Former Flippa phenom, Ali Zandi, started his own domain company last month, choosing the name ‘Go Time Ventures.‘
Not a bad name, and we’re fond of brandables when it comes down to providing online services.
Today, Ali Zandi announced the domain re-branding of his company, from Go Time Ventures to Perception.
The new company operates from Perception.com, a domain acquired just three days ago from Quebecois company, iPerceptions. There is no information on the amount spent to acquire the domain, and we’d expect high five figures as a reasonable estimate.
From Go Time Ventures to Perception.
The reason behind this sudden but positive brand change, was a Cease & Desist letter, that Zandi received from “a major company in our industry.”
The C&D alleged trademark infringement, and we cannot think of any other “major company” in the domain industry, than GoDaddy.
The #1 domain registrar in the world used the phrase “It’s Go Time” in late 2013, along with humorously effective videos, featuring the 80’s movie actor, Jean Claude VanDamme.
It seems that the phrase “Go Time Ventures” would not be an infringement on a trademark that consists of “It’s Go Time”; there are plenty of registered trademarks that contain “Go Time” at the USPTO; the interesting part, however, is that GoDaddy’s trademark application is still pending, as it has received an opposition in February 2015.
There is also a pending lawsuit against GoDaddy by GoWeb1, according to Domain Name Wire.
If GoDaddy decided to go ahead with sending Ali Zandi a C&D despite not having a registered – as opposed to an applied for – trademark, that’s not cool, in our opinion. There is no such information that confirms this, at this time.
However, to quote Ali Zandi’s words:
“Although Perception.com was born out of necessity, our mission remains the same: To carefully pluck the most premium domain names from the digital vine – so that we may offer you a highly curated selection of them for your business.”
Congratulations to Ali for the newly named venture, at Perception.com.
Thanks for another great write up!
You know, wether or not GoDaddy’s trademark is still pending – we don’t want to spend any extra time on it.. No body likes court!
The name change, however, was a blessing in disguise. It truly allows us to put our money where our mouth is!
Well played Ali, you are right, nobody likes court.
Great move Ali!
Floats like a butterfly, stings less than a UDRP.
I like the new domain much better anyways.
Isaac B.
Isaac! Ha! Nice one 😉
And thank you both! Definitely a much better brand for the purpose!