I just got in on the early bird registration for DOMAINfest, a conference for the domain name industry. It will be January 21-23 in Hollywood, CA. Many companies, consultants and individuals (commonly referred to as “domainers”) will be there.

As you may have read from my past posts on domain names, this is an area I have great interest in and spend much time working with clients in selecting and managing their domain names. I hope from the tracks and presentations to gain a greater insight into the industry, and meet many of the people in person who write the blogs I read on a regular basis.

And did I say it is in January in southern California? Not that it will be much different in temperature from Chicago!

Please let me know if you or anyone you know are going to DOMAINfest. Early bird registration ends at the end of the week.

Business • Domain Names • (0) Comments • Permalink

If you haven’t heard, we have had some rain here in the US Midwest. As well as some flooding, downed power lines and everything that goes with it. And as wet as the last few weeks have been, there is more to come.

Woven into just about news account of the storms are interviews with people who are almost always surprised at the high water levels and damage, many saying they have never seen anything like it in their life. Fortunately these people and everybody else has lived through this as the loss of life has been minimal to none. Going forward, hopefully these experiences will help us prepare for similar future events.

In addition to reviewing my disaster recovery plan, a couple of new thoughts came to mind as a result of the storm that I hadn’t considered before:

Infrastructure – Part of I-94 north of Chicago (known locally as the Edens Expressway) was closed due to flooding caused by a power outage at a pumping station alongside the highway. Outdoor highways have pumping stations?

Transportation – Commuter trains were stopped due to debris and power lines on the train tracks. Other trains had to go extremely slow due to crossing gates being blown off by high winds. Whenever storms come, I have always thought trains were the safest and most reliable way to go.

Communications – Last night I was to attend the monthly meeting of Chicago networking group Circle of Progress. I did not go due to the weather, and I was going to help the organizer as he was dealing with weather issues at home. Ideally canceling the meeting would be the way to go, but the meeting is managed using Meetup.com, and nowhere in a Meetup user’s account is a field to store a phone number or emergency/last minute contact method.

Much of the things in our lives are defined as a reaction to something, whether they are laws or designs. Now I have a few more things to think about and plan for.

Business • Diversions • (1) Comments • Permalink

Congratulations to my friends at The UPS Store at 230 S. Clark Street in Chicago’s Loop on their first anniversary of business today. Where many may think a first anniversary for a business isn’t something to celebrate, I believe every year of a business should be recognized.

The UPS Store franchises provide many services, namely mailbox and shipping services, as well as printing and copying. I started working with them in the fall of last year shortly after they opened, after my frustrations with the lack of service from the US Postal Service, including blatant damage to my mail – I guess “do not bend or fold” doesn’t mean what it used to, but I digress.

Shortly afterwards I moved the mailing address of Dunkirk Systems to The UPS Store where it is today. The staff has gone out of their way to help me, from calling me when certain mail and packages arrive to advice on shipping to actual shipping services. I feel they are looking out for my best interest, and there’s nothing more an entrepreneur can ask for!

If you are in downtown Chicago today, stop by to wish them well and tell them I sent you.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to find out what people are saying about you right now? Or your business or competitors? Using Serph along with other services like Google Alerts can help you keep track of who is saying what and where.

I was recently clued into Serph by Justin at Menuism. You can create a free account to manage your searches, or simply enter a search query and see what is being mentioned about that search phrase on blogs and social bookmark sites. You can also get an RSS feed of that search phrase, and Serph will deliver any new entries to your feed reader as they are found.

Like any of these services, they won’t find everything about every phrase. If you are a new business or new to publishing online, you may not get results right away. As I have been publishing The Hot Iron and promoting Dunkirk Systems for a while, I get frequent hits of their mentions in blogs and on other Web sites.

This post alone should send me alerts, as well as to Justin.

Business • Technology • (1) Comments • Permalink

A new law signed on August 1 in New York State will surely lead to much confusion, and much profiting by the attorneys who have to spend their clients’ money to understand and see if this law holds up.

Note that I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on YouTube. Please read the text of the law on the State Of New York’s Web site and search on bill S3814-B. More information is available from the Web site of New York State Senator Betty Little who sponsored the legislation, and the news report the bill is now law.

As I have talked about before, there is a process for registering and disputing the ownership of domain names. There is cybersquatting, where a person registers a domain name of a person, business or entity with the intent to profit from it. Then there are people who buy domain names comprised of generic terms that are descriptive of a product or service, and could apply to an entire industry segment. As a domain name has value and if a registrant decides to sell it, who is to say they cannot?

The New York law appears to offer an avenue around the ICANN process for disputing domain name ownership. This also imposes cash penalties of $1,000.00 a day! But where the law is confusing is in its opening language:

“Relates to cyber piracy protections and the unlawful registration of domain names; prohibits the registration of a domain name that consists of the name of another living person, or a name substantially and confusingly similar thereto, without that person's consent, with the specific intent to profit from such name by selling the domain name for financial gain to that person or any third party; provides for injunctive relief and other civil remedies.”

What defines intent to profit? What if I hold a domain name and do not sell it, or develop a Web site around it or simply park it – who is to determine intent?

Here’s a potential example – say I buy every possible domain name around my name, including misspellings. I may decide to sell some of them, perhaps some of the less desirable top-level domains like .ws. If there is another person with the same name as myself, can they then sue me under this law? And can they sue for the .com name and not the .ws I want to sell? Yes, there are other people out there named Mike Maddaloni, and I am sure Betty Little as well.

It is also murky as to jurisdiction of this law. What if the registrant and domain name registrar are not based in New York? Needless to say, I have warned my clients and colleagues in New York State about the potential issues with this law.

Again, I am not a lawyer, and with all legal matters you should consult one. If you don’t have one – get one. Especially if you are worried about New Yorkers suing you within a few months.

Business • Domain Names • (1) Comments • Permalink