Tag: Apple Domains

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News Technology

Apple registers iPhone4N.com domain?

iPhone 4N

Update 1 at 5:24AM EST:. After I posted this story, MacRumors pointed out that the iPhone4N.com Whois record raises questions as to whether Apple is really behind the registration.  First, the registrar used was Go Daddy, not MarkMonitor (Apple’s usual choice).  Guess we’ll have to wait and see if anything official is announced.

Original Story: Apple released the iPhone 4 in 2010 and the iPhone 4S in 2011.  Now, all the talk is about Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5.  But Apple did make an interesting domain name purchase this week: iPhone4N.com.

According to Whois records, Apple registered the domain on May 1, 2012.

It’s unknown why the company registered the domain name.

It may be nothing more than a defensive tactic to protect its intellectual property, except, a number of iPhone 4 variations like iPhone4Q.com and iPhone4W.com are still available for anyone to register at the time of this story.

Apple already owns the domains iPhone.com, iPhone4.com and iPhone4S.com.  Apple got its hands on iPhone4S.com after filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization.  Back in July 2011, Apple acquired iPhone4.com for an unknown amount of money.  The company acquired the domain iPhone.com for an undisclosed amount in 2007.  It’s rumored Apple paid over $1 million to acquire the name.

Talking about this story: BillHartzer.com

(Image of iPhone 4S via Apple.com)

Categories
News

Apple.com domain name will celebrate its 25th Anniversary this month

Apple.com domain name

On February 19th, the domain name Apple.com will celebrate its 25th Anniversary.

The domain was created on February 19th, 1987, nearly two years after the first and oldest .com domain name on the internet “Symbolics.com” was registered, and just over ten years after Apple Inc. was founded.

Today, Apple.com is one of the most visited sites on the internet, ranking in the top 50 sites of the world, according to Alexa.

Apple hasn’t announced anything about the upcoming anniversary, so it’s not certain whether the company will be holding any kind of celebration.

Other domain names like Unisys.com, which was registered on December 11, 1986, have recently celebrated their 25th birthday without much fanfare. 

Apple.com ranks at #64 in the Top 100 oldest registered .com domains. 

Other domains owned by well-known companies that will celebrate their 25th anniversary this year include: cisco.com, dupont.com, and lockheed.com.

A full list of the top 100 oldest domain names can be seen on iWhois.

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

Apple’s IP lawyers get control of domains like UsedMacs.com before case decided

Used Macs

Just over a week ago, Apple Computer filed a domain name dispute with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over five names registered to Wachter Consulting Inc.

Four of the five domains named in WIPO case number D2011-1866, have now been transferred from Wachter Consulting Inc. to Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, a law firm that has successfully represented Apple in the past in dozens of patent and trademark infringement cases.

The domains that were transferred to Apple’s name servers include imacstore.com, macdaily.com, mactimes.com, and usedmacs.com. 

It appears the best of the bunch, applestores.com, is still in the possession of Wachter Consulting, according to WHOIS records.

Although the case is still listed as ‘Active’ online with WIPO, it’s possible Wachter Consulting decided to turn over the names even before a decision was handed down.

Chances are the case will remain ‘Active’ until all of the names have been transferred, voluntarily or otherwise.

[Updated November 10, 2011 3:19am EST:  Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton has now taken ownership of AppleStores.com.  The law firm also took ownership of アップルストア.com (‘Apple Store’ in Japanese).]

(Photo of Apple Power Mac G4 with an Apple Studio Display via Collin Grady)

Categories
Disputes News Technology WIPO

Apple files domain name dispute over AppleStores.com, UsedMacs.com

Apple Store

Apple’s legal department has been keeping busy in 2011, filing a new domain name dispute with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over five names which belong to the same owner: Wachter Consulting Inc.

A total of ten cases have been filed by Apple Inc in 2011 going back to January, when Apple filed a complaint over aplle.com and won.

The domains involved in the latest dispute (WIPO case number: D2011-1866) include: applestores.com, imacstore.com, macdaily.com, mactimes.com, and usedmacs.com.

Wachter Consulting Inc. owns over 6,000 domains including web addresses like LAClippers.com and VintCerf.com.  The company has been a respondent in disputes in the past, which involved mercede.com and matériel.net.  In both disputes, Wachter Consulting Inc. won. 

This time however, it may prove difficult for Wachter Consulting to hold on to their ‘Apple’ names.

Apple has been having success all year long and in recent disputes, winning AppleiPods.com and iPods.com, among many notable web addresses it has filed complaints over.

Apple currently has three cases open with WIPO, which involve names like appleproductsonline.com, applebigdiscount.com, applesdiscount.com, applessales.com, and applestorewell.com.

One case it surprisingly hasn’t filed in 2011, is that of iPhone4S.com. 

Apple fans expecting to learn more about the iPhone 4S, are currently greeted by a not-so-safe-for-work surprise when typing in the web address iPhone4S.com into their browser.

I wrote about the NSFW site back in mid July after a leaked photo of a rumored iPhone 4GS turned up on Weibo. 

One would expect a domain dispute to follow soon.

(Photo of Apple Computer — Apple Store, Michigan Avenue (Chicago) via TonyTheTiger)