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News

Domain purchases show Myspace could be working on something called Spotly

spotly

Myspace is up to something.

The social networking site, which is owned by Specific Media and Justin Timberlake, quietly bought up domains with spotly in the name.

Up until recently, the domains spotly.net, spotly.org and spotly.us were registered to MarkMonitor’s privacy service DNStination, Inc.

Now the privacy has been removed, and Peter Wang the Senior Director of Production Operations at MySpace, is listed as the owner of each of the domains, which were first registered in the fall of 2010.

It’s possible at one time, there was a plan for the names.  Or perhaps, Myspace has abandoned its plans for Spotly following the sale of the company in 2011. 

But what’s interesting, is that it appears the names came up for renewal in October 2011, and all were renewed for three more years until 2014.

As of today, Myspace doesn’t appear to own spotly.com.  It’s currently up for sale on the domain marketplace Sedo for nearly $5,000.  Spot.ly, which was created in 2009, is owned by a resident of Santa Monica, California, according to WHOIS records.

Spotly.com was an active site in 2011 that provided an app which let users create a digital message in a bottle.  The site, which is now defunct, described the product as, “Head to where a message has been left, open Spotly and you’ll be able to open the message in a bottle. Discover the world around you by finding messages with songs, videos and more.”

Myspace is going through a re-design that even has Justin Timberlake involved, so anything is possible. 

As of today though, the company has made no announcement regarding Spotly.

Categories
Disputes National Arbitration Forum News

Google wins dispute over YouTube typo domains, names ordered transferred

YouTube Scam Survey site

In a no-brainer, a single-member Panel with the National Arbitration Forum has ordered several YouTube typo domain names be transferred to Google.

The domain names disputed in the case were: youtbe.com, youtub.com, youtue.com, youube.com, and yutube.com.

The respondent, who filed no response in the proceeding, had been using the names to send unsuspecting users to a survey scam that asked a series of questions and attempted to gather personal information by promising free gifts like Best Buy gift cards.

Google filed the complaint (Case No. 1416796) at the end of November.

Judge Harold Kalina (Ret.), Panelist, found that all three elements required under the ICANN Policy to transfer the domains were satisfied.

1)  the domain name registered by Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and
(2)  Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(3)  the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith

Full details of the ruling, which was issued on January 5, have been posted online.

Discussion: The Next Web, Marketing Land, Index, The Verge, Afterdawn.com and mediabistro

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News

Panel denies Salesforce the name Forces.com in domain dispute

Force.com

After filing a complaint (Case No. 1416951) with the National Arbitration Forum last month against Internet Venture Holdings (IVH) over Forces.com, Salesforce.com has been denied the domain name.

Not surprisingly, the panel found that <forces.com> was not identical or confusingly similar to any mark in which Salesforce.com has rights.  As a result, the name was ordered to remain with its owner Internet Venture Holdings (IVH) and will not be transferred to Salesforce.com.

Because the panel concluded that the domain was not identical or confusingly similar, it didn’t bother establishing whether IVH had no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; or whether the domain had been registered and was being used in bad faith.

There was also no finding of reverse domain hijacking.

If Salesforce.com really wants a generic domain, they should pay the asking price, not bully smaller companies.

Full details of the panel’s decision can be read online here.

Categories
News Video Games

Electronic Arts registers Quicklime Games via brand protection company

Electronic Arts offices

Electronic Arts made an interesting domain purchase this week through CSC, a company that helps businesses protect their brands. 

On January 4, EA registered the domain name QuicklimeGames.com (WHOIS).

It’s unknown why the company registered the name. 

The web address currently does not resolve to a web page and EA has made no announcement regarding Quicklime Games.  EA already has a large number of studios and development teams, but perhaps another studio awaits.

For those who do not know the meaning of the word Quicklime, it’s a chemical compound that is a key ingredient in making cement. 

Discussion: GameSpot

(Image of EA corporate headquarters in Redwood Shores, California via EA.com)

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Movies News

Prequel will be called 300: The Battle of Artemisium according to domains

300 The Battle of Artemisium

It appears Warner Bros. Pictures has finally settled on a title for the prequel to 300 after kicking around several working titles like 300: Battle of Artemisia.

According to newly registered domain names, the film studio will go with the rumored title 300: The Battle of Artemisium.

On January 3, several names were privately registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor like thebattleofartemisium.com, 300thebattleofartemisium.com and 300-thebattleofartemisium.com.

Although the owner of each domain is hidden behind MarkMonitor’s privacy service DNStination, Warner Bros. is a client of MarkMonitor, so there’s little doubt that Warner Bros. is the registrant.

Last June, Warner Bros. publicly registered names like 300thebattleofartemisia.com (WHOIS), but has taken extra steps to privately register this week’s names.  So if I had to speculate, I would say “300: The Battle of Artemisium” is no longer a rumored title.

Talking about this story: Movieline, Cinema Blend, IGN, 411Mania, FilmWatch and Celebrities.com