Slots.com got bids of over 4 million dollars. SLOTS and SLOT are both LIVE trademarks.

There are only 2 days left for the auction of the domain, SLOTS.com which is a premium gambling or betting domain name. Current highest bid is over 4 million US dollars (exactly at $4,050,000). There are 2 bids until now and the bids do not meet the reserve price.

I look at the US trademark website for one domain I am looking to buy. The domain, I like to buy is a generic one word domain but frustratingly the keyword is trademarked for some other different industry. While at the trademark website, I searched for “slot” keyword (because I also own SlotWebsite.com and GreatSlot.com domains ) and interestingly I found out that both “slot” and “slots” are trademarked for different industry. Hopefully those trademark owners would not abuse their positions to hijack the domain name. In my opinion, even if they make the case against the domain, they may not win it because their marks are not related to betting industry.

Heavyhands.com was sold at 15,250 dollars to end user?

The domain heavyhands.com was sold for $15,250 and I think it may have been sold to an end user. There are different products or services associated with the keyword “heavy hands“. Interestingly, “heavyhands” is trademarked since 1984 and the trademark is associated with “Dumbells and Weightgloves” and some other services.

The keyword “heavy hands” appeared around 82,000 times in the Google. It is searched around 2,400 times per month in the Google. It was certainly a nice domain sale given the fact that the keyword has been trademarked since 1980s.

Ebay Memorabilia, Celebrity Names Rush

With the recent deaths this week of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, eBay and domain forums have been crowded with domain name squatters trying to profit from them. 

Cyber Squatters are domain name speculators who register domain names and try to profit off a trademark or likeness of a company or person. This can include simply selling the domain name or having ads on a site using the domain name. Reselling to newbies often occurs withou the new domain names owners understanding the legal limitations of what those names can be used for.

A Free Public Trademark Search using a government run site USPTO.gov. Click Trademarks, Search TM database (#3), New User Form Search (Basic), type in the term and click Submit Query. Doing a search for Michael Jackson, there is a Live Trademark since 1993.

New gTLDs and TM Issues: Implementation

New gTLDs and Trademark Issues:ICANN is taking steps to assure domain owners and Internet professionals that Implementation Recommendation team is in work and on the job.

Regarding the new gtld’s and the openness changes, the Team has yet to release final recomendations. but ICANN states that after years of discussion and thought, generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) are being expanded. They will allow for more innovation, choice and change to a global Internet presently served by just 21 generic top-level domain names.

A draft Applicant Guidebook describing the detailed application process has been developed with opportunities for public comment. The draft Guidebook also describes processes for objections to applications. There has been detailed technical scrutiny to ensure the Internet’s stability and security. There is an evaluation fee to recover costs only.

ICANN is a not for profit corporation dedicated to coordinating the Internet’s addressing system. Promoting competition and choice is one of the principles upon which ICANN was founded. In a world with 1.5 billion Internet users (and growing), diversity, choice and innovation are key. The Internet has supported huge increases in choice, innovation and the competition of ideas and expanding new gTLDs is an opportunity for more.