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News Video Games

Is Warner registering Arkham domains for the next Batman movie or video game?

Dark Knight Arkham movie

Last year, Cosmic Book News reported that we could expect a new Batman film in 2016 based on the popular Batman: Arkham Asylum video game.

While there hasn’t been much talk about the Batman reboot since the rumors began, it appears this week that Warner Bros. is trying to secretly buy up domain names for the next Batman movie title or video game through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, the same company it uses for its very own warnerbros.com (Whois) and for other recent domains like the 300 prequel.

The names, all registered on January 10, 2013, revolve around ‘Arkham’, like ArkhamUniverse.com (WHOIS) and BatmanArkhamArises.com (WHOIS), and many more.

There are quite a few possibilities for movie or video game titles in the names that were registered.

Here’s a look at the full list of names:

arkhamuniverse.com (Arkham Universe)
batmanarkahmuniverse.com (Batman Arkham Universe)
batmanarkhamarises.com (Batman Arkham Arises)
batmanarkhambegins.com (Batman Arkham Begins)
batmanarkhamdarkknight.com (Batman Arkham Dark Knight)
batmanarkhamknight.com (Batman Arkham Knight)
batmanarkhamlegend.com (Batman Arkham Legend)
batmanarkhamlegends.com (Batman Arkham Legends)
batmanarkhamnight.com (Batman Arkham Night)
batmanarkhamorigins.com (Batman Arkham Origins)
batmanarkhamstories.com (Batman Arkham Stories)
darkknightarkham.com (Dark Knight Arkham)
dcarkhamuniverse.com (DC Arkham Universe)
dcarkhamverse.com (DC Arkhamverse)
thearkhamuniverse.com (The Arkham Universe)

Keep in mind, although the owner of each domain is hidden behind MarkMonitor’s privacy service DNStination, Warner Bros. as I mentioned is a client of MarkMonitor, so you can bet they are the registrant.

It is possible that Warner Bros. is registering these names for no other reason than to protect it intellectual property and has no plans for them.  The names could also be used for a different Batman product.

Because there has been no official announcement, it’ll just have to remain speculation for now.

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

Talking about this story: Cosmic Book News@supererogatorytweakers.net, JeuxVideo.com, SlashGear, GameSpot, IGN, NowGamer, MCV, Joystiq, io9, Attack of the Fanboy, GamerFront, JoBlo.com, Game Rant, GameDynamo, Den of Geek, TechnoBuffalo, StickSkills, GMA News, Tapscape, Just Push Start, Batman-News, Screen Crush, The Escapist, Blue’s News, Shacknews, Platform Nation, Gameplanet, PSX Extreme, NeoseekerG4 TV, iDigitalTimes.com, Playstation Lifestyle, God is a Geek, Xbox 360 Achievements, Comicus, EL33TONLINE, MOVIEPILOT NEWS, AreaGames, Cinema Blend, Gamenguide, 411mania.com, WorstPreviews.com, Superherohype.com, Game Informer, ComingSoon.net, Bleeding Cool, The Game League, Warp Zoned, Digital Spy, gamona.de, Gaming Examiner, FOK!, Nintendo Everything, Comicbook.com, We Got This Covered, Multiplayer.it, Gamereactor Danmark, 4Players Portal, gameswelt.de, Gameplayer-Magazine, Play3-Live, IGN Italia, EGMNOW, Gematsu, playm.de, Playfront.de, Nintendo Everything, Dark Knight News and PCGamesN

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News Trademarks Video Games

Zynga gets smarter with trademarks and domain registrations, more secretive

Hanging with Friends

It finally looks like Zynga is getting a little bit smarter in terms of domain name registrations and trademark applications. 

Normally, a closely guarded secret by gaming companies, many of Zynga’s yet-to-be released and recently released titles are anything but secret.  But that’s now changing, as the social gaming giant has been on a buying spree of late and is planning for an IPO, it’s getting savvier with its domain name registrations and trademark filings. 

Trademark and yet-to-be released game titles

It’s European trademark filing for Rewardville pinpointed the company as the buyer of the matching domain, before the game was even launched to the public.  Other trademarks have backfired, like that of “ville” which broke here. 

For its latest launch of Empires & Allies, a combat strategy game, Zynga was patient.  The company didn’t file for trademarks in the United States until the same day it unveiled the game on June 1, 2011.  Its European trademark was filed June 2.

Before the Empires & Allies trademark filings though, the company filed other trademarks for unknown titles that news sites and blogs have yet to pick up — like the trademark applications for Mojitomo or Patentville

Adjusting the timing on trademark applications is one thing, but the company finally caught up on domain registrations too.

Zynga’s domain name hints

When I wrote in early May that Zynga registered the domain name hangmanwithfriends.com and I predicted a Hangman game on the iOS (which it launched a month later), the registrant information was hidden behind GoDaddy’s Private Registration service (Domains by Proxy).  However, the registrant information wasn’t so private after all — as tweeted by Domain Name news in a Twitter message, GoDaddy’s service needs some work. 

After using GoDaddy’s account retrieval system in combination with the domain, a Zynga e-mail address (Email Address:****@zynga.com) was publicly displayed.

It was the same story for farmvilleexpress.com

While GoDaddy might not address the issue with its Privacy service, Zynga has.  The company is sticking with GoDaddy to host many of its names, but its now using an email address with a “yahoo” extension.  If you check hangmanwithfriends.com or farmvilleexpress.com today, you’ll see this (Email Address:****@yahoo.com).

If you thought it was hard before to break a Zynga story, things just got a little harder as its more closely guarding its trademarks and domain registrations.