: D2012-0043) over FantasyIsland.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the current owner is going to have to think about what to do.

What makes this case interesting is that the current owner Howard Guessner, has owned the domain name dating back to 2004 all the way up through today, according to Whois historical records.  So it appears Guessner may have renewed the domain in time and never paid $22K to Go Daddy to purchase it in an expiring auction.  

I’ve reached out to Guessner via e-mail to learn more and will update this post if I hear back.

[Updated on February 29, 2012:. The name has been ordered transferred to Columbia Pictures Industries.  The decision was issued on February 19, 2012.  Full details of the decision can be read here.]

Categories
News

Verizon to launch its Netflix competitor soon? Domain names may be sign

Netflix Instant movies

Netflix Instant movies

Back in December there was talk of Verizon planning its own Netflix competitor and even talk of the company making a very “serious bid” to acquire Netflix. 

While nothing is official yet on either front, Verizon did shell out a few bucks this week to buy up some online real estate related to its rumored Netflix competitor like VerizonInstantMovies.com and VerizonInstantMusic.com.

In total, the company registered four new domain names on January 12, through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

The registrations include:

http://whois.domaintools.com/verizoninstantmovies.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/verizoninstantmusic.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/verizoninstanttv.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/verizoninstantvideo.com 

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

Discussion: Business Insider

(Image of Netflix on the Wii via Netflix.com)

Categories
News Video Games

ProjectIronWolf.com Whois record changes hint Activision may be involved

ProjectIronWolf.com Whois record

Since early August when a Treyarch employee was caught playing a game titled “Iron Wolf” on the Xbox 360, rumors of the next Call of Duty series being called “Iron Wolf” or “Project Iron Wolf” have been swirling on the internet.

A fake website located at ironwolfproject.com, likely setup by a Call of Duty fanboy, even went online in late December albeit with some significant errors like the misspelling of “Treyarch”.

Whether it’s a more clever stunt by another Call of Duty fanboy or a sneaky but legitimate transfer to Activision’s legal department, the domain name projectironwolf.com (Whois) was updated earlier this week and now has Whois details that match that of Activision’s other coveted domain names like CallofDuty.com (Whois). 

The biggest similarities include the domain servers listed, as well as the address and phone information. 

The big difference between the two Whois records, of course, is the name used as the contact, which is the telltale sign that this is nothing more than another silly stunt.  Whereas Activision’s Whois contact used for its domains is usually Mary Tuck, the company’s litigation counsel, the contact listed for projectironwolf.com is currently George Pharell, who also uses an unrelated e-mail: callofdutytiw -at- post.com. 

Post.com is owned and operated by World Media Group, LLC, an online company that specializes in owning premium domain names like doctor.com and lawyer.com.

According to Whois historical records, projectironwolf.com was first registered in early January by a resident of the Ukraine.  The domain name changed hands days later to George Pharell.

Recently, the owner of the name (who ran a now suspended Twitter account) redirected visitors to CallofDuty.com, but as of today, the web address does not resolve to any web page. 

I’ve reached out to George Pharell by e-mail, who appears to have a lot of free time on his hands, and will update this post if I hear back.

The Whois changes to ProjectIronWolf.com appear to be just an online ruse, but with all the “Iron Wolf” buzz emerging, I guess we’ll have to wait and see whether the domain ends up in the hands of Activision.

Activision’s involvement in this whole thing, may merely be a matter of a cease-and-desist letter.

Discussion: This Is Xbox

Categories
Disputes News WIPO

UPDATED: Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder wants eddievedder.com

Eddie Vedder

Eddie Vedder

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 mid-2000s up through late 2010, when the name switched over to Whois privacy.

EV Touring, Inc., which also owns the trademark on Eddie Vedder, is the complainant in the domain dispute. 

At the time of this posting, the domain does not resolve to a web page.

A user who goes by the name hobeyb on the website Aftermarket, an online marketplace for domains, has the web address listed for sale for $18,400.

While this type of filing might seem like an open-and-shut case in favor of the complainant, it doesn’t always end up that way.  In September, Lady Gaga lost her dispute over LadyGaga.org.

Given the circumstances of the Eddie Vedder trademark and that the current domain owner is apparently trying to benefit from the sale of the name, in a few short weeks, this name could be in the possession of the Pearl Jam lead singer. 

Stay tuned here for updates on how it all goes.  I will update this post when a decision is issued by the WIPO Panel.

[Update 1 on January 19, 2012:.  The case was terminated before a ruling was issued.  According to the Whois records, the domain was handed over to EV Touring, Inc.]

Discussion: Pearl Jam – Ten Club Community, antiMusic.com, Audio Ink Radio and Red Mosquito

(Image of Eddie Vedder in Calgary, Canada via PearlJam.com)