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Nintendo loses appeal in wiiu.com dispute
Nintendo of America has lost an appeal in a domain dispute it filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization over the ownership of the wiiu.com domain name. Nintendo secured a series of Wii U-related domain names in 2011 – including wii-u.com and wii-u.net – but an unnamed registrant snapped up the coveted wiiu.com domain in 2004, before the original Wii console was announced. Nintendo filed a cybersquatting complaint in a bid for domain ownership in February, which the WIPO subsequently denied. Nintendo will now need to contact wiiu.com's domain owner directly in order to negotiate a purchase. Microsoft recently filed a similar domain dispute with the National Arbitration Forum in an attempt to claim ownership of the xboxone.com and xboxone.net domains.
Microsoft files to claim Xboxone.com, .net from UK resident
It's difficult to register a domain without it quickly becoming a matter of public record, which may be why Microsoft has waited until now to try and secure ownership of Xboxone.com and Xboxone.net, according to Fusible. The megalithic company has filed a dispute (case #1501205) with the National Arbitration Forum – the company that resolves reports of domain squatting and trademark infringement in URLs, in order to gain control of the two address that have, until now, been controlled by an unnamed resident of the United Kingdom. In order for Microsoft to win its dispute, it'll need to prove to the NAF that the domains are identical and/or confusingly similar to a trademark that Microsoft owns, that this random person in the UK has no rights to the Xbox One trademark and that the domains in question were registered in bad faith.
Microsoft files 'Glacier Blast' trademark
A trademark for "Glacier Blast" was recently filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office by Microsoft. While no other information about it exists, the trademark was filed as game software. Microsoft also registered the domain glacierblastgame.com in late March, according to WhoIs records. The URL currently points to a Bing search.Using our refined detective skills, we think it's possible that this piece of "game software" is a video game currently in development by Microsoft. With a name like "Glacier Blast," we'll be disappointed if the final product isn't an arctic naval combat game in which large icy masses shoot lasers at an enemy called "Global Warming."
EA registers 'Plants Vs Zombies Adventures' domains
EA recently registered domain names related to its undead botanical tower defense series with the name "Plants Vs. Zombies Adventures." Domain squatters lost out on registering PlantsVsZombiesAdventures.com, PlantsVsZombiesAdventure.com and pvZadVentures.com before EA got to it, as each URL was registered on March 6.As usual, domain names mean nothing without an actual game announcement to accompany them. Plants Vs. Zombies 2 was announced back in August 2012, with a late Spring 2013 release window. Whether the "2" is replaced with "Adventures" in the game's title remains to be seen.
Square Enix host registers Wolfenstein, Legacy of Kain domains
Two domain names were recently registered by CSC Corporate Domains, a URL registration service used by publishers such as Square Enix to mask their upcoming projects while avoiding dreaded URL squatters.So while we can't say with any certainty that Square Enix and ZeniMax ordered the domain registration, "wolfenstein-spiel.com" and "WarFornosGoth.com" now exist. The latter likely refers to the fictional land the Legacy of Kain series is set in, Nosgoth. The former is, well, you know.
Four new Skylanders domains: Kaos Alliance, Nano, Super, Swap Force
The Skylanders franchise has become a beast of its own, bringing Activision $500 million in US retail sales since its launch, and there's more still to come. At least, that's according to four domains registered by MarkMonitor's DNStination, all to do with the Skylanders brand. MarkMonitor handles Activision's other Skylanders domains.The new domain registrations, uncovered by Fusible, went live on January 30 and are SkylandersKaosAlliance.com, SkylandersNanoForce.com, SkylandersSuperForce.com and SkylandersSwapForce.com. We detect a hint of classic Power Rangers spin-off names within these domains, but no more information about them exists so far.Activision registered the Skylanders Giants domains at the beginning of 2012, and that timing seemed to work out pretty well.
Square Enix snaps up domains for 'Blood Masque,' remains mysterious
Square Enix has picked up two domains for a mysterious project called "Blood Masque," each of the .com and .net varieties, Fusible finds. There is no official word or hint as to what Blood Masque could be, though we have a suggestion, if Square Enix is open to it. The vampire route is fairly obvious, so we'd steer clear of that genre. What the industry really needs is a game based on classic literature, most notably Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death. Imagine an introspective, gruesome horror game where the protagonist must navigate rooms of different colors – and different Hells – with the goal of infecting snobbish partygoers with lethal disease. Now that sounds fun. Think it over, Square.
'Arkham Universe,' 14 more Batman domains registered
It looks like Warner Bros. isn't through with Arkham yet. Domain manager MarkMonitor, which handles Warner Bros. properties, has registered a slew of Arkham-related sites, including "Arkham Universe," "Batman Arkham Arises" and "Batman Arkham Legends."There are 15 domains in total, ranging from the standard fare listed above all the way to "DC Arkhamverse." There's no word if these relate to a film endeavor or a game, but considering the previous two Batman games from Warner Bros. were Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, they certainly fit the gaming pattern.Check out the complete list of domains below.
ICANN lists first custom TLDs up for consideration, starts with Chinese word for 'Catholic'
The bidding process for custom top-level domains led to many candidates, but there can only be one that ICANN considers first. Which one gets the honor? Thanks to a semi-random draw, it's .天主教, or "Catholic" in Chinese -- a domain registered by the Catholic church's Pontifical Council for Social Communication. The position could give the church one of the first active custom TLDs in 2013, ahead of Amazon, VeriSign and others that were among the frontrunners in a 1,930-domain pack. There's no guarantees that the church or any of the other early bidders will be accepted when there's substantial dispute over who, if anyone, should own many of the given domains. Knowing who goes through ICANN's scrutiny, due early next year, may still prepare us for a changed internet landscape.
Square Enix registers domains and trademarks for 'All the Bravest'
Square Enix registered trademarks and domain names named "All the Bravest" Thursday. According to WhoIs records, allthebravest.com and allthebravest.net belong to the game publisher now, while the trademark (number 011386349) was filed in Europe.A search for "All the Bravest" in the US patent and trademark records turns up nothing, and both registered URLs are empty. Our first thought is that this could infer a possible localization of Japanese 3DS RPG Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, but the only thing we can gather from this with any certainty is that Square Enix isn't interested in only "some of the bravest."
Department of Commerce renews VeriSign control of .com registry, demands price freeze
In many ways, VeriSign has been one of the internet's true arbiters. It's ICANN's official registry operator for .com domains, which lets it determine how (and how much) we pay to get a particularly coveted address. As we're learning, the US Department of Commerce is only comfortable with that state of affairs to a certain point. It just approved a deal renewal that will let VeriSign watch over .com between December 1st this year and November 30th, 2018, but it's requiring that the company drop a previous right to hike registration prices as many as four times, at up to 7 percent, over the length of the term. The current $7.85 price will last unless VeriSign either faces exceptional circumstances or can prove that the market is healthy enough to lift the ceiling. We're sure the business isn't happy when the DOC move dictates how much money it can make, but compulsive domain hunters will enjoy the extra dollars in their pockets.
League of Legends developer wins another porn domain case
Riot Games has finished up another legal dispute regarding a website domain name related to its popular League of Legends title. LeagueofLegends.co was previously awarded to the company by the World Intellectual Property Organization from the clutches of a domain squatter, and now LeagueofLegendsPorn.com has been reclaimed by Riot for its own use. The case actually closed in late September, but the ruling came online earlier this week.Those looking for some racy pics of Miss Fortune or Akali getting it on, however, will be disappointed: The site never actually hosted any adult material, and now that Riot owns it, probably never will. But Riot is slowly securing its various domain name holdings online, making it easier for the company to connect players up to big company events like the recent World Championships in LA.
Nominet proposes more secure .UK domain for British websites
Nominet is considering a .uk internet domain for users who can't bear to type the extra three characters necessary for .co.uk. The body is lobbying for the new domain in time for ICANN's next TLD expansion, which includes new entries like .shop, .play and .home. Nominet has promised tough entry requirements for the system, with only businesses (or persons) that can prove a UK presence being eligible to register. It'll also be around four times more expensive, with the extra charges going to pay for daily malware scanning to prevent domain spoofing and a donation to a trust to improve web security. If you're an interested party, you can offer your tuppence-worth at the organization's official public consultation which runs until January 7th 2013.
Go Daddy: yesterday's outage resolved, 'was not a hack'
According to domain registrar Go Daddy, things are back to normal after yesterday's massive outage. The company noted that service outages started at around 1PM ET, with service being "fully restored" by 7PM. Contrary to claims of an attack from hackers, the company's interim CEO Scott Wagner insists that the outage "was not a 'hack' and it was not a denial of service attack (DDoS)." Instead, Go Daddy is chalking the problem up to "a series of internal network events that corrupted router data tables," adding that the company has taken steps to avoid a repeat of the problem. According to Wagner, data was never at risk during yesterday's issue.
GoDaddy acknowledges issues with sites, is 'working on it' (Update: DNS switched to VeriSign, 'most' customers back online)
GoDaddy looks to be having a rough one today. Users are complaining of issues with sites and email addresses tied to the popular and oft-controversial domain registrar. For the moment, GoDaddy's own site appears to be working just fine, though the company has acknowledge its woes via Twitter, noting, "we're aware of the trouble people are having with our site. We're working on it." According to TechCrunch, the outage has affected "millions of sites." Update: The company still hasn't commented on the source of the outage, but a tweet indicates "most customer hosted sites back online...no customer data compromised" Meanwhile, Wired notes GoDaddy has switched from self hosting DNS servers to those of its competitor, VeriSign. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Riot games reclaims LeagueOfLegends.co domain from adult site
Riot Games has secured the LeagueOfLegends.co (no "m") website after filing a complaint earlier this year, saying that a domain squatter had grabbed the name and redirected it to a porn site. The case on the World Intellectual Property Organization website has been terminated, and the domain is currently listed as owned by Riot Games, the company behind the popular MOBA game of the same name.Those looking for illicit material on a League of Legends-related website will presumably have to go elsewhere. Like, for example, LeagueOfLegendsPorn.com, which is another (currently empty) domain that Riot has another standing complaint against. Because Riot does own the "League of Legends" trademark, that case will probably see a similar result soon. And now that Riot has secured the URLs we know about, are they going to tell us what Supremacy is anytime soon?
Microsoft obtains 'Xbox 8' domain names
Through the National Arbitration Forum, Microsoft has won the rights to a series of Xbox-related domain names formerly owned by Cheng Juan of China. The disputed domains include things like xboxcompanion.com, xboxlivetv.com, xboxphone.com, and xboxtablet.com, but also xbox8.org and xbox8.us.Microsoft was likely most interested in regaining these just to protect its own IPs – and the immediate use of things like xboxlivetv.com and xboxphone.com seem apparent.It's tempting to suspect Microsoft is eyeing "Xbox 8" as the next console name due to the two domains that reference it; however, Microsoft already began integrating Xbox Live, and the "Xbox" name, into all its consumer products, including Windows 8. Also, it would be really weird if a domain squatter guessed the name.
Riot Games registers URL for 'Supremacy'
League of Legends developer Riot Games was caught with its hands in the domain name cookie jar this week when it registered the URL supremacy.com, WhoIs records revealed. Companies will often use means of privately registering domain names related to as-yet-announced projects, making confirmation of upcoming projects difficult. So while URLs such as leagueoflegendssupremacy.com and its variations are listed as owned by private domain companies, supremacy.com is now registered to Riot Games. Riot Games recently dealt with security breaches on EU League of Legends accounts, though billing information on accounts went untouched.
ICANN shows the full generic TLD application list, Google's bidding splurge
ICANN told us that June 13th was the golden day that we'd get to see all of the initial applications for generic top-level domains (gTLDs), and the full list has surfaced on cue. The early roster shows a lot of competition for certain domains -- we're seeing a baker's dozen in companies trying for .app alone. Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and other companies are understandably trying to protect their brand names, but we're just now seeing the full extent of Google's gTLD madness: we're counting 101 instances in which the search firm has tentatively pulled the $185,000 trigger. ICANN still has to settle on which bidders get the domains they want, though, and there's no certainty that Google will fulfill its dreams. When even the cherished .lol domain has a challenger, you know the competition is getting fierce.
Microsoft registers series of Smart Glass domains
Microsoft was seen running away from the Internet recently with several domain names in hand, all pointing to the company's as-yet-announced AirPlay-style app, Smart Glass. The app, for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices, is said to enable push-style media functionality with the Xbox 360.Of the domains in question, Microsoft registered a series of "Microsoft smart glass" and "Xbox smart glass" addresses. Well, except for xboxsmartglass.com, which was snatched away by someone with faster fingers in China. That rascal! Here's hoping that the company unveils Smart Glass and its hot .info web addresses in the coming days.
