A post I did a month ago about a joke going around around the Internet about domain names, got 5 times the readership as the post I wrote on Friday about the comment period closing on the URS proposal, which would give trademark holders a fast track to take down any domain that had a trademark and was parked.

Only 64 of you had the interest to read about something that would, not could, cause you to have domains taken away from you.

I will be posting my comment to ICANN tomorrow morning.

I urge you to take an hour, read about this proposal and compose a response to ICANN.

If you want to wait for my comments to appear and refer to them in your comment, that’s fine, but get it in your head that tomorrow you are going to have to file something in response to this proposal.

Bing has a map feature, maybe you’ve seen it, maybe not.

Maybe you figured it was just a clone of Google maps, MapQuest, whatever.

But Bing has features that they don’t have.

Seems somebody took the cool idea of Satellite Images to a new resolution for Bing.

Check it out.

Try the “Birds Eye View” (different from Aerial) of your house and tell me that isn’t far better than Google maps or even Google Earth for most places.

I’ve been checking out foreclosure auctions of properties all over the place and I’ve found this new tool incredibly useful.

That is the end of the guest post.

Now I usually, almost never play with Google maps and haven’t checked out bing.com maps until I read this post.

I think that Cartoonz is on to something.

If you type in “Loews Hotel Miami Beach” for example you will see a big difference between Google and Bing.

On Google you will see PPC ads off the left of the map but no information about the hotel.

On Bing you see a listing for the hotel, its offical website, its address and phone number and a “book it” icon.

On Bing you can clearly see where the hotel is on the map and with just 1 more click you can get directions to the hotel.

The satellite photos on bing are easier to get to and looks better than Google’s.  Bing.com also has 3-D Map options for viewing.

You can read more on Bing Maps by clicking here.

This post was submitted by Cartoonz.

Happy Birthday America

Yes its the same picture from last year, but still the best I’ve seen of Uncle Sam.

Have a great holiday with your family and friends

TajMahal.com is currently at $8K with the backorder deadline closes at 11pm EST tonight.

Filth.com is currently at $5K with the backorder deadline closing tomorrow at 11PM.

You can see some of our other picks at NameJet.com here.

This lawsuit, brought by computer software company Ascentive, in the federal district court in the eastern district of Pennsylvania, alleges that Google wrongly allowed other companies to use Ascentive’s trademarks to trigger pay-per-click search ads.

Nothing new there,  but the suit does on to allege that Google wrongly removed the company from the organic results listing of Google.

Ascentive alleges that Google removed the Ascentive site FinallyFast.com from the organic search results earlier this year. The company says that traffic then plummeted to around 500,000 visitors a month, from 1.9 million in January.

In its lawsuit, filed , the company alleges it owns the trademarks on a host of terms including FinallyFast.com, FastAtLast.com and Spyware Striker.

Ascentive complains that Google allows rivals to purchase terms like Finally Fast as keywords that triggered ads for their sites. “Google’s unauthorized and willful use and sale of Ascentive’s trademarks in connection with its advertising programs … is likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception as to the source of the goods and services offered,”

Google has prevailed in at least one other lawsuit where a company complained that it was wrongly removed from the organic search results. In that case, directory and search engine KinderStart.com unsuccessfully sued Google after it stopped showing KinderStart’s site in the results.

Not only did a federal district court judge in California throw out the case, but ordered KinderStart’sto pay $7,500 in sanctions for having brought the action.

The comment period closes on Monday July 6th.

Although the URS on its face only applies to the new gTLD’s, comments made by representatives of ICANN clearly indicate that they will in fact apply to all existing extensions (.com. .net. &.org) meaning all the domains you own sooner than later.

If you didn’t read our initial post on the proposal set forth by trademark holder groups, you should go read it now, since it is arguably the worst thing to happen to domain holders certainly since the Snow Bill.

We will be posting our thoughts on Monday in our comments to ICANN but that shouldn’t stop you from learning about the proposal and taking a hour of the weekend, dedicated to the independence of our country, to compose a response to a this proposal which seeks to take away your property.

Actually what is actually closing on Monday is the comment period for the report of The Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) which contains, among other things the Uniform Rapid Suspension proposal.

Background information and links to the final Report can be found by clicking here.

Comments should be submitted to:

irt-final-report@icann.org

Once you e-mail your comments to ICANN you will receive an e-mail from ICANN asking you to confirm the submission.  Until and unless you respond to that e-mail,  your comments will not be posted or seen by ICANN so it is essential you answer the e-mail.

Although our comments will not be available until Monday, you can use the comments of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) and George Kirikos as a guide.

From the ICA:

“”"”While each individual should focus on those aspects of the Report of greatest concern to him, major points that will be made in the comment letter being prepared by the ICA are:
·     The IRT operated in violation of ICANN Bylaws requirements for maximum transparency and fair representation. It voted to operate confidentiality; its agenda and membership was controlled by the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC); and it included no members of the domain investment community. Not surprisingly, its recommendations lack balance and constitute proposed UDRP reform undertaken solely from the perspective of complainants.

·        The Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) proposal would effectively displace the UDRP at all new gTLDs and substantially diminish registrants’ procedural and substantive due process rights. The extreme low cost of filing complaints (as little as $1.50 per domain in mass filings) and the lack of effective sanctions (abusive complainants barred from the URS for one year, and then only after three separate incidents of abuse, with no monetary sanctions or indemnification requirements) would encourage abusive complaint filings. There is also a lack of effective or affordable substantive appeals procedures for registrants who believe that their domains have been unfairly suspended. Further, trademark interests have already voiced the goal of imposing the URS on incumbent gTLDs, including .com, soon after its adoption for new gTLDs.

·        Other report recommendations, such as the Globally Protected Marks List (GPML), appear to be both infeasible and have no basis in existing trademark law; their adoption would impermissibly expand ICANN’s function to that of a DNS treaty organization or legislature.

·        While the domain investment community is willing to engage constructively with trademark interests, that must occur through a standard but expedited  ICANN Policy Development Process (PDP) that is open to all affected interests, transparent in its operation, and balanced in its membership and recommendations. This can result in UDRP reforms applicable to both new and incumbent gTLDs that provide redress to the current problems and abuses faced by both registrants and complainants. It would be an unacceptable precedent to allow a single ICANN constituency to control a short term, ad hoc group and have its skewered policy recommendations implemented absent further review and input by the broad ICANN community.

The close of the comment period is not the end of this process. On Monday, July 13th ICANN will hold in New York City the first of four full day global consultations on the new gTLD program, free and open to all who have pre-registered, with a focus on trademark protection and the potential for malicious behavior. The NYC consultation will be followed by one in London on July 15th; Hong Kong on July 24th; and Abu-Dhabi on August 4th. Information about these consultations and a link to the pre-registration page can be found by clicking here:

We know that the trademark community is actively encouraging its members to attend and speak out at these consultations, so it is vitally important that the domain investment community, as well as the many other constituencies and organizations that have raised strong concerns about the IRT process and recommendations, be in attendance as well.

ICANN Counsel Philip Corwin is planning to attend the NYC consultation and would appreciate being advised by those in the domainer community and other groups concerned by the IRT Report who are planning to attend – he can be reached by e-mail at pcorwin@butera-andrews.com.

Freedom is never free. Please take the time this weekend to send a comment to ICANN, and please consider attending one of the upcoming global consultations – because those who would diminish registrant rights are already planning to do so.”"”

If you want to check out Mr. Kirikos comments (I urge you to do so) you can click here:

You need to understand what additional rights trademark holders are trying to grant themselves against your direct interest as a domain holder.

If you have no interest in this then you have no interest in your own property.

ALL of you need to support the ICA.

For the like millionth time, the ICA is the ONLY organization representing your interest as a domain holder.

Trademark holders got plenty of support and actually got their group in a position with ICANN to write the rules.

By not spending $295 a year, (again 4 backorders on namejet) you allowed it to happen.

Now you can at least spend a few bucks and have a voice in this process.

TheJayLenoShow.com was ordered transferred to Mr. Leno in a WIPO action today.

The domain was originally registered by Guadalupe Zambrano of Texas, back  in 2004, while Mr.Leno was firmly entrenched as the host of “The Tonight Show” and years before anyone knew (including Jay Leno)  that there would ever be a Jay Leno Show.

Still,  the domain was pointed to Zambrano’s real estate site, which certainly didn’t help his case.

The World Intellectual Property Organization decided that Leno does have common law trademark rights to his own name after working for 30 years in the public eye and found Zambrano had no legitimate claim to the domain name and gave Zambrano 10 days to transfer the domain name to Leno.

Once again as we discussed the other day in relation to the mass registration of Michael Jackson domains, you have no right to use the name of a famous person be he dead or alive, or  host of the Tonight Show or his own.

Its a great time to pick up inventory, but there is a ton of stuff, which is just a waste of money.

Not that there isn’t great advice our there to decide what makes a domain worth buying and holding

The “Domain King”,  Rick Schwartz in a recent post gave away the keys to the “candy” store when he told you what domains you should be looking for.

In a post over last weekend I gave you some great domains that were at Namejet.com.  (CaliforniaForeclosures.com sold yesterday for under $4,500, talk about a bargain; today filth.com is on backorder at just over 1K).

There are great examples everywhere of failed domain strategies; money, time and opportunity wasted.

I found this domain at an expired auction going on at Godaddy.com, which says it all: BuyMyPoop.com.

Sure there are good even great buys out there, but there’s a ton of crap.

Take these gems that are dropping, please note they are all owned by the same person and have been registered for 9 years.  That’s 9 years of renewal fees on a bunch of worthless domains:

bestagencyaround.com
bestairlinesaround.com
bestauctionsaround.com
bestautosaround.com
bestbadgirlsaround.com
bestbaseballaround.com
bestbasketballaround.com
bestbeeraround.com
bestbetsaround.com
bestbikesaround.com
bestbingoaround.com
bestbizaround.com
bestbodyaround.com
bestboxingaround.com
bestbrainsaround.com
bestbroadbandaround.com
bestbucksaround.com
bestcardsaround.com
bestcasharound.com
bestcellphonesaround.com
bestchoicearound.com
bestchristmasaround.com
bestclothesaround.com
bestcomputersaround.com
bestdesignsaround.com
bestdigitalaround.com
bestdiscountsaround.com
bestdollarsaround.com
bestdowaround.com
bestescrowaround.com
bestescrowsaround.com
besteverythingaround.com
bestfashionsaround.com
bestfilmaround.com
bestfilmsaround.com
bestflightsaround.com
bestflowersaround.com
bestfootballaround.com
bestfunaround.com
bestgiftsaround.com
bestgirlsaround.com
bestgodaround.com
bestgolfaround.com
besthobbiesaround.com
besthockeyaround.com
besthospitalsaround.com
besthotelsaround.com
bestideasaround.com
bestkidsaround.com
bestlandaround.com
bestlimosaround.com
bestlotteryaround.com
bestlowpricesaround.com
bestluckaround.com
bestmachinesaround.com
bestmallsaround.com
bestmanaround.com
bestmedicinearound.com
bestmoneyaround.com
bestmotelsaround.com
bestmovesaround.com
bestmoviesaround.com
bestmusicaround.com
bestnewsaround.com
bestofficesaround.com
bestpartyaround.com
bestpetsaround.com
bestratesaround.com
bestrealestatearound.com
bestrockaround.com
bestsalearound.com
bestsavingsaround.com
bestsearcharound.com
bestseatingaround.com
bestsecurityaround.com
bestservicearound.com
bestshapearound.com
bestshoppingaround.com
bestshopsaround.com
bestshowaround.com
bestshowsaround.com
bestsoundsaround.com
bestspacearound.com
bestsportsaround.com
beststereosaround.com
beststocksaround.com
beststoresaround.com
besttelevisionaround.com
besttennisaround.com
bestthingsaround.com
bestticketsaround.com
besttimearound.com
besttitsaround.com
besttravelaround.com
besttvaround.com
bestvacationsaround.com
bestvaluesaround.com
bestvetaround.com
bestvetsaround.com
bestvideoaround.com
bestvideosaround.com
bestvitaminsaround.com
bestvotesaround.com
bestwallstreetaround.com
bestweatheraround.com
bestwebsitearound.com
bestwebsitesaround.com
bestwheelsaround.com
bestwholesalearound.com
bestwinearound.com
bestwinesaround.com
bestwirelessaround.com
bestwomanaround.com
bestwrestlingaround.com

For 9 years someone paid renewal fees for these domains.  All the domains are at Stargate.  I don’t know if they paid $10 per name, or $35 per name but over 9 years that’s a lot of wasted money.  I see strings of domains every few days, all worthless.  All sucking up valuable resources.

Bottom line; people will be dumping a ton of inventory, but don’t buy other people’s poop.

The lawsuit was brought by Texas real estate company First Call Properties, (yes Texas again) which alleges that it began advertising on Craigslist’s in March and that a competing company,  AAA Apartment Locating (AAA),  began posting Craigslist ads that use the phrases “first call,” “call first,” and “call us first.”

First Call alleges that those ads were placed in a deliberate attempt to confuse consumers.

The company also asserts that Craigslist knew that AAA was using the First Call trademark and failed to stop the ads from appearing.

The lawsuit, in the  Federal Court for the southern district of Texas late last week named  Craigslist, AAA and two other individuals as defendants. Before the case was sent to federal court, a state court judge issued a preliminary order banning Craigslist and AAA from using “Call First,” “First Call Properties,” or “Call Us First,” or similar terms.

Now for me here is the interesting thing.

Unlike the suits filed against Google, on Craigslist, the posted ads are free.

Craigslist does not charge for placing the ads.

Craigslist does not make any more or less money on whether someone clicks on the ads

Now the trademark interest want to place on Craigslist a duty to know every unknown trademark in the world, and make Craigslist the enforcer of trademark laws.

Yet in this particular case the term “First Call” is very generic.

If you search “first call” on Google you get the following companies, all around the world that uses “First Call” and are all in the property management business:

Firstcallpropertyservices.com, located in NH

1st Call Property Management located In CA.

First Call Property Maintenance, located in FL

First Call Property Maintenance, located in the UK

1st Call Property Maintenance Located in Spain

There are HUNDREDS maybe thousands more businesses using 1st call or first call in their name and they are all allowed to co-exist and operate, but when it comes to the net, it seems there can only be one.

If its not the domain their after, then its the exclusive use of the term in all internet advertising.

And what stupid judge would give someone an exclusive right to use the term “call us first” in advertising by issuing a injunction based off First Call which is generic in nature on its own.

Oh BTW “Call Us First” is also trademarked by another company in the background check business.

I’m telling you someone needs to address this problem.

Yes the true trademark infrining domains like “verison”, but we are at the point where every word, 2 letter combo, 3 letter combo and every phrase and saying that anyone has ever heard is trademarked, just in the US.

We need to bring a “famous” requirement back into online trademark law or we got bring problems coming at us.

My favorite quote from the article is:

“Perhaps there are those generic words that people absent-mindedly type, perhaps just out of boredom. I don’t know, URLs like kitchen.com. Or music.com. But could this still be a significant number?

How many people really do bother to type URLs these days?”"

The author ChrisMatyszczyk expresses his believe is domains are old news and search is where its at.

Of course this article brought out all the domain haters and there are plenty of comments already including this one:

“”"I always thought it smarmy how people traded up url’s. Now we are entering an age where it is more important to know how to find information than to remember lots of info. Keywords are better than remembering web urls.”"”

However the most accurate comment in my opinion was:

“”Do people actually pay Chris Matyszczyk for nutty advice like this? If so, they’re wasting their corporate dollars.”"”

Go read the article.

Really an amazing lack of knowledge for someone who wrties about Tech.

On the other hand this is the same CNET.com which owns the domain radio.com and has it going just to a parked page.