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Salesforce starts redirecting $2.6MM domain social.com to its Salesforce Marketing Cloud site [UPDATED]

Social.com

After acquiring the domain name social.com nearly two years ago, Salesforce.com is finally putting it to use.

Earlier today, the cloud computing company began redirecting the name to its Salesforce Marketing Cloud website, located at www.salesforcemarketingcloud.com.

The purchase of social.com, the biggest domain sale of 2011, was initially kept private.  Though the name still sits behind WHOIS privacy, a little sleuthing back in 2011 using Network Solutions’ “Forgot Your Login?” page, turned up Salesforce.com as the buyer.  The transaction was later confirmed by Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com’s Cloudforce New York in November 2011.

Salesforce revealed the Marketing Cloud during Dreamforce ’12, which the company describes as the world’s only unified social marketing suite.

A redirect may or may not be the best use of $2.6 million domain name, but at least it’s doing something.

For the past two years, the domain name didn’t resolve to an active web page on the web.

Salesforce made no official announcement regarding the use of the name, but with its marketing cloud facing competition, it looks like it’s going to start taking advantage of some type-in traffic.

UPDATE 1 April 23, 2013:  Salesforce.com is expanding its social ad offerings with a new product called Salesforce Social.com, reports TechCrunch.

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Talking about this story: Domain Name Wire

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Disputes Featured News Video Games WIPO

Take-Two continues legal fight over Grand Theft Auto V beta domain names

Grand Theft Auto V

Take-Two Interactive has been plagued with scammers who register domain names, and then set up websites that falsely claim to offer beta codes to Grand Theft Auto V, which will release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC later this year.

The legal team at Take-Two has been busy the past few months, filing several complaints with the Word Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over names like betagtav.com and gta5betacode.com.  In the last few days, five more cases involving GTA V have popped up on the website over at WIPO bringing the total case count to 12.

The latest round of disputes involves the following names.

gtavbetacodes.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5betacodes.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5-beta.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5freedownload.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5download.org (WHOIS / Case)

While some of the domains don’t resolve to a website or are parked, others are full-fledged websites with the intent to deceive users.

Here’s a screenshot of gtavbetacodes.com, which tries to get unsuspecting users to download a file to their computer.

GTA V Beta Download scam website

To date, Take-Two has won disputes over getgtavbeta.com, betagtav.com, gtavbeta.org and gtaavbeta.net.

Talking about this story: Examiner.com

(Image of Grand Theft Auto V via RockstarGames.com)

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Disputes Featured National Arbitration Forum Video Games

Microsoft Corporation wins dispute for Xbox Gold domain name

Battlefield 4 Xbox Gold

A single-member panel with the National Arbitration Forum has ordered the domain Xbox-Gold.com be transferred to Microsoft.  Microsoft continues to grow its portfolio of “Xbox Gold” domains, having privately acquired or registered several related names including XboxGold.com.

The company recently bagged the name XboxGold.org in mid-March, after the previous owner turned over the name before the case was even decided.

It is still “officially” unknown what Microsoft will call its next generation console or what plans (if any) it has for Xbox Gold.

There are quite a few names that have been speculated over the last year.  The names include Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, Xbox 8, Xbox Durango, Xbox Next and even just the Xbox.

If Microsoft decides to name the next Xbox based on a domain name it owns, here’s the current breakdown:

Xbox720.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxInfinity.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

Xbox8.com (WHOIS) -Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxDurango.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxNext.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

XboxGold.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

Xbox.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

(Image of Battlefield 4 via Battlefield.com)

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Disputes Featured National Arbitration Forum News Video Games

Microsoft takes ownership of XboxGold.org domain as rumored reveal date nears

Xbox Gold Concept Art

In no surprise, Microsoft has taken ownership of the domain XboxGold.org, weeks after filing a complaint (Case Number: 1483759) with the National Arbitration Forum.

While no official ruling has been announced online, the name was transferred to Microsoft this week, according to WHOIS records.

There is now only one more active case involving an ‘Xbox Gold’ name, though it may be decided soon.  The dispute over Xbox-Gold.com (Case Number: 1484502) was submitted a day after the XboxGold.org case.

The name of the next-generation Xbox has been the subject of much speculation, with reports of possible names like the Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, Xbox 8, Xbox Durango, Xbox Next and others.

In February, Microsoft quietly acquired Xbox Gold domain names (including XboxGold.com) and registered even more.

The Xbox name debate may finally be settled in April, when it’s rumored that the next-generation console will officially be unveiled.

UPDATE:  Seeing as the domain’s previous owner handed over the name to Microsoft before a ruling was made, the complaint was officially withdrawn.

Talking about this story:  NowGamer and This is Xbox

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Disputes Featured News WIPO

Take-Two going after more Grand Theft Auto V beta scammers, additional complaints filed

Grand Theft Auto V Beta

In February, Take-Two Interactive won a dispute over the domain getgtavbeta.com, which was followed by a win over betagtav.com, a phony website that claimed to have beta keys to the game.  Now, Take-Two has a total of four open cases over Grand Theft Auto V related domains.

This week, complaints were filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over gta5betacode.com (Case Number: D2013-0490) and grandtheftauto5beta.com (Case Number: D2013-0489).

While grandtheftauto5beta.com does not resolve to a web page at the moment, gta5betacode.com (screenshot above) is a full-fledged website, complete with a Facebook page that has over 1,000 likes and a YouTube account.

How does the scam work?

People who visit the website are first instructed to help unwittingly spread the scam through Facebook.  If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can see the steps.

GTA V Beta scam

If you click the “Get Your Key!” button, you’re taken to another page that has you pick a console.

After you select a console, the final page is shown that tries tricking you into downloading a file to your computer.

If you don’t think people still fall for these absurd and obvious scams, take a look at the website’s related Facebook page.  At the time of this story, it has over 1,300 likes.

GTA 5 Beta Facebook page

This case will be another slam-dunk for Take-Two.

Gta5betacode.com is owned by a resident of Pennsylvania, who first registered the domain in January 2013.

Talking about this story: VG247, playNATION.de, Eurogamer.net, Digital Trends, Attack of the Fanboy, Explosion, Menly, Product Reviews, In Entertainment, MCV, GameSpot, PSX Extreme, MegaGames, GamePro, Xbox Way, games.reveur.de, PIXEL ENEMY and Examiner.com