A little over a week ago, Microsoft filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) over the domain names XboxOne.com and XboxOne.net.  The company, it seems, held off on registering or acquiring any Xbox One related domains until after the announcement of its next-generation Xbox, so as not to reveal the name of the new system.

Now, with the news in from Microsoft, the company is having to go the legal route to get domain names related to the Xbox One.

A new dispute (Case Number: 1501169) has been brought against the owner of Xbox1.com (WHOIS).

It’s unknown whether Microsoft offered cash and was turned down, or, if the company demanded the names before filing complaints.

While nothing is guaranteed in a domain dispute, Microsoft has a good track record with Xbox names and has won dozens of disputes ranging from Xbox Gold to Xbox Fitness.  In fact, it appears the company has never lost a complaint.  Either the domain names have been ordered transferred by a panel or the complaints were withdrawn after the names were handed over before a decision.

Microsoft isn’t the only video game console maker that doesn’t own the matching domain to its system.

In February, Nintendo filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization over the domain name Wiiu.com.  No ruling has been issued yet.

Sony doesn’t own Playstation4.com, nor has the company filed any kind of dispute.  As I wrote back in 2011, Playstation4.com re-directs to PSX Extreme, a video game website that has been covering Sony Playstation news for years.  In 2001, Sony filed a dispute over sonyplaystation2.com, playstationx.com and sonyps2.com, and won.

Talking about this story: VG247, JeuxVideo.com, Neowin.net and melty.fr

UPDATE 1 June 5, 2013: Microsoft filed another complaint (Case Number: 1503080) over the domains xboxone.co, xboxone.me, xboxoneforum.net, xboxonewiki.com, xboxonehelp.com, xboxonecheat.com and xboxoneblog.com.

(Image of Xbox One via Xbox.com)

There is a lot of buzz about Halo with E3 less than two weeks away.  Microsoft is expected to reveal Halo 5 but is not expected to share anything more about Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Halo TV series, of which little is known about.

It does appear however the company is up to something related to Halo ahead of E3 that is called Halo: Spartan Assault, according to several domain names Microsoft privately registered through the brand protection company MarkMonitor.

Among the latest names Microsoft registered in late May, are SpartanAssault.net (WHOIS), HaloSpartanAssault.com (WHOIS) and Halo-SpartanAssault.com (WHOIS).

Also registered were Halo-SpartanAssault.net (WHOIS) and HaloSpartanAssault.net (WHOIS).

Each of the newly acquired names is registered to DNStination Inc, a Whois privacy service administered by MarkMonitor.  Microsoft is a well-known client of MarkMonitor and over the years has acquired many Halo-related domains through the company like Halo 7, Halo 8 and Halo 9, to name a few.

Back in 2009, a short fan fiction piece was written online by a fan who titled the story Halo Spartan Assault.

Of course, there is always the chance that Microsoft is doing nothing more than protecting its IP, but it’s highly unlikely with E3 right around the corner.

Although it’s only speculation at this point, you can bet Microsoft has something in the works for Halo: Spartan Assault.

Is it the title of a live action series? A video game? Something else? Who knows?

It’s obviously too early to say what exactly Microsoft has planned for Halo: Spartan Assault, but we should know more soon.

UPDATE 1 June 4, 2013:  Halo Spartan Assault has been revealed.  Below is the debut trailer.

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Microsoft has filed a complaint (Case Number 1501205) with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) over the domain names XboxOne.com and XboxOne.net.

The filing appeared online today, just two days after the company announced its next-generation console the Xbox One.

For months speculation, often based on domain registrations by the company, was rampant as to what Microsoft would call the next Xbox.

The company kept the name a secret, and kept away from registering “Xbox One” domains that would have tipped their hand.

XboxOne.com (WHOIS) and XboxOne.net (WHOIS) are registered to a resident of the United Kingdom.

Both domains are parked at Go Daddy today, but at one point, XboxOne.com was a website dedicated to Xbox-related news.  Here’s a screenshot of the XboxOne.com website from the early 2000s, courtesy of Screenshots.com.

As I’ve written before, Microsoft has had a lot of success with its domain disputes, so its latest case will almost certainly go in its favor.

XboxSmartglass.com was ordered transferred to Microsoft, as was XboxPhone.com and XboxFitness.com.   The list of victories in domain disputes for Microsoft goes on and on.  In 2012, Microsoft took ownership of several names such as XboxMusic.com, XboxSports.com, and XboxVideo.com just to name a few.

It appears only a single complaint was filed for both domains. According to UDRP rules, if more than one domain being disputed is held by the same respondent, all of the names may be included in the same complaint. Rule 3(b)(vi).

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(Image of Xbox One via Microsoft.com)

It was announced this week, that Electronic Arts and The Walt Disney Company signed a multi-year video game agreement which allows them to create Star Wars games.

Now Lucasfilm, which was acquired by Disney last year, has registered a slew of new domain names that include titles like:  Star Wars Alliance, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Wolf Pack, Wolf Pack Adventures, Order 67, Bothan Spies, Gungan Frontier 2, Gungan Frontier 3, Gungan Frontier 4, and Wookie Hunters.

Here’s a the list:

http://whois.domaintools.com/gunganfrontier2.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/gunganfrontier3.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/gunganfrontier4.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/order67.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/starwarsalliance.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/starwarsrebels.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/starwarswolfpack.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/wolfpackadventures.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/wookieehunters.com

While it’s unknown what will become of Star Wars: 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault, it looks like more plans are already in the works for other titles.

Movies? Games?  It’s anyone’s guess, what many of these titles like Bothan Spies are destined for.  But given the timing, you can bet many of the titles have something to do with Electronic Arts.

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Call it defensive or call it long-term planning, but Electronic Arts has gone out and registered dot-com domains for Battlefield 13 all the way through Battlefield 20.

On May 2, EA registered each of the names through the brand protection agency Corporation Service Company (CSC), adding to its ever-growing collection of Battlefield-related web addresses which includes its crown-jewel Battlefield.com, a name that EA spent $80,000 USD to acquire.

As of today, EA now owns Battlefield.com, Battlefield2.com – Battlefield9.com, and Battlefield13.com – Battlefield20.com.  Battlefield10.com – Battlefield12.com are owned by other parties, not associated with Electronic Arts.

By comparison to its biggest competitor, Activision, ModernWarfare8.com through ModernWarfare20.com and beyond, are not registered at the time of this story being published.

EA is expected to release Battlefield 4 this fall.

In late April, EA acquired BF4.com from its owner for $9,000 USD.

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(Image of Battlefield 4 via Battlefield.com)

Another new video game announcement, and with it comes the scammers.

Activision officially revealed Call of Duty: Ghosts this week, and now a number of fake beta websites are already online promising unsuspecting users free beta keys to the game.

Not only do the sites use the game’s artwork, but the operators of these websites use domain names similar to the title to trick people into believing that they are on an official Call of Duty website.

While these sites are obviously phony, there’s always someone who falls for the trick.

GhostsBeta.com (WHOIS) was registered in early April as rumors of the game spread.  Today, the website (pictured below) tells visitors that beta access is strongly limited and that their site is the only place where gamers can gain access.  All you need to do is tweet a message or publicly recommend the site on Google+ to get your fake beta key.  At of the time of this story, dozens have fallen for the scam.

GhostsBeta.net (WHOIS) was just registered this week and the owner has wasted no time setting up a landing page (pictured below), but it looks like their is still more work to do.  You are encouraged to choose a console, however, when you click the Submit button, you are redirected to a suspended account page located on blackops2beta.com (another fake site that was quickly outed for scamming users).

As excitement grows for the game, expect the pace of fake beta sites going live to increase.

Dozens of domain names have already been registered and not by Activision.  Here’s a sampling:

CallofDutyGhostsBeta.com (WHOIS) – parked at Register.com
CallofDutyGhostsBeta.net (WHOIS) – parked at Go Daddy
CallofDutyGhostsBeta.org (WHOIS) – does not resolve to a website
CallofDutyGhostsBeta.info (WHOIS) – parked at Go Daddy
CallofDutyGhostBeta.com (WHOIS) – parked at NameCheap

Believe it or not, Activision didn’t register CallofDutyGhosts.com (WHOIS) or CallofDutyGhost.com (WHOIS) before cybersquatters got to the names first.

CallofDutyGhosts.com redirects visitors to the game’s listing on Amazon.

CallofDutyGhost.com is redirecting visitors to http://www.callofduty.com/ghosts/masks, however, it’s registered to an resident of Illinois who has listed the name for sale on Go Daddy for $2,000 USD.

Activision may not sit idle.

In 2011, the company won a dispute for ModernWarfare3.com.

In the past year, other video game companies have taken legal action against people operating fake beta websites.  Take-Two has filed several complaints over fake Grand Theft Auto V websites and domains — and won.

Talking about this story: SlashGear, play3.de, Examiner.com and Gamezone

If Microsoft has learned anything from its previous mistakes with launching a product without the matching domains — then it’s quite possible that the company’s next generation console will be called the “Xbox Fusion”.

Microsoft owns the name in a variety of different extensions and it has for years.

Speculation about the name being called “Xbox Fusion” isn’t anything new.  But what separates “Xbox Fusion” and only a few other names from the rest of the list, is that not only does Microsoft own the dot-com (WHOIS), it owns a slew of other domains like XboxFusion.info, XboxFusion.biz, XboxFusion.de, XboxFusion.co.uk – the list goes on and on.

Speculation of the next gen console’s name has gone wild, fueled lately by the recent leak on Reddit of what may be the logo.

Names being kicked around include the Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, Xbox Infinite, Xbox Gold, Xbox 8, Xbox Durango, Xbox Next, and more.

Domain investor Andy Booth – who knows a thing or two about domains with names like samurai.com – dropped me an email out of the blue saying he believes Microsoft will go with “Xbox Fusion” based on the number of names the company has registered and that the “infinity” symbol is also interpreted as “fusion”.

In case you haven’t been keeping a score card of Microsoft’s matching domains, here’s a look:

Xbox720.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxInfinity.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

Xbox8.com (WHOIS) -Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxDurango.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxInfinite.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxFusion.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

XboxNext.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

XboxGold.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

So will Microsoft go with a name it doesn’t currently own? Or with a name already in its portfolio?

We should know in late May.

For those of you who don’t remember, Microsoft got off to a somewhat embarrassing start with the initial release of the Xbox console back in 2001 by not even owning the trademark to Xbox.  Although it eventually acquired the mark, Microsoft, like many big companies and their worst kept secrets, has often failed to secure the domain name ahead of time before the product was announced or launched. Halo 4 and Kinect.com are just two examples.

Currently, XboxFusion.com redirects visitors to Xbox.com, while XboxNext and XboxGold redirect users to Bing.

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(Image of next-generation Xbox logo via Reddit)

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

Take-Two Interactive has been plagued with scammers who register domain names, and then set up websites that falsely claim to offer beta codes to Grand Theft Auto V, which will release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC later this year.

The legal team at Take-Two has been busy the past few months, filing several complaints with the Word Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over names like betagtav.com and gta5betacode.com.  In the last few days, five more cases involving GTA V have popped up on the website over at WIPO bringing the total case count to 12.

The latest round of disputes involves the following names.

gtavbetacodes.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5betacodes.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5-beta.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5freedownload.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5download.org (WHOIS / Case)

While some of the domains don’t resolve to a website or are parked, others are full-fledged websites with the intent to deceive users.

Here’s a screenshot of gtavbetacodes.com, which tries to get unsuspecting users to download a file to their computer.

To date, Take-Two has won disputes over getgtavbeta.com, betagtav.com, gtavbeta.org and gtaavbeta.net.

Talking about this story: Examiner.com

(Image of Grand Theft Auto V via RockstarGames.com)

A single-member panel with the National Arbitration Forum has ordered the domain Xbox-Gold.com be transferred to Microsoft.  Microsoft continues to grow its portfolio of “Xbox Gold” domains, having privately acquired or registered several related names including XboxGold.com.

The company recently bagged the name XboxGold.org in mid-March, after the previous owner turned over the name before the case was even decided.

It is still “officially” unknown what Microsoft will call its next generation console or what plans (if any) it has for Xbox Gold.

There are quite a few names that have been speculated over the last year.  The names include Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, Xbox 8, Xbox Durango, Xbox Next and even just the Xbox.

If Microsoft decides to name the next Xbox based on a domain name it owns, here’s the current breakdown:

Xbox720.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxInfinity.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

Xbox8.com (WHOIS) -Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxDurango.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxNext.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

XboxGold.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

Xbox.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

(Image of Battlefield 4 via Battlefield.com)