A domain name registered in September of 1988 – a year before many domainers weren’t even born – was just sold on NameJet.
The 24 year old domain, Imagen.com, was sold for $7,855 after its former owners, Mexican corporation Imagen Radio, apparently failed to renew the domain.
Imagen.com was forwarding to Imagen.com.mx for several years.
Somehow, its administrator failed to renew it and after a period of 35 days, the domain was eventually auctioned by Register.com on NameJet.
The starting price was $1,200 dollars; a common practice these days for domains that are registered at Register.com.
Whoever spent this much money on it, beware: there are several registered trademarks for “imagen” that could be used in an attempt to swoop the domain via a UDRP.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the auction’s winner, “aaaaaaaaa“, will be completing the transaction, and most importantly whether Imagen Radio will attempt to recover the domain name.
Imagen means “image” in spanish. Isn’t that a generic word?
eh – It’s also a trademark, just like apple is one.
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Very true, Lucius, but if the winner uses the name in the generic sense (without infringing on the TM), then the winner should be fine.
If I use “apple. whatever” as, well, a site for selling apples (the fruit, that is), then I’m not infringing on the TM.
So let’s hope that the winner doesn’t do anything stupid with the domain and sticks with using it for images.
😉
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Ms Domainer – That argument holds water when the ownership of the generic predates that of the trademark. Once the domain changes hands, WIPO decisions most often treat the change as a new registration; that’s when the tm holder has a strong case. Not to mention that one of the tm holders actually was the owner of the domain and its lapse was an obvious accident.
UDRP waiting to happen. Parked and shows ads related to TM.