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POLITICO sends cease and desist letter to the owner of domain TheCollegePolitico.com

The College Politico

The owner of TheCollegePolitico.com (registered about a year ago) is certainly enjoying some traffic, after receving a “cease and desist” letter from POLITICO.  POLITICO which gets over 2 million visitors per month according to Compete, is an online Political News website.

As you can see from the screenshot above, the webmaster is posting stories about this, and getting lots of attention by bloggers. 

From The Washington Examiner:

The origins of the word, “politico,” date to 1630, and signify a person active in party politics, according to Princeton’s WordNet.

Politico via counsel has issued similar cease and desist letters. In December 2007, the company forced the hand of an electronic trade publication aimed at political marketing to Hispanics. In a letter to readers, publisher Arturo Villar said the publication “reluctantly” changed their name from La Política to CandidatoUSA. Capitol News also holds the rights to Campus Politico, Wall Street Politico, Hollywood Politico, Mobilepolitico, El Policito and Politico TV.



“From a legal standpoint, [Politico] probably has a reasonable claim,” said Robert Cox, president of Media Bloggers Association. “The issue is whether people are likely to be confused.”



“It’s not even a close call,” said Jerald Fritz, Politico’s general counsel. “Brand and names are essential for any venture…we’re aimed at protecting our mark.” Fritz referred to Ford Mustang, Apple Computers and Greyhound as trademarks supportive of Politico’s claim. “There are countless examples. You can go on and on,” he said.

Ron Coleman, a commercial litigator and trademark lawyer at New York and New Jersey’s Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP., has targeted weak points in Politico’s argument on his blog, Likelihood of Confusion. Notably, said Coleman, generic words do not enjoy trademark protection, while descriptive words may only become trademarks if they have acquired distinctiveness.



“Politico’s problem is that although it may indeed be able prove that ‘POLITICO’ has acquired distinctiveness for online journals, it is still a rather weak trademark because of its descriptiveness,” he said.


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Funny Domain Names Owned by Tucows YummyNames.com

pho shizzleIf you ever thought you owned some funny domain names, you should check out some of YummyNames.com’s domains. 

Here are some we found:  RateMyFarts.com, DoggyPoop.com, TheButtocks.com, TheDumbBlonde.com, MyNuttyFamily.com, IdiotRegistry.com, SkankDog.com, and the list goes on.

As their site says, if you search and don’t see that perfect domain you’re looking for, there’s no need to panic. They’ll do a custom free search, and chances are they’ll find it.

They’ve also got some great names if you do searches, including Backs.com, Veggies.com, Vampires.net, Camels.com, Mammal.com, Chimps.com, Caving.com, Widower.com, Wrestler.com, DietFood.com, Privates.com, Divorced.com, Evolution.net, Relics.com, Charro.com, Humble.com, Ballads.com, Burmese.com, Beagles.com, Moth.com, MyGym.com, PawnShops.com and hundreds of more.

They also own some “Domain” names.

thedomain.com  
domainmail.com  
domainltd.net  
domainpark.org  
domainbids.org  
knowdomain.com  
rundomains.org  
domaintoday.com  
domainbids.info  
listmydomain.net  
printdomains.com  
quickydomain.com  
domain-lists.com  
metrodomains.com  
selectdomain.org  
perfectdomain.net  
domainhosting.org  
domainkeepers.net  
domainersdiary.com  
shoulderdomain.com  
classicdomains.net  
domain-leasing.org  
perfectdomains.net  
domaininvestors.org  
excitingdomains.com  
domainfiltering.com  
domainsbackorder.com  
getyourowndomain.com  
namingyourdomain.com  
quicksaledomains.com

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Kevin Ham’s Killer Geodomain Vancouver.com Shaping Up for Olympics in February

"Vancouver.com"There’s a very real opportunity for Dotcom Mogul Kevin Ham to take home the Gold with his hometown geodomain Vancouver.com that he acquired in recent years.

His Media Company has been focusing efforts on development of the website, and with the Olympics just around the corner, Vancouver.com could take home the Gold with the right platform in place.  

Vancouver.com sits on the first page of Google Search Results, but Vancouver2010.com owns the top spot.

Vancouver2010.com which also owns the top spot in Google for “Vancouver Olympics” and gets over 76,000 visitors per month – is owned by the Vancouver Organizing Committe for the 2010 Olympics.

In an interview by Ron Jackson, Kevin Ham discussed Vancouver.com:

Ham is also moving into the Geodomain space and has acquired the ultimate destination for his hometown – Vancouver.com. “Vancouver.com is a very special domain for many reasons. Many would say that Vancouver is the domain capital of the world. The city is consistently voted as one of the top three livable cities in the world. And of course, the 2010 Winter Olympics will bring the eyes of the whole world to Vancouver,” Ham said.

We are building a new advertising and retail platform through Vancouver.com. The ambition and initiative is huge and if we can make it work for our city, then we can build it for the rest of the world. Geo domains are asset rich but cash flow poor. So if we can change that paradigm into one that is cash flow rich, then we will raise the level for all geo domains.

We also own Washington.com, Melbourne.com, Brisbane.com, Perth.com, Wichita.com and many other geo related domain names. While these geo domains are words, they need to be combined with the right business models to realize their value. We are confident that our efforts and the plans we have for our geo domains will change the way people interact and do business.”

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Big plans in store for Heaven.com, and nearly 20 other category killer names from Kevin Ham

"The Gospel Media Network"Looks like Kevin Ham is finally working on some big plans for his array of category-killer religious names including Religion.com, Satan.com, God.com, Heaven.com and nearly 20 other names.

Although in it’s early stages of development, Reinvent will be launching the Gospel Media Network. Most of the domain names have the Gospel Media Network splash page on the landing page.

The network includes some big names, with some serious traffic that will probably huge BUZZ once the network goes live. Oddly, Reinvent owns TheGospelMediaNetwork.com (which looks to be the future brand of all the names combined), but they don’t own GospelMediaNetwork.com. That domain name appears to have been registered back in 2003 by a different company.

From the About Us page of Heaven.com:

The Gospel Media Network (GMN) was conceived in 2000. It had a vision to acquire a handful of very important domain names, such as God.com, Religion.com, Heaven.com and thousands of other related domain names. A handful of dedicated, passionate people who share this vision of using the Internet to share the message of the Pure Gospel have now in 2008 started the work of developing out the sites in a progressive and integrated manner.

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First Beat Media Owns Some Top Domains, But Even their Niche Dating Names Perform Well When Developed

Singles CashFirst Beat Media (www.FirstBeatMedia.com) has a lot of success developing domain names into websites.  One of their most successful projects was Soaps.com which they sold to Women United Online.  They also own top-performing names like CelebrityGossip.com, CountryMusicPerformers.com, Unsigned.com and more. 

But instead of letting their names sit around parked, they develop them – even their Niche names which at first glance don’t sound like Category-Killers – names like FitnessDates.com, BBWRomance.com, JSingles.com, SingleMomsandDads.com and many more – but what they lack in name, they make up in development. 

They’re all dating websites.  They all run on a similar platform.  They all send traffic to another, directly or indirectly, through their Dating Affiliate Program SinglesCash.com. 

Everyone talks about the need for developing your names – but First Beat Media is an interetsing case study of great Development execution, even with niche names that might otherwise not even get a second-look.

Their list of dating sites includes a network of niche names, and the stats are pretty impressive.

DateAMillionaire.com – over 50,000 visitors per month.

BikerPlanet.com – over 50,000 visitors per month.

BBwRomance.com – over 30,000 visitors per month.

InterracialRomance.com – over 30,000 visitors per month.

You can see a full list of their niche dating sites here.

All of their dating sites are built on the same foundation, but each target a different niche.  They’ve built it once, then re-branded it over and over – then tied it all together through SinglesCash.com.

We wrote about First Beat Media earlier in the week, and it’s been fun to learn more about them, check out their projects, and see all the great strides they’re making in domaining and development.