Tag: Salesforce

Salesforce starts redirecting $2.6MM domain social.com to its Salesforce Marketing Cloud site [UPDATED]

Post author By J.B.
Post date April 17, 2013

After acquiring the domain name social.com nearly two years ago, Salesforce.com is finally putting it to use.

Earlier today, the cloud computing company began redirecting the name to its Salesforce Marketing Cloud website, located at www.salesforcemarketingcloud.com.

The purchase of social.com, the biggest domain sale of 2011, was initially kept private. Though the name still sits behind WHOIS privacy, a little sleuthing back in 2011 using Network Solutions’ “Forgot Your Login?” page, turned up Salesforce.com as the buyer. The transaction was later confirmed by Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com’s Cloudforce New York in November 2011.

Salesforce revealed the Marketing Cloud during Dreamforce ’12, which the company describes as the world’s only unified social marketing suite.

A redirect may or may not be the best use of $2.6 million domain name, but at least it’s doing something.

For the past two years, the domain name didn’t resolve to an active web page on the web.

Salesforce made no official announcement regarding the use of the name, but with its marketing cloud facing competition, it looks like it’s going to start taking advantage of some type-in traffic.

UPDATE 1 April 23, 2013: Salesforce.com is expanding its social ad offerings with a new product called Salesforce Social.com, reports TechCrunch.

Talking about this story: Domain Name Wire

Tags Salesforce, SalesForce.com, Social.com

News

Panel denies Salesforce the name Forces.com in domain dispute

Post author By J.B.
Post date January 6, 2012

After filing a complaint (Case No. 1416951) with the National Arbitration Forum last month against Internet Venture Holdings (IVH) over Forces.com, Salesforce.com has been denied the domain name.

Not surprisingly, the panel found that <forces.com> was not identical or confusingly similar to any mark in which Salesforce.com has rights. As a result, the name was ordered to remain with its owner Internet Venture Holdings (IVH) and will not be transferred to Salesforce.com.

Because the panel concluded that the domain was not identical or confusingly similar, it didn’t bother establishing whether IVH had no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; or whether the domain had been registered and was being used in bad faith.

There was also no finding of reverse domain hijacking.

If Salesforce.com really wants a generic domain, they should pay the asking price, not bully smaller companies.

Full details of the panel’s decision can be read online here.

Tags bully, Domain Dispute, force.com, Forces.com, Internet Venture Holdings, IVH, Marc Benioff, reverse domain hijacking, Salesforce, SalesForce.com, udrp, Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy

Disputes National Arbitration Forum News

SalesForce.com attempts to hijack Forces.com by filing domain dispute

Post author By J.B.
Post date November 27, 2011
3 Comments on SalesForce.com attempts to hijack Forces.com by filing domain dispute

Earlier this month, SalesForce.com filed a complaint (Case No. 1416951) with the National Arbitration Forum against Internet Venture Holdings (IVH) over the domain Forces.com.

While complainants in disputes filed with the National Arbitration Forum aren’t revealed until a panel delivers a decision, I contacted IVH to see if my suspicions were correct “that Salesforce.com was behind the complaint” and an IVH representative confirmed via e-mail that, indeed, Salesforce.com was the complainant.

What’s interesting about this case – and this isn’t unheard of – is that Salesforce.com not only has a good chance of losing the dispute, but it may face a claim of “reverse domain hijacking”.

If the software giant loses the dispute and IVH contends that Salesforce.com engaged in ‘reverse domain hijacking’, Salesforce.com could be labeled a “reverse hijacker” by the presiding panel. “Reverse domain hijacking” is found if the company knew or should have known at the time that it filed the complaint, that it could not prove that forces.com was registered in bad faith.

Though Salesforce.com has publicly acquired domain names in the past for large sums of money such as the purchase of Data.com for over $1.5 million, it doesn’t mean the company won’t bully smaller companies into giving up their domains if it doesn’t feel like paying the seller’s asking price.

Unfortunately, a finding of reverse domain hijacking likely won’t mean much punishment in terms of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

According to sources online:

The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act does not expressly recognize reverse domain name hijacking and often only limits defendants’ recovery to retention or transference of the domain name. It also fails to provide any remedies for victims of attempted reverse cybersquatting. However, the statute permits some monetary relief where bad faith, reckless disregard or the willful violation of a court order are involved.

However, if Salesforce.com decides it still wants to acquire the domain after being labeled a “reverse hijacker”, the ball will definitely be in IVH’s court, who own hundreds of other prized, generic domains like Coast.com and Turquoise.com.

Even if Salesforce.com loses the dispute (which it should) and somehow avoids the hijacking label, I don’t see this ending well for Salesforce.com.

(Photo of Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com via Flickr)

Tags bully, Domain Dispute, force.com, Forces.com, Internet Venture Holdings, IVH, Marc Benioff, reverse domain hijacking, Salesforce, SalesForce.com, udrp, Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy