[null, null, {"document_url": "http://namestarter.com/blog/blog/category/mobi/", "unformatted_src": "http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/dot-mobi.jpg", "src": "http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/dot-mobi.jpg", "formatted_filename": "dot mobi", "alt_text": "dotMobi"}, null, null, {"document_url": "http://namestarter.com/blog/blog/category/mobi/", "unformatted_src": "http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/dotmobi.jpg", "src": "http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/dotmobi.jpg", "formatted_filename": "dotmobi", "alt_text": "dotmobi", "rendered_width": 480, "rendered_height": 329}, null, {"document_url": "http://namestarter.com/blog/blog/category/mobi/", "unformatted_src": "http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/usps.jpg", "src": "http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/usps.jpg", "formatted_filename": "usps", "alt_text": "USPS"}, null]

Archive for the ‘mobi’ Category

French Company Wants to Cancel Adwords Trademark, Hit with UDRP

July 6, 2011adwords, Domaining, Domainnamewire, mobi, Policy & Law, udrpComments Off on French Company Wants to Cancel Adwords Trademark, Hit with UDRP

French company files to cancel one of Google’s trademarks, gets hit with UDRP over .mobi domain name. Google has filed a UDRP against the owner of a French trademark for “adwords” over his domain name ad-words.mobi.

The domain owner, Francotel, LLC, has a French trademark for “adwords”, but Google has some as well. Francotel has also filed for cancellation of Google’s European Union trademark for “Adwords”, although it appears the company has filed a newer application for the mark.

The domain name resolves to a page that states “Place your Ad with some Words here”.

The bottom of the page says “don’t be the devil”, which may be a jab at Google’s slogan “Do no evil”.

It will be interesting to see if the UDRP panel decides this case, or if they decide to punt to the courts.




How the iPad Will Further Fragment the Web — and Learning from .Mobi

March 16, 2010Domaining, Domainnamewire, ipad, mobi, UncategorizedComments Off on How the iPad Will Further Fragment the Web — and Learning from .Mobi

iPad-friendly sites are a reminder of mobile-friendly web sites.

In January I wrote about how the iPad could be bad for domainers because it will change the way some people navigate the web. Today news of a different sort regarding the iPad and web sites has surfaced: NPR and The Wall Street Journal will show different versions of their web sites to iPad users.

At issue here is the iPad’s lack of support for flash, which both NPR and WSJ apparently use heavily on their sites.

When mobile web browsing picked up, the web split in two as sites were made for mobile or desktop browsing. Hence the idea of .mobi, a top level domain name that would only contain web content optimized for small screens. Web enthusiasts screamed that the idea fragments the web, and instead the focus should be on creating web sites that work well on both small and large screens.

Many years later its apparent that .mobi wasn’t needed because of device and browser recognition. If I visit an optimized site with my phone, it will serve up a mobile version of the site. I don’t need .mobi.

That’s the approach NPR and WSJ are taking. Do we need a .ipad domain? Of course not. Web sites can just serve a different page to someone visiting from an iPad.

It’s still not ideal — web designers shouldn’t need to optimize for several devices. And ‘app’ on the iPad will be like creating new web site for a different platform. Yet the hindsight of what happened with .mobi and the mobile web helps us see the path forward.


 




.Mobi Domain Registration Base Down 10% Over Year Registered base of .mobi domains is sinking. 




U.S. Postal Service Delivers USPS.mobi Domain Name

September 15, 2009Domaining, Domainnamewire, mobi, Policy & Law, uspsComments Off on U.S. Postal Service Delivers USPS.mobi Domain Name

USPS wins domain dispute for mobile domain name. I wonder if the final decision was sent to the United States Postal Service via Fedex.

USPS has prevailed in a dispute over the domain name USPS.mobi, in a case heard by National Arbitration Forum. The decision is written in Chinese, but a crude Google translation tells the story.

According the the case files, the registrant of the domain name managed to get it in the sunrise period. USPS alleged that he provided false information about a non-existent Chinese USPS trademark in order to obtain the domain during the .mobi sunrise, a period in which intellectual property holders can stake claim to a domain. The complainant seems to deny that he knew he was doing this, and had only responded to a phone solicitation. (If anyone can read Chinese and confirm this, let me know.)

Now for the forty-four cent question: will USPS use the domain it just won?



