Startup Services Provider Enqos is Impressive Encore for Former Marchex Domain Manager Riccardo Soff

By Ron Jackson

I was surprised by how many domain industry veterans I ran into at this year's NamesCon conference in Las Vegas who had launched new companies of their own or were continuing to grow enterprises that they had started up after initially working for others or as independent domain investors. One of them was Riccardo Soff who was the Domain Manager at Marchex when I first met him. After earning at MBA at Oklahoma City University in 2006 Riccardo began his business career with Amazon, then joined giant domain portfolio holder Marchex in 2008 and remained with them for nearly five years.

At NamesCon I learned that Riccardo had co-founded Enqos, a fast rising Seattle-based tech company, with his brother, Sherwyn. Enqos provides Engineering, Marketing and Support services to startup companies and now a roster of clients that includes companies from the Fortune 500 as well as the domain and other industries.   
Full Story Here 

Riccardo Soff

An Inside Look at Sedo's Strategy for Promoting and Marketing New gTLDs and Accelerating Aftermarket Sales

By Ron Jackson

Ever since new gTLDs began rolling out in January 2014, we've heard criticism that they have not been marketed vigorously enough - leaving many in the general public unaware of their existence. Some have pointed the finger at ICANN and industry trade groups, some at new registry operators and some at registrars and even the registrants who aren’t developing the names they register or promoting the ones they have built out.  

Part of the problem may just be perception. Unlike, say, parking companies who market directly to domain investors, the marketing that is being done on behalf of new gTLDs has largely been aimed outward, making those efforts less visible to a lot of us than ones focused inward on the domain community. You need look no further than industry giant Sedo to see what I mean. Known for a decade and a half for their aftermarket and monetization platforms, Sedo has also been at the forefront of new gTLD marketing efforts. We talked with their Chief Marketing Officer, Christian Voss, about why they have taken that effort on their shoulders and their strategy for boosting new gTLD awareness.     Full Story Here 

Sedo CEO Tobias Flaitz & 
CMO Christian Voss (right)

The Silver Screen Beckons Domain Attorney Brett Lewis Who Wrote & Co-Produced New Movie "C STREET"

By Ron Jackson

For over a decade now Brett Lewis has been one of the top attorneys in the domain industry. What many may not have known is that Brett is equally talented in other fields.  In particular acting and film making have long been part of Lewis's life. He acted  throughout grade school, high school and college,  often in comedic roles. At New York's Hamilton College he acted alongside Sarah Rafferty, the star of hit USA Network TV series Suits.

After college Lewis made the painful choice to forego acting and follow a career path in law (he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brooklyn Law School). Still, his passion for creative expression never waned. He started writing for fun in 2006, then wrote and produced a short comedy film, High Maintenance, in 2009.  He also wrote and produced a series of Web clips for the political web site Omiro.com in 2012. Now Lewis has unveiled his biggest project to date - a new feature length movie he wrote and co-produced. The timely political comedy C STREET will be available on iTunes US and iTunes Canada starting August 19. Lewis traveled a long and winding road to get here and have the story of how he got it done.   Full Story Here 

Brett Lewis

By Ron Jackson

Last summer we told you about a funding campaign that the unique geodomain development platform CitiesPlanet was undertaking in an effort to establish the company as the global standard for .com city geodomain owners seeking to maximize the value of their assets. We can now tell you that company founder Fred Mercaldo (who operates a successful city domain of his own at Scottsdale.com) has not only succeeded in getting the investment he was seeking - a new opportunity opened that produced far more financial support than he was looking for! Better yet he attracted a team of world class partners to help the company's more than 100 "City.com" clients reach their full potential.

Mercaldo, who was profiled in the March 2013 DN Journal Cover Story, told us, "CitiesPlanet has finalized negotiations with Tom Henderson and his San Francisco Regional Center group, resulting in a new corporation being formed: City Brand Media, LLC. I am ecstatic to finally have the partnership in place that will really be a game changer in the City.com space. Tom and his group have both the vision and the resources to properly support our efforts to develop, manage and increase the value of each City.com property in our portfolio.”

Full Story Here 

By Corinne Forti

The 2014 DomainFest conference wrapped up its three-day run at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California April 2, 2014. This year's event marked a return to Tinseltown where it ran from 2007-2009 before moving out to the beach for a four-year run in Santa Monica. In another move aimed at keeping things fresh, DomainFest also hopped from its usual mid-winter spot on the calendar to its first foray in spring.

The agenda also had a different look with new gTLDs getting a bigger place in the spotlight now that they have begun arriving en masse. One thing remained the same though - the great networking opportunities that attendees consistently name as the most important reason they go to industry conferences. If something unique is thrown into the social mix, like this year's private concert by Stone Temple Pilots, so much the better! 

Full Story Here 

Someone Filed a UDRP Against Me - Now What?

Editor's Note: If you find yourself asking the question in our headline, this guest article by veteran Internet legal counsel Brett Lewis of Lewis & Lin LLC is for you! 

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

Inside Sedo: Co-Founder & Former CEO Tim Schumacher Leaves With a Fascinating Look Back at the Decade He Spent Running the Show