Tag: Go Daddy

KindleMother.com? Amazon secretly registers family member domain names

Post author By J.B.
Post date October 14, 2012

KindleChild.com, KindleFather.com, KindleMother.com, KindlePreteen.com – those are just a handful of the names that Amazon privately registered this week through the registrar Go Daddy.

All of the names were registered to Domains By Proxy, Go Daddy’s private registration service, but with a little sleuthing it was quite easy to reveal the company owner behind the domains as Amazon.

Dozens of domain names centered on “family” were registered, but the company is remaining hush-hush on its plans for them.

The names could point to new content for the Kindle devices, as they were all registered a day after Amazon’s General Counsel took control of KindlePublications.com (Whois).

Revealing Amazon as the owner was simple. By typing the domain and e-mail address “[email protected]” into Go Daddy’s online account retrieval system, you can quickly confirm Amazon as the owner, since Go Daddy shows a message stating, “An email with the requested information has been sent”, when you fill in all the fields correctly.

It’s the same technique I used to see that Amazon bought KindleFireHD.com.

In many cases, Amazon registered the Spanish and English versions of the same name, such as KindleMadre.com and KindleMother.com.

Below is a bigger list of the names privately registered by Amazon. It includes many, but not all of the names, which appear to have been registered on October 12, 2012, according to Whois records.

At the time of this story, all of the names direct users to a Go Daddy parked page.

(Image of Kindle Fire via Amazon.com)

Tags amazon, Domains by Proxy, Go Daddy, Kindle, Kindle Child, Kindle Families, Kindle Father, Kindle Fire, Kindle Infant, Kindle Mother

News Technology

Amazon acquired KindleFireHD.com domain right before announcement

Post author By J.B.
Post date September 8, 2012
4 Comments on Amazon acquired KindleFireHD.com domain right before announcement

Unknown if Amazon shelled out big bucks or threatened legal action

Domain first registered on Sept 28, ’11, same day Kindle Fire announced
Amazon revealed as owner even though name anonymously registered
Has better domain record than Apple, which still doesn’t own iPad.com

In a smart move by Amazon, shortly before announcing the new Kindle Fire HD family of products to the world on September 6, 2012, the company acquired the domain name KindleFireHD.com. According to Whois records, the name switched hands from its previous owner “Nathaniel Sawbo” to Amazon.

What is known (after some sleuthing) is that Amazon now owns the domain, but what isn’t known is if Amazon had to pay some money to the name’s original owner or whether the company threatened legal action.

On the very same day Amazon unveiled the first generation Kindle Fire in 2011, the company registered well over 500 domain names related to the Kindle Fire and Silk browser products, through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor. While Amazon managed to secure the rights to names like KindleFireScreen.com and KindleFireDisplay.com, it failed to obtain KindleFireHD.com.

Today, KindleFireHD.com is a blank web page and is registered anonymously through Go Daddy’s Domains By Proxy service, but it takes only a few simple steps using Go Daddy’s public account retrieval system to figure out who is behind the domain.

It’s what some might call a “slight flaw” in Go Daddy’s account retrieval system which allows you to figure out the owner of a privately registered domain as long as you know the e-mail address of the registrant.

On my first and only try, I used [email protected], and was able to quickly confirm Amazon as the owner.

First, I went to Go Daddy’s Account Assistance page.

Next, I clicked on Retrieve my Customer #, then entered kindlefirehd.com for the domain name and [email protected] for the e-mail address. After entering the security code, I clicked Submit, as shown in the screenshot below.

If everything is a successful match, and it was, a message stating, “An email with the requested information has been sent.”

Unlike Apple, one of its biggest competitors with a reputation for announcing products before owning the domains, Amazon has a much better track record.

Amazon owned KindleFire.com when it unveiled the tablet.

The company owns Kindle.com and other product names like KindleDX.com.

To this day, Apple doesn’t even own iPad.com.

Amazon may even have a shot at owning FireHD.com, which has surprisingly expired according to Whois. If you browse Amazon’s website, you’ll notice the company uses “Fire HD” (minus Kindle) quite a bit, so it may be in the company’s interest. The domain name will be available to the public on October 3, 2012, if the owner doesn’t renew the name in time.

I’ve reached out to Nathaniel Sawbo, KindleFireHD.com’s original owner for more information on the transaction and will update this post if I hear back.

(Image of Kindle Fire HD via Amazon.com)

Tags amazon, Amazon Domains, Domains by Proxy, Fire HD, FireHD.com, Go Daddy, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, KindleFireHD.com, MarkMonitor, WHOIS privacy

News Video Games

Looks like THQ has registered some “Stick of Truth” domain names

Post author By J.B.
Post date February 9, 2012

THQ squashed rumors of its demise last month. Now, the game publisher has apparently registered a handful of domain names related to something called “The Stick of Truth”.

On February 7, 2012, the domain names Stickoftruth.com (Whois), TheStickoftruth.com (Whois) and TruthStick.com (Whois), were registered with Go Daddy.

Of course, saying that THQ is definitely behind the registrations is speculation at this point.

All three domains were registered privately using Go Daddy’s WHOIS privacy service – Domains by Proxy.

But what leads me to believe that THQ is the owner, is the domain servers listed in the Whois records (NS1.THQ.COM, NS2.THQ.COM and NS3.THQ.COM) all belong to THQ.

At the time of this story, none of the domain names resolve to a web page.

Discussion: GameSpot

Tags Domains by Proxy, featured, Go Daddy, Stick of Truth, The Stick of Truth, The Truth Stick, THQ, THQ domain names, THQ domains, THQ games, WHOIS privacy

Disputes News WIPO

Columbia Pictures files dispute over FantasyIsland.com [UPDATED]

Post author By J.B.
Post date January 15, 2012

Last summer DotWeekly wrote about the domain name FantasyIsland.com selling in a Go Daddy expired domain auction for $22,005 USD.

The first comment made by a reader of the article was that the purchase was a waste of money.

“What a waste of money IMO. That purchase makes no sense unless you own the rights to the show Fantasy Island. If not, what the hell can one do with it? A titty bar? “Boss boss, de UDRP, de UDRP,”” wrote Mike.

Well, now Columbia Pictures Industries, which has owned the Fantasy Island trademark since the early 1980s, has filed a domain dispute (Case Number: D2012-0043) over FantasyIsland.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the current owner is going to have to think about what to do.

What makes this case interesting is that the current owner Howard Guessner, has owned the domain name dating back to 2004 all the way up through today, according to Whois historical records. So it appears Guessner may have renewed the domain in time and never paid $22K to Go Daddy to purchase it in an expiring auction.

I’ve reached out to Guessner via e-mail to learn more and will update this post if I hear back.

[Updated on February 29, 2012:. The name has been ordered transferred to Columbia Pictures Industries. The decision was issued on February 19, 2012. Full details of the decision can be read here.]

Tags Columbia Pictures, Columbia Pictures Industries, Domain Dispute, domain disputes, dotweekly, Fantasy Island, FantasyIsland.com, Go Daddy, Go Daddy Expired Domain Auction, Tattoo, trademark, World Intellectual Property Organization

News Video Games

Sequel may be closer as Activision secretly acquires BlackOps2.com domain

Post author By J.B.
Post date January 8, 2012
9 Comments on Sequel may be closer as Activision secretly acquires BlackOps2.com domain

A sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, one of the best-selling games of all-time, may seem more likely as it appears Activision has secretly acquired the domain name blackops2.com.

First registered in May 2010 shortly after Black Ops was announced, the domain remained under Whois privacy up until this week using Go Daddy’s Domains by Proxy service.

Now, the domain blackops2.com (Whois) has switched from Domains by Proxy to the privacy service provided by internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, who caters to over half the Fortune 100, of which Activision is a client.

In August, I reported that Activision went through MarkMonitor to buy up a slew of Black Ops domains, all the way up to BlackOps6.com.

Missing from the list was blackops2.com.

A deal has now apparently been struck.

Treyarch, the development studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops, hasn’t officially gone on record to say it is creating a sequel. But with all these domain acquisitions, signs point to a Black Ops 2 being a very strong possibility in 2012.

If a cash amount was paid, the sale price of the domain will likely remain unknown, as the previous owner’s identity and contact information were hidden through Go Daddy’s privacy service.

As of today, BlackOps2.com does not resolve a web page.

[Update 1 on February 17, 2012: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been outed by Amazon reports GameSpy.]

Discussion: Joystiq, Game Informer, IGN, N4G, Side Mission, PC Gamer Magazine, Cinema Blend, Forbes, Shacknews, This Is Xbox, VG247, Xbox 360 Achievements, Onlinewelten, elotrolado.net, Digital Trends, MMOMFG, RipTen, Just Push Start, Gameranx, Yahoo! News, GameDynamo, GamersHell.com, JVN.com, Revogamers, We Got This Covered, Product Reviews, 4Gamer.net, Co-Optimus, Connected Consoles, Eurogamer.se, iNSIDE, Power Unlimited, games.co.il, GamingSack, Gamefly and GamesRadar

Tags activision, Activision domains, Black Ops, Black Ops 2, call of duty, call of duty black ops, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, call of duty modern warfare, DNStination Inc, Domains by Proxy, featured, Go Daddy, MarkMonitor, WHOIS privacy

Unknown if Amazon shelled out big bucks or threatened legal action

Domain first registered on Sept 28, ’11, same day Kindle Fire announced

Amazon revealed as owner even though name anonymously registered

Has better domain record than Apple, which still doesn’t own iPad.com