January 2007                 DNJournal.com               The Domain Industry News Magazine

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Welcome to DN Journal Newsletter #11! This publication is sent only to subscribers who registered at DNJournal.com to receive our free monthly newsletter and email notifications when new articles are posted on our site. You may unsubscribe at any time by sending a removal request to [email protected].


Hiring of New Executive Director Moves Internet Commerce Association A Major Step Closer to Giving Domain Registrants a Real Voice In Their Future

2006 was a great year for this industry with new investors driving domain values to new highs. However, the past year was also one in which the rights and assets of domain owners were threatened as never before. Despite widespread opposition from the Internet community, ICANN handed out sweetheart deals to several monopoly registries at a cost that will be borne entirely by domain registrants around the world.

Domain owners were easy to victimize because they have no voice in the very system their registration money makes possible! Yes, they are supposed to have a voice within ICANN, but as we saw in 2006, the constituencies inside the domain name governing body had their objections to the new contracts ignored along with those of hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business people who also registered vehement opposition. 

The good news for 2007 is that things are about to change. Recognizing that the time has come to put up a fight or lose the millions of dollars and man hours they have invested in the Internet, some of the best-known domain owners and companies have banded together to start a new non-profit organization called the Internet Commerce Association
With initial funding from companies like iREIT, Name Administration, Oversee.net (the owners of DomainSponsor.com), Sedo and Straat Investments among others and your support in 2007, the ICA will have the wherewithal to finally give domain registrants and Internet entrepreneurs a voice in their own futures.

The ICA has already hired a veteran legal counsel and lobbyist, Phil Corwin, who is based in Washington, D.C. where he is in a position to make things happen. The entities that want to take away what you have earned over the past decade or more already have their own lobbyists and top notch attorneys. Now domain owners will have a chance to defend themselves with similar firepower.

ICA Legal Counsel Phil Corwin

Jude Augusta
Executive Director
Internet Commerce Association

The ICA took another major step forward this week when they hired a full-time Executive Director, well-respected domain industry veteran Jude Augusta. Augusta has been serving as the Director of Partner Development at Sedo.com and will be transitioning between that role and his new position over the next month.

Augusta also serves as an adjunct professor at Merrimack, Nichols and Endicott Colleges in New England where he teaches Business Law, E-Commerce, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Sales, Economics and general business classes. The former Senior Manager of Corporate Development at Lycos.com has a BA from Salem State College, an MBA from Nichols College and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Seton Hall University School of Law. Augusta has also been a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association since 1997.

Now that the Executive Director's position has been filled, the ICA will begin formulating plans to roll out general membership opportunities for all interested domain owners. We'll let you know the details about this as soon as they are released in the weeks ahead.

As you can see, in recruiting people of this caliber, the ICA's Board of Directors is serious about bringing together the best and brightest people in the industry to give domain registrants an organization that will protect their interests against a triple threat that Name Administration's Frank Schilling described as "unscrupulous registrars, registries intent on pricing registrants out of the renewals on their hard won intellectual property and other covetous latecomers who unfairly try to unseat registrants from their generic names."   

(Disclosure: DN Journal Editor/Publisher Ron Jackson serves on the Internet Commerce Association's Board of Directors. This is an unpaid position with a non-profit organization accepted solely because DN Journal supports the mission being undertaken by this industry trade association. Editorial material written about the ICA in DN Journal will continue to be independent and unsanctioned by that organization and does not necessarily reflect the views of other ICA members or the organization's official position on policy matters.)

DOMAINfest Global Update: Michael Arrington and Mike Zapolin Set to Deliver Keynote Speeches

In last month's newsletter we brought you a preview of the DOMAINfest Global conference coming up January 31 - Feb. 3 at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, California. Quite a lot has happened since then as conference organizers have filled out the show agenda and roster of speakers. Just today (Jan. 18) it was announced that Michael Arrington, editor and founder of the definitive web 2.0 blog, TechCrunch, will be one of the headliners from an elite list of industry experts who will speak at this first DOMAINfest Global event.  

Prior to founding TechCrunch, Arrington's helped found Pool.com and later consulted for domain industry giants like VeriSign and SnapNames.   

Michael Arrington
Editor/Founder
TechCrunch.com

Mike Zapolin
Chief Visionary Officer
InternetRealEstate.com


Mike “Zappy” Zapolin of the Internet Real Estate Group will lead off the first day of the conference with a morning keynote targeted at visionary brand development.  His experience as a leader in development of internet brands like Beer.com, Diamond.com, Computer.com and Debt.com allows him to provide a unique understanding of the domain industry’s potential. As Chief Visionary Officer of InternetRealEstate.com, Zappy has helped to acquire and develop even more brands, including Software.com and Chocolate.com

After Zappy’s keynote and the morning session, show organizers said "you can expect to learn about the latest innovations in web technology today, in the context of the domain industry past, present, and future at Michael Arrington’s lunchtime keynote. He will remind us how to think creatively, with a session starting with his history in the domain aftermarket. Arrington’s domain experience is bolstered by his daily interactions with current internet hits and up-and-comers in the technology world."

As a bonus to DOMAINfest attendees, Arrington we be participating in the DOMAINfest Fastpitch, a series of six 15-minute meetings, where you get to pitch your idea to this maker of internet magic. If you think you have an idea worthy of pitching to a man who knows what succeeds, email [email protected]. The DOMAINfest team will select the finalists and notify them by email.

DN Journal will be at DOMAINfest Global to bring you full coverage of this exciting new event.

Moniker.com Takes Their Live Auction Format to INTERNEXT and Sells $2 Million Worth of Domain Names in One Day

After pioneering live domain auctions at the last three T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences, Moniker.com took their show to Las Vegas this week and conducted the first live adult domain auction at the INTERNEXT Expo on Wednesday, Jan. 17. 

Several hundred webmasters and domain investors crowded into the ballroom at the Mandalay Bay Resort and when the smoke cleared 88 domains had been sold for a total of $2 million! SheMale.com was the top seller at $520,000 and three other domains cracked the six-figure barrier including BDSM.com at $295,000 and a nice mainstream generic, Opportunity.com at $150,000. Meanwhile a silent auction that launched at the event will continue through January 24

Moniker will be staging another major live auction at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West conference coming up at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas March 5-8. At the last T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference in Hollywood, Florida in October, Moniker piled up a record $5.3 million in domain sales.

Auctioneer Joel Langbaum
conducted the Moniker Live Auction 
at INTERNEXT in Las Vegas this week

We'll be in Las Vegas too so that we can bring you full coverage of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West and what could well turn out to be the biggest live auction of all time.


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Thanks you for requesting our newsletter, reading and continuing to visit us at DNJournal.com. Your support is truly appreciated!

Sincerely,
Ron Jackson
Editor/Publisher
DNJournal.com

 
The DN Journal Newsletter is produced by DN Journal - The Domain Industry News Magazine located at www.DNJournal.com. Contents may not be reproduced or redistributed without expressed written consent from Internet Edge, Inc. (Copyright 2007)
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