By now you’ve probably heard that Netflix renamed its DVD by mail service to Qwikster.
Of course, the name change has got domain blogs buzzing over the slightly difficult to spell name.
What you may not know is that Netflix has been quietly buying up misspellings of Qwikster through Brand Certified Inc.
Brand Certified Inc. is a shell company used by the brand protection service MarkMonitor, as first spotted by Kevin Murphy of DomainIncite.
Since at least August, Netflix has been using MarkMonitor’s secret “Brand Certified Inc.” to apparently purchase up several common misspellings of Qwikster.
Here’s a look at just a handful of the names that have passed through Brand Certified Inc since August, which are pretty much guaranteed to be the properties of Netflix, as MarkMonitor is a “brand protection company” where the netflix.com web address itself is registered.
http://www.domaintools.com/qwiter.com
http://www.domaintools.com/quickstar.net
http://www.domaintools.com/qwickster.com
http://www.domaintools.com/kwikster.net
http://www.domaintools.com/wikster.com
http://www.domaintools.com/qwikister.com
http://www.domaintools.com/quick-star.net
http://www.domaintools.com/quickstar.org
Discussion: Hollywood Reporter