GreatDomains Q4 2008 Auctions set Record Sales

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., – Sedo, the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names, today announced record sales for its signature GreatDomains auctions held in November and December. The company surpassed the $600,000 mark in sales and sold more than 90 domains, including quirky names such as Crab.com for $92,000, Hole.com for $35,000 and Hottube.com for $30,000.

EuroDNS and new Internet extensions – Your Brand is Your Domain

Luxembourg, 22nd
December – EuroDNS,
in cooperation with Deloitte/Laga and eBrand Services, has just launched the
“dotBrand” project, which allows companies and brand holders to take advantage
ICANN process to turn their brands into their very own Internet Top Level
Domain.

US Govt Advises ICANN Not to Risk DNS "Security and Stability" in gTLD Expansion

The United States Department of Commerce has advised ICANN not to jeopardise the security and stability of the DNS if it goes ahead with its plan to introduce new gTLDs.

Public Interest Registry Opens Call for Nominations for its Advisory Council

[news release] .ORG, The Public Interest Registry, the premier domain where people
turn to find credible information, get involved, fund causes and
support advocacy, announces it is seeking Internet leaders to fill
four (4) open seats on the .ORG Advisory Council.

Nominet Renewals Research Survey

[news release] Nominet is currently sending out a survey request to find out why people renew or do not renew .uk domain names.

This type of research is part of their ongoing renewals activity with
registrants and is essential to ensure that we understand what
customers want from the .uk domain name system. The research will also
help both Nominet and their registrars to provide the highest levels of
service to customers.

There’s More .Me To Go Around At Second Public Auction

[news release] The .ME Registry (http://www.domain.me/) announced today five highly coveted .ME domains will go up for LIVE auction at DOMAINfest Global ‘09 in

Hollywood, CA. DOMAINfest Global ‘09 (http://www.domainfest.com/) is set to take place Jan. 27-30, 2009 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

Image of fi-domain name surveyed

[news release] FICORA
has surveyed the interestness of private persons towards the fi-domain
name and what their image of the fi-domain name is. The survey was
implemented by an e-mail questionnaire sent to current customers and a
questionnaire intended to potential customers on two websites
(mtv3.fi/saa (http://www.mtv3.fi/saa/) and suomi24.fi (http://suomi24.fi/)).

ICANN – Second Consultation on Registry/Registrar Report this Friday

Responding to community requests for additional dialogue about the requirements for the separation of gTLD registries and registrars, ICANN posted a 9 December announcement about two open consultations on the CRA International report titled, Revisiting Vertical Separation of Registries and Registrars [PDF, 493K]. The first consultation occurred in Washington, DC on 11 December 2008, and the MP3 recording of that can be found here (http://forum.icann.org/lists/crai-report/msg00018.html) .

ICANN – Revisions in Proposed Changes to Registrar Accreditation Agreement

ICANN today posted a revised set of proposed amendments to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement. The amendments are intended to provide additional protections for registrants and improved enforcement tools. These most recent changes include two additional amendments and are a result of public comments received and subsequent community dialogue.

ICANN Advisory: Add Grace Period Limits Policy

ICANN is today announcing the implementation plan for the new Add Grace Period (AGP) Limits Policy adopted by the ICANN Board on 26 June 2008. A grace period is a specified number of calendar days following a gTLD registry operation in which the operation may be reversed and a credit may be issued to a Registrar. AGP is typically the five-day period following the initial registration of a domain name. Currently, when a domain name is registered through a registrar, that registrar may delete the domain name at any time during the first five calendar days of the registration (the AGP) and receive a full credit for the registration fee from the registry operator. AGP appears as a contractual term in some, but not all gTLD registry agreements.