Author name: fairwindsp

Josh Bourne ⬥ 5 March Last time I was in Switzerland was in October, and now business brings me back to the country right in time for Basel’s Fasnacht carnival. The carnival, which starts on the Monday after Ash Wednesday (at 4:00am!) and lasts for three days, is quite a sight: Participants wear masks and […]

Josh Bourne ⬥ 23 February WIPO recently published a valuation method document written by Kelvin King, founding partner of Valuation consulting, which states, “the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and intangible assets in business is insufficiently understood.” Domain names are not trademarks, but they are among those misunderstood, intangible assets that few people know

Phil Lodico ⬥ 27 February Since ICANN decided to proceed with the vast expansion of the domain name space, Internet users and those in the domain industry have been debating, speculating about policies and making predictions about what the Internet may look like in the years to come. Many of us are concerned about the

Josh Bourne ⬥ 19 February ICANN has opened up a public comment period for NeuStar’s request for a phased allocation process of single and two-character domains in dot-BIZ. Why? Really, who concerns themselves with dot-BIZ sites? They’re simply not used. NeuStar, where is the demand for this?  Could it be nothing more than the “restocking”

Josh Bourne ⬥ 9 February I’ve been asked several times about Paul Stahura’s blog post in CircleID. Long story short, Paul Stahura of Demand Media claims his analysis proves that “there is no economic incentive for an applicant to obtain a TLD for the sole purpose of making money from defensive trademark registrations.” This reads

Josh Bourne ⬥ 23 January According to the World Bank’s 2007 report, the top-ten world GDP rankings (in millions of dollars) are as follows. Note that I have put the extension most associated with the country alongside its GDP: 1 – United States: 13,811,200 (.COM*) 2 – Japan: 4,376,705 (.JP) 3 – Germany: 3,297,233 (.DE)

Josh Bourne ⬥ 16 January In the domain name space, the rules coming out of ICANN are being set by a few constituencies at the expense of all online users. There is a perception that ICANN sets policies democratically and, to an extent, they do—ICANN’s constituencies often heavily impact policy. However, the kingdom of ICANN

Josh Bourne ⬥ 10 January iA little-known wave of massive-scale online infringement called affiliate fraud is gathering steam on the Internet. Affiliate fraud earns cybersquatters 50-100 times the fee per action of pay-per-click (PPC) sites and targets brand owners–all undetected. Some brands offer affiliate programs, which allow Web site owners to post links and banners

Josh Bourne ⬥ 31 December Bloomberg News recently reported that Verizon won $33.2 million in a lawsuit against OnlineNIC, an Internet services company, that it claimed had registered hundreds of domain names with Verizon trademarks. Evidently, Verizon’s brands weren’t the only ones targeted. Nearly a million cybersquatted domains were identified, and they included many of

Josh Bourne ⬥ 23 December I recently received an email from the comScore mailing list that was penned to explain the “right measures of advertising effectiveness.” According to the email, the value of ad placement should be measured by the views it garners, not just the clicks; after all, the fact that an Internet user

FairWinds Partners ⬥ 19 December This past Monday wrapped up the first comment period on one of the major domain policy decisions of 2008- the potential launch of an unlimited number of TLDs and its process as outlined by the Draft Applicant Guidebook. FairWinds posted its comments on the Guidebook, and hopes that ICANN will

Liz Sweezey ⬥ 7 December I don’t know if any of you in the US have seen the infomercial on TV for Snuggies—“the blanket with sleeves!”—but it’s a pretty entertaining video that features some great marketing gems: “Blankets are OK but they can slip and slide, plus your hands are trapped inside.” Infomercials have a