Today in The Lowdown: As we head into the long Memorial Day holiday weekend in the U.S., we have news and information for you from several fronts today. The people & companies in the Lowdown include Bill Sweetman, David Castello & Bree, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas, Hilco IP Auctions, Afternic & Directi.

Rook's Rise: How a 10-Year Journey Helped 2-Year-Old Rook Media Become a Domain Monetization Darling

Every now and then someone seems to come out of nowhere and capture people's attention - the proverbial overnight sensation. It happens in the domain business too - most recently with a new wave of domain monetization companies -  most of which have been launched by people who are domain owners themselves.

One thing our field's "overnight sensations" have in common with many you've seen in the entertainment world is that it took years of experience and hard lessons learned to set the stage for their big breakthrough. The team behind Rook Media is a perfect example of that - the name is new but the players are battle tested veterans including six founders and a star free agent who have a combined 55 years of experience gained through time spent at four of the industry's best known monetization services (services they now compete head to head with). In our new Cover Story we will tell you who they are and how they did it.      Full Story Here

By Brett Lewis, Lewis & Lin LLC

Being on the receiving end of a UDRP Complaint can be unnerving and worrisome for some clients, while others receive it as a declaration of war.  Many factors will influence whether a domain name registrant chooses to fight back and file a response, including the value of the domain name, the registrant’s ability to fund a defense, and the odds of successfully defending the domain name.

Although the odds are generally stacked against registrants statistically, statistics can be misleading. Many times respondents should expect to lose, because they are engaged in conduct that runs afoul of the dictates of the UDRP and governing law. However, the odds for respondents in contested proceedings are far better – perhaps in part because the Respondents are represented by counsel, and in part because the domain names in question are worth defending.  Click here for Full Story 

Cyber law image from Bigstock

By Ron Jackson

Within the next year or two hundreds of new domain extensions are expected to go live as part of ICANN's new gTLD program. While a few new gTLDs have been launched over the past decade, the Internet has never seen a mass release of hundreds of new extensions at once. That is going to create a significant challenge for operators of new gTLD registries - how are they going to break through the clutter and achieve the public awareness they will need to sell enough domain registrations to become a going concern (and recoup the hundreds of thousands of dollars it will cost to launch each new gTLD)?

It will take a lot of legwork to get over that hurdle - something that one prescient applicant who hopes to administer the .green registry - Founder & CEO Annalisa Roger and her team at the DotGreen Community Inc. has always understood. That's why they have already been spreading the .green gospel and building public awareness for the extension for over five years now! Even so, with three other applicants also chasing .green, the race is still far from over, but what DotGreen Community has done to date serves as a textbook example of how to build public recognition and support for a new gTLD to give it the best possible chance for success.  
Click here for Full Story 

Annalisa Roger
Founder & CEO
DotGreen Community Inc.