In a week where the top selling domain (soles.com) went for the relatively low amount of $50,000 there were only 13 domain names that made the five-figure mark. Overall in the week to 8 June, the week was quiet for Sedo who accounted for only nine of the top 20 sales while .COM domains made up ten of the top 20. There were six ccTLD sales including one .CM domain. For further information on Domain Name Journal’s list of top reported sales, see dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2011/20110615.htm .

Neustar have advised ICANN they will be increasing the wholesale price of .BIZ domains, the price they charge registrar’s, by $0.55 or approximately 7.5 per cent as of 1 February 2012. This means the price will increase from the current$7.30 to $7.85 per year and is in line with the registry agreement Neustar have with ICANN. Of course, registrants can avoid the fee increase by registering their .BIZ domain names before 1 February through America Registry here .

Facebook has filed a suit against 25 typosquatter who have registered domain names similar to facebook.com reports VentureBeat . According to the report, the domain names in question are either typos or closely related to facebook.com and are what Facebook calls example of trademark infringement. “(The) defendants’ schemes also diminish the goodwill associated with Facebook and its marks, injure Facebook’s reputation, breach enforceable agreements between Defendants and Facebook, interfere with Facebook’s business, and unjustly enrich Defendants,” Facebook states in the court document. “Facebook therefore seeks an order cancelling Defendants’ rights in their typosquatter domain names or transferring those typosquatter domain names to Facebook, awarding Facebook damages and providing other relief.” Of those accused of typosquatting most are companies, a few individuals, and some of the domain names in question are facebobk.com, facemook.com, wwwfacefook.com, ffacebook.com and faecbook.com.

Verisign reported financial results for the second quarter to end 30 June 2011 with reported revenue of $190 million for the quarter, up five per cent from the prior quarter and up 13 per cent from the same quarter in 2010. Verisign Registry Services ended the quarter with 110 million active domain names in the adjusted zone for .COM and .NET, representing an eight per cent increase year-over-year. In the second quarter of 2011, Verisign processed 8.1 million new domain name registrations, representing a two per cent increase year-over-year. Other highlights of the report relating to domain names included: On May 11, 2011, Verisign announced that it had entered into a Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release with the Coalition for ICANN Transparency, Inc. (CFIT), CFIT’s members and specified related parties that resolved the over five year long CFIT litigation On June 28, 2011, Verisign announced that ICANN and Verisign have renewed Verisign’s contract to serve as the authoritative registry operator for the .NET registry for another six years On 14 July, 2011, Verisign announced that as of 15 January, 2012, the registry fee for .COM domain names will increase from $7.34 to $7.85 and that the registry fee for .NET domain names will increase from $4.65 to $5.11, the maximum possible under the registry agreement with ICANN. The full Verisign news release with further details of the financial results is available here .

ICANN is today publishing a proposed version 3.0 of the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Implementation Guidelines [PDF, 196 KB] for public comment. The IDN Guidelines are a list of general standards that all top-level domain registries deploying IDNs are required to follow based on the Internationalized Domain Names for Applications (IDNA) protocol standard from the IETF. This draft was developed by the IDN Guidelines Revision Working Group (comprised of ccTLD and gTLD registry representatives with IDN experience supported by ICANN staff). The new draft modifies the current Version 2.2 to reflect the IDNABIS revision (”IDNA2008 protocol”) of the initial IDNA protocol (”IDNA2003″). ICANN previously published a discussion draft prior to the ICANN meeting in Cartagena, Colombia in November 2010 (see www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-4-15nov10-en.htm ). Section II: Background The current version of the IDN Guidelines is available at www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/implementation-guidelines.htm (version 2.2 published 26 April 2007). A redline of changes in version 3.0 against the version published November 2010 is also available at www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/idn-guidelines-discussion-draft-redline-25jul11-en.pdf [PDF, 348 KB]. Section III: Document and Resource Links Comments are welcomed from the community on version 3.0 and may be submitted to at idn-guidelines-v3-revision@icann.org by 26 August 2011 23:59 UTC. Comments may be viewed at forum.icann.org/lists/idn-guidelines-v3-revision . Section IV: Additional Information The Internationalized Domain Names for Applications (IDNA) protocol is the technical standard for the implementation of IDNs for TLD registries, registrars and software developers that make IDNs available for their customers. The IDNA protocol references and further detail about the 2008 revision can be found here: www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/rfcs.htm . Comment Period Deadlines Open Date: 27 July 2011 Close Date: 26 August 2011 Important Information Links Public Comment Box To Submit Your Comments (Forum) View Comments Submitted This ICANN announcement was sourced from: www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-27jul11-en.htm

GoGuides is offering a package of 222 of their premium domain names in one package in an auction on eBay that ends around 23:00 central European time on 19 July. GoGuides began accumulating this portfolio in 2003 that includes domains across a wide range of gTLDs and ccTLDs. There are also appraisals for 20 domain names conducted by Sedo (in 2010) and GoDaddy (in 2006). To check out the list of domain names available and for more information, see cgi.ebay.com/222-Domain-Names-1-Package-Aged-Brandable-Appraisals-/200629791259 . Currently there are only six bids with a top bid of $26.

The registry fee for .COM and .NET domain names will increase from $7.34 to $7.85 and $4.65 to $5.11 respectively on 15 January 2012 VeriSign, the registry for both TLDs, announced. The increases are a smidgen under the maximum possible under the registry agreement with ICANN – seven per cent for .COM and ten per cent for .NET. The last increase was on 1 July 2010 when the registry fee for .COM domains increased from $6.86 to $7.34 and for .NET domains increased from $4.23 to $4.65. In justifying the increases, VeriSign said in a statement that: “Continued strong global Internet usage growth, along with increasingly powerful distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks leveled against all parts of the Internet’s critical infrastructure, have dramatically increased the demands on Internet infrastructure providers such as Verisign. In the last five years, the volume of Domain Name System (DNS) queries on Verisign’s global Internet infrastructure has more than doubled, increasing to an average daily query load of 57 billion in the first quarter of 2011. Future growth is expected to occur at an even faster pace. Verisign’s infrastructure has maintained 100 percent operational security, accuracy and stability for more than a decade due to continued innovation and investment in the infrastructure.” To avoid the increases, registrants are able to register their .COM and .NET domains before 15 January. To register your .COM and .NET domain names, check out America Registry here .