Tag: dnstination

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News Trademarks Video Games

Zynga goes on record about new iOS game by filing Forestville trademark

Forestville on Facebook

I first broke the news last week about Zynga developing a new “Ville” game after several Forestville domains were privately registered through MarkMonitor, an internet brand protection company Zynga regularly uses.

While I had nothing more to work on than new domain registrations, an anonymous reader sent me a tip that a Facebook page was online, further solidifying my belief that a game was in the works and near launch day.

Shortly after my story ran, accompanied by screen shots and a web address, the page was taken offline. 

Zynga, even with all the proof, made no announcement despite Games.com, AllFacebook, and other sites covering my story, so there was still some lingering doubt about the game.

Though Zynga does not officially comment on speculation or rumor, this week it has officially gone on record indirectly, by filing a trademark application (Serial Number: 85487695) for “Forestville” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Here’s a look at the trademark filing.

Forestville trademark

Expect to see a press release from the social gaming giant on “Forestville” soon.

Categories
News Video Games

Small preview of unannounced iOS game by Zynga called Forestville

Forestville by Zynga

Over the weekend, I wrote about Zynga registering several new domain names for a possible up-and-coming game called Forestville, which the company has not yet announced. 

Today, an anonymous reader has tipped me to the fact there is a Facebook page that has been online almost a week, which offers more clues about the game.

The page appears to be legit.

A description of the game published on Facebook reads: “Help Daisy the fox and her furry friends build a fabulous forest habitat! Establish farms and fishing spots for food, decorate with natural wonders, and expand your forest to unlock new species. Play ForestVille from Zynga and create the forest of your dreams!”

While there is no game yet available to download and play, there is a photo album that includes pictures of Daisy the fox.

The web address for the page is: http://www.facebook.com/ForestVille.Zynga

A message on the Wall reads: “Watch your own forest habitat come to life in ForestVille by Zynga! It’s coming soon to your iOS mobile device!”

[Updated on Dec. 6 at 12:40pm EST:  It appears the URL no longer resolves to a web page, even if you are signed in to Facebook.  I did take a  screenshot of the page before it was taken down.]   

Discussion: Games.com, AllFacebook, Gamezebo, Piki Geek and Inside Social Games

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News Video Games

Zynga has plans to launch Forestville, tipped off by domain name registrations

Zynga Forestville

Zynga Forestville

Zynga recently launched Castleville, but now the social gaming giant appears to have plans to launch a new game called Forestville.

This week Zynga registered several domains with the word Forestville in the name like ForestvillewithFriends.com and ForestvilleZynga.com.

All of the names were registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor that Zynga regularly uses to acquire domain names. 

And as I usually point out, though each domain registration is hidden behind MarkMonitor’s WHOIS privacy service ‘DNStinations’, MarkMonitor is in the business of helping Fortune 100 companies protect their brands online.  Zynga’s own Zynga.com is registered with MarkMonitor, as are hundreds of its other domains. 

So, there’s no doubt whatsoever that Zynga is behind these names.

Interestingly enough, Zynga doesn’t own the prime internet real estate: Forestville.com.  The domain is currently home to the Forestville Central School District website out of New York.  But that hasn’t stopped Zynga from registering typos of Forestville.com like wwwforestville.com (minus a ‘.’) or forestvile.com (minus an ‘l’).

Zynga did manage to get several country domains like Forestville.de, Forestville.jp and Forestville.co.uk.  A message on the home page of Forestville.de reads, “This domain is registered and protected by MarkMonitor”.

Below is a list of many of the names registered earlier this week.

forestvile.com
forestville.de
forestville.jp
forestville.co.uk
forestville2.com
forestvilleandroid.com
forestvilleapp.com
forestvillefacebook.com
forestvillegame.com
forestvillegamecards.com
forestvilleipad.com
forestvilleiphone.com
forestvillelive.com
forestvillemobile.com
forestvilleplus.com
forestvillewithfriends.com
forestvillezynga.com
playforestville.com
wwwforestville.com

At the time of this story going online today at 5am EST, Zynga has not made any announcement about the game.  So Forestville becoming a full-fledged game is just speculation until more news emerges from Zynga.

I’ve reached out to the Forestville.com webmaster to see whether they had been contacted about the domain and will update this story if I hear back.

Here’s a look at the WHOIS record for ForestvilleZynga.com.

WHOIS record for ForestvilleZynga.com

[Update 3 on Dec. 14, 2011: Zynga finally announced the game on it’s blog.]

[Update 2 on Dec. 9, 2011:  Zynga filed a trademark application (Serial Number: 85487695) for “Forestville” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.]

[Update 1 on Dec. 5, 2011 at 4:10pm EST:  It’s official.  There is a Facebook page for Forestville.  The game is headed to iOS, but hasn’t launched as of yet.]

Discussion: Joystiq, AllFacebook, VG247, Games.com, Shacknews, GameStar and Gamer Zona

Categories
News Video Games

Slew of ‘Justice League Heroes’ domains registered by brand protection company

Justice League Heroes

In 2006, Warner Bros. Games released Justice League Heroes, a video game based on the DC Comics’ Justice League of America.

Fast forward five years later to November 30, 2011, and a slew of ‘Justice League Heroes’ domains have been newly registered like justiceleagueheroes.org and joinheroes.org. 

Though hidden behind WHOIS privacy, the names were registered through MarkMonitor, a company that helps more than half of Fortune 100 protect their brands online.  So, it’s safe to say Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. is behind the secret registrations.

The list of names include:

dc-wecanbeheroes.org
dc-wecanbeheros.org
dcwecanbeheroes.org
dcwecanbeheros.org
joinheroes.org
joinheros.org
joinjusticeleague.org
joinjusticeleagueheroes.org
joinjusticeleagueheros.org
jointheheroes.org
jointheheros.org
jointhejusticeleague.org
joinwecanbeheroes.org
joinwecanbeheros.org
justiceleagueheroes.org
justiceleagueheros.org

Is Warner Bros. planning a remake of the video game or some other service or product?  Or are the domain purchases part of the company’s overall intellectual property strategy to prevent other people from using the names?

At the time of this story going online, Warner Bros. has not announced anything official.

Categories
Movies News

New Pinocchio film? Domains secretly registered by brand protection company

Pinocchio film

It’s only speculation, but according to several new domain registrations made through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, it appears a new Pinocchio film could be in the works.

On November 22, pinocchio-the-movie.com, pinocchiofilm.com, pinocchiothefilm.com, and thepinocchiomovie.com, were all privately registered to DNstination Inc, the WHOIS privacy service provided by MarkMonitor.

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

While the company behind the names is not officially known, MarkMonitor is well-known for providing brand protection services to more than half the Fortune 100 companies in the world.  And considering Disney Enterprises, Inc. owns several “Pinocchio” trademarks, it’s nearly certain that Disney is the registrant.

Though nothing has been officially announced by Disney, the new domain registrations hint at a new movie in the making.

At the same time the Pinocchio domains were registered, another batch of names were privately registered with MarkMonitor, alluding to another film called “The Gold Mist”.  Here’s a look at those domain registrations:

gold-mist-movie.com
goldmist-movie.com
goldmist-themovie.com
goldmistfilm.com
goldmistmovie.com
goldmistthemovie.com
thegoldmistmovie.com

(Photo of of Pinocchio from the trailer for the film Pinocchio – 1940 via Disney)