I want to give you a perfect example about why domain blogs are invaluable sources of information and why people frequently visit and read popular domain blogs. Yesterday evening, Larry Fischer of DirectNavigation.com had a brief post about the sale of CookingGames.com, which he titled Cookinggames.com sells for $350,000 – WTF ?

Larry speculated that the set-up of the domain name looks similar to DressUp.com, which he knew had “absurdly high PPC revenue.” There was 20+ comments on his blog related to the domain name, its traffic, and the PPC revenue from the buyer of the domain name as well as a couple of other knowledgeable people. Just by reading Larry’s post and the comments that followed, I learned quite a bit about a particular vertical I knew nothing about prior to reading the post.

After reading Larry’s post, I did a bit of research on this vertical, and I was very surprised at the results. Just have a quick look at some of the information I gathered below for these parked keyword domain names. GEKT is the Google Keyword Tool’s exact monthly searches, and the Compete information is estimated monthly traffic.

• RacingGames.com: GEKT: 368,000 monthly, Compete: 5,960 visitors
• ShootingGames.com: GEKT: 450,000 monthly, Compete: 7,457 visitors
• FunnyGames.com: GEKT: 450,000 monthly, Compete: 17,188 visitors
• CarGames.com: GEKT: 673,000 monthly, Compete: 7,465 visitors
• GunGames.com: GEKT: 90,500 monthly, Compete: 3,069 visitors
• MakeoverGames.com: GEKT: 135,000 monthly, Compete: 1,672 visitors
• FashionGames.com: GEKT: 135,000 monthly, Compete: 3,537 visitors

I am sure there will be plenty of people who try to register names like FrenchCookingGames.com or something like that, but that wouldn’t have value (at least none that I can see). Everyone could be given the same information, but some people will still register bad names like my example and try to sell them for stupid money.

Learning how to get a feel for domain values is part of the reason why it’s smart to read and analyze posts and commentary from proven industry leaders. You never know who will appear with commentary or what you might learn.

In the last year, I’ve probably received 5 or 6 emails from people who had concerns that geographic domain names could be risky to own in the event a city or municipal jurisdiction files a complaint or lawsuit, despite a number of cases where the domain owner retained the domain name. Some of these cases include Pocatello.com, MyrtleBeach.com, Barcelona.com, StMoritz.com, and others.

In a UDRP dispute decision that should pacify any concerns about geodomain names, LomaLinda.com was retained by Nat Cohen’s company, StateVentures, LLC , which was represented by Ari Goldberger of ESQwire.com Law Firm. The Complainant was Loma Linda University Medical Center, which claimed to have rights to the Loma Linda mark.

Although there was a dissenting opinion, panelist Richard Page made a statement in his dissent which should be noted by geodomain owners: “the general rule that geographic names are not subject to trademark protection.”

The reason for the dissenting opinion is that Loma Linda was apparently used by the Complainant’s predecessors prior to it being used as a geographic location (city of Loma Linda, California). In the decision though, two of the panelists cited the various uses of Loma Linda by parties other than the Complainant, including the first Loma Linda city directory in 1936, the Loma Linda Food Company in 1937, and the fact that the Justice Court was established in Loma Linda in 1946.

The dissenting panelist disagreed that some of the other usages of “Loma Linda” indicated the University had given up rights to the term, however. In addition, because the domain name is possibly earning PPC revenue from potential competitors of the Complainant, it could be infringing on its rights.

In the end, Nat’s company has retained LomaLinda.com, and it will probably developed when the company has an opportunity to do so. This is a solid win for geodomain owners – and it’s also a very good reason to have a 3-person UDRP panel. Congrats to Ari, who was also responsible for defending other geodomain names in the past like Pocatello.com and StMoritz.com to name just a couple.