Tag: Google Domains

Categories
News Trademarks

It’s official: Google owns Photovine.com

Google Photovine

Just over a week ago, on June 18, I wrote about Google filing a trademark application for “Photovine” and speculated that the company owned the domain name, photovine.com, after the Whois records switched to MarkMonitor and DNStination from its previous owner.

Now it’s official — Google owns the domain, photovine.com. 

On June 23, the Whois record started showing Google as the owner.

Registrant:
        DNS Admin
        Google Inc.
        1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
         Mountain View CA 94043
        US

    Domain Name: photovine.com

        Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
        Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com
        Registrar Homepage: http://www. markmonitor.com

 Created on…………..: 2004-10-28.
    Expires on…………..: 2013-10-28.
    Record last updated on..: 2011-06-23.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    gdm1.photovine.com
    gdm0.photovine.com

You might also notice that the domain has its own nameservers, right now though, no other domain names are located there.

Google has not officially announced anything about Photovine, however there has been a lot of online discussion about what the service may be, based on the trademark application.

As of today, a message on the website simply reads: Nothing to see here, move along.

Discussion: The Next Web

Categories
News Technology Trademarks

Google set to launch Photovine? It applied for the trademark, now it owns the matching domain name

 Google logo

Google applied for a trademark on “Photovine” on June 7 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

As of June 14, it appears Google owns photovine.com.  The company appears to have taken ownership of the domain name from Matthew Gibson, who had previously owned the name since January 2010 according to WHOIS records.

Although it doesn’t say on the WHOIS records that Google owns the domain, Google like many large companies uses MarkMonitor and DNStination, privacy and brand protection services.

Registrant:
        Domain Administrator
        DNStination Inc.
        303 Second Street Suite 800N
         San Francisco CA 94107

Domain Name: photovine.com

        Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
        Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com
        
Created on…………..: 2004-10-28.
    Expires on…………..: 2013-10-28.
    Record last updated on..: 2011-06-13.

I had reached out yesterday to Matthew Gibson (the previous owner) for a statement and to learn more about the negotiations, but I haven’t heard anything at the time of this story.

So what exactly is Photovine? 

Very little is known at this time, outside of the trademark  application the company filed earlier this month.  In 2004, Google acquired Picasa, a photo software and sharing service. 

But is Google planning to take on Apple’s iCloud Photo Stream service?

Here’s a look at the trademark filing:

Word Mark  PHOTOVINE
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer software
IC 038. US 100 101 104. G & S: Communication services, namely, transmission of visual images and data by telecommunications networks, wireless communication networks, the Internet, information services networks and data networks

IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Non-downloadable computer software

IC 045. US 100 101. G & S: On-line social networking services
 
Standard Characters Claimed 
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 85340503
Filing Date June 7, 2011
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Google Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View CALIFORNIA 94043
Attorney of Record Andrew Abrams
Type of Mark TRADEMARK. SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Discussion:  Engadget, TechMeme, Digital Trends, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Business Insider, The Next Web and Techie Buzz.

Categories
Disputes National Arbitration Forum

Google wins dispute over social product domain name googleplusone.com

Google +1

A panelist with the National Arbitration Forum ruled in favor of Google Inc in the company’s dispute over the domain name googleplusone.com, a name that describes its new social product Google +1 which is trying to compete with Facebook’s “Like” button.

Google filed the complaint against Seshchand Atluri on May 2, 2011 and made three assertions: the domain was confusingly similar to Google’s mark, that the respondent had no rights or legitimate interests to the domain, and that it was registered in bad faith.

The National Arbitration Forum found that the registrant Seshchand Atluri, registered the disputed domain name on May 8, 2008 and that the domain name resolved to a parked website where profits were presumably being made.

Having established all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panelist Ralph Yachnin concluded the domain name should be transferred to Google Inc.

The details of the case can be read here.

Categories
News

Google to offer free WiFi everywhere? WaziWiFi.com registered [UPDATED]

Google WiFi hotspots

I’ve been wrong before about the reasons behind domain name registrations by large corporations, as seen with my story on Amazon Android Tablets published over a week ago.  Yet, that story still got press coverage from CNNMoney, The Next Web, and Business Insider, despite my initial thoughts on the domain registrations being wrong.

Here’s another rumor for you that’s just in. 

Google is planning to offer “free” WiFi Hot Spots everywhere.  Or at least the company is planning to expand beyond Mountain View, California, where it currently offers coverage.  The Mountain View WiFi network started being offered in 2006.

Earlier this week, Google registered the domain name, waziwifi.com (Whois Record). 

While the term “wazi” isn’t something you’ll find in the English dictionary, in Swahili “wazi” means “open”. 

News of Google’s Ultra high-speed broadband in Kansas City, Kansas, was announced late last month on the Offiicial Google Blog, but according to Google’s FAQ page for its Google Fiber for Communities, as far as a wireless component being offered, Google had to say this: “Our focus is on developing a fiber-to-the-home network and we have no plans to include a wireless component at this stage. In general, we think wireless and wireline services are complementary, because wireless networks offer a nice degree of flexibility, while wireline networks can currently reach greater speeds.”

Will ultra high-speed WiFi hot spots hosted by Google be making there way across the United States?  Who knows, but in the meantime, here’s a look at the registrant record. 

Registrant:
        DNS Admin
        Google Inc.
        1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
         Mountain View CA 94043
        US
         +1.6502530000 Fax: +1.6502530001

    Domain Name: waziwifi.com

        Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
        Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com
        Registrar Homepage: http://www.markmonitor.com/

Created on…………..: 2011-04-06.
    Expires on…………..: 2013-04-05.
    Record last updated on..: 2011-04-06.

[Updated on August 30, 2011:.Google launches Wi-Fi in Nairobi.]