In my opinion, Skip Hoagland and his companies own some of the top geographic domain names (in addition to great descriptive domain names). According to various articles on DN Journal, Hoagland and his companies own names like Atlanta.com, BuenosAires.com, Fishing.com, Portland.com, HiltonHead.com, and many other top destination and keyword domain names.

From my perspective, Hoagland and his companies have done a great job at developing its domain names and establishing businesses on them. Many of these businesses have a strong local presence, which not only helps to drive revenue for Hoagland’s companies, but it also helps encourage visitors to spend their money locally.

I don’t know Hoagland all that well, but one thing seems certain – he does not sit idle when he sees something that can be improved and he is willing to go to great lengths to make change.

There’s an article on the IslandPacket.com website discussing Hoagland’s idea to create the Hilton Head Visitor and Convention Bureau. The region already has the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, but Hoagland believes his CVB can do better for local businesses.

It’s great to see Hoagland advocating for something he believes will help his community, and knowing Hoagland a bit, he won’t rest until his idea comes to fruition. Check out the article when you have a chance. I also recommend that you read the aforementioned DN Journal articles to learn more about Hoagland’s background and his businesses.

I read about another recent Google update that favors fresh content, and I want to speculate about something. I think the update could prove to be beneficial to owners of developed city .com domain names. Although this is a generalization, I’d like to share my rationale and welcome your feedback.

From what I’ve read, this most recent update seems to favor websites that have fresh information and new content. Blogs, for example, seem to be benefitting from the changes, although I haven’t personally analyzed any of my websites yet.

Over the past couple of years in speaking with owners of developed city .com domain names, most have daily, if not hourly updates. The articles include local news, events, and other relevant information. Lowell.com might not be a primary news source, but I update the site daily as events and articles are submitted by local businesses and residents. This helps drive traffic, but it also shows Google that the site is updated frequently.

From my perspective, many “official” city websites are updated irregularly. Although the city government makes news every day, they often send their news to local newspapers for publication online. Their websites are still good resources, with phone numbers, addresses, policies, laws, and other important information. However, they aren’t always good sources of fresh information.

With the most recent Google update favoring fresh content and websites that provide this content, I would imagine some city .com domain names will see a Google ranking boost, and it will consequently drive additional traffic.

What do you think?

The Dolan Company, a publishing giant that owns the Minnesota Lawyer magazine, recently sent a cease and desist letter to Aaron Hall, a lawyer in Minnesota, directing him to stop using the MinnesotaLawyer.com website and domain name. MinnesotaLawyer.com is essentially a lawyer’s blog with free legal guides, free legal forms, and a free ask a lawyer section.

Dolan’s letter requested that Hall immediately cease and desist “use of ‘Minnesota Lawyer’ in connection with online and/or printed publications in the legal field,” and “refrain from publishing legal articles and information” on MinnesotaLawyer.com.

In response to Dolan, Hall claimed that his use of “Minnesota Lawyer” was merely descriptive of his location and profession. “Dolan does not that have a monopoly on the words ‘Minnesota lawyer,” stated Hall. “Every lawyer in Minnesota can lawfully use those terms in the title of their website or domain name.”

This is a National Problem
“This isn’t the first time that a geographic domain name has come under fire,” said Hall, an attorney experienced in trademark and internet law. Hall said that Dolan’s actions are merely part of a larger problem:

This is about the rights of small website owners. This situation exemplifies the threat to website owners across the United States. Often small website owners give up their website after being intimidated and threatened by large corporations. I have represented many small business owners in disputes over a website with a generic or descriptive name. Many small business owners don’t know what to do when they get a cease and desist letter, so unfortunately, they make a mistake like giving up the website or selling it for below market rates. The law is often unclear in this area, especially when it comes to new technologies like the Internet and domain names. If necessary, we are willing to take this issue to the Supreme Court. This case could set an important precedence for small website owners facing similar threats.

Trademarks Are Industry Specific

This showdown raises the question of whether you can trademark a geographic name like “Minnesota Lawyer.” Since Dolan has registered this trademark, the obvious answer is yes. But does that trademark prohibit those in another industry from using those common terms to describe themselves?

Dolan’s cease and desist letter claimed that the lawyer’s use of MinnesotaLawyer.com was infringing the magazine’s federally registered trademark in “Minnesota Lawyer.” However, the trademark is in the publications industry, not the legal services industry. Dolan claims that Hall’s use was also in the publishing industry. Dolan said that Hall’s legal blog infringed the publishing giant’s trademark because Hall was publishing legal articles on his blog under the name “Minnesota Lawyer.”

Hall defended, noting that his blog only publishes legal articles written by attorneys in his firm, does not accept any advertising, and does not compete with Dolan’s magazine. “As a Minnesota lawyer, I have a right to call my blog ‘Minnesota Lawyer,’” said Hall. Dolan took issue with the title of the site and the copyright notice in the footer:

While, in some cases, “Minnesota lawyer” can be used descriptively to indicate that a person is a lawyer from or practicing in Minnesota, your use of “Minnesota Lawyer” is not descriptive. Rather than using the phrase to indicate that you are a Minnesota lawyer, you are suggesting that you are the Minnesota lawyer. This is underscored by your prominent use of “Minnesota Lawyer” in the header of your website at “minnesotalawyer.com” and in the website’s copyright notice.

Hall responded, “titles are generally capitalized, which explains why “Minnesota Lawyer” is capitalized in the title.” Hall admitted that the footer was a problem for a few days:

This site has existed for over a year, and has always attributed copyright to me. However, in the past week or so, the site has been under re-development. Apparently, for a few days or less, the site temporarily had the default copyright notice embedded in the website software, which included the copyright notice and inserted the site’s title next to it. Immediately upon noticing this and before receiving your letter, I emailed the web designer to change this to indicate that the copyright is owned by me. This has been changed.

Likelihood of Confusion or Perceived Association

At the core of trademark infringement and trademark dilution is the question of whether people will mistake one company for another or believe that they are associated. Dolan summarized its concerns this way:

Your use of “Minnesota Lawyer” in this manner creates the false appearance of an association, affiliation or connection between you and your activities and Dolan, the Minnesota Lawyer trademark and Dolan’s goods and services. Dolan is concerned that such use is likely to cause confusion, cause mistake, and/or deceive consumers into believing that Dolan sponsors, endorses, supports or is otherwise affiliated with you and your activities.

What do you think? Should the Minnesota Lawyer magazine be able to prevent a Minnesota lawyer from using MinnesotaLawyer.com? Is it possible that some people will confuse the lawyer with the magazine by the lawyer’s use of MinnesotaLawyer.com? This case is interesting because, unlike many legal battles in the domain world, both sides in this case have plenty of legal firepower.

More information about this legal battle can be found here: MinnesotaLawyer.com Cease and Desist Letter.

DISCLAIMER: This article was written with assistance from Aaron Hall. In addition to being an attorney writing on PPC law, blog law, and other web business topics, Aaron Hall is a domainer himself, owning MinnesotaAttorney.com, MinneapolisAttorneys.com, MinnesotaBusinessAttorney.com, MinneapolisPhotographer.com, MinnesotaBankruptcyLawyer.com,MinnesotaBankruptcyAttorney.com, and over 400 other domains.

My wife and I decided to spend a few days in south Florida before the Traffic conference begins. Yesterday afternoon, we took a short trip to West Palm Beach to visit the Green Market for lunch. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re in the area.

The visit reminded me to call David Castello (who owns WestPalmBeach.com) to ask if I’d see him at the conference, since he and his brother Michael attend many domain-related events. Unfortunately, he won’t be attending, but the call gave us a chance to catch up, and some big things are happening for CCIN.

On the business side of things, the company is close to finalizing a “major investment deal with investors in Toronto.” Aside from their well known geodomain assets (PalmSprings.com, Nashville.com, LagunaBeach.com…etc), David and Michael own a portfolio of descriptive domain names like Whisky.com, Kennel.com, Cost.com, Rate.com, and others.

The Castello Brothers just returned from a trip to Toronto, and this investment deal would certainly be big news in the domain space. I don’t have details about the type of investment deal that they’re discussing, but I was told it’s quite significant.

On the personal side of things, David is rocking and rolling in Nashville – for real. In February of 2010, David played a drum solo at the Hard Rock in Vegas at the Traffic conference. To warm up, he decided to jam at a night club in Palm Springs, where he met a couple of girls who six months later later introduced him to a musician named Bree (on her 21st birthday).

To make a long story short, Bree and David have been joined at the hip ever since and Bree’s career is taking off in Nashville in a big way.  David’s drumming for Bree and he’s also managing her career (David has a long history in the music business as a drummer, manager and promoter before he and his brother launched CCIN). For the last several months, David’s been burning the candle at both ends… living the life of a rock star!

I am bummed about not having the chance to hang out with David and Michael, but I am excited to hear about all of the goings on with CCIN.

What Will Happen to Boston.com?

Yesterday, The Boston Globe announced that it is launching a subscription based service on BostonGlobe.com. According to an article posted on Boston.com, ”the company has decided to split its news brands – Boston.com and The Boston Globe – into two distinct websites.”

It appears that the company plans to leave Boston.com free to use for now, and it will remain ad-supported. Boston.com will feature breaking news, sports, and weather reports, as well as classified advertising. It will also have travel, restaurant, entertainment, and hotel information. Essentially, it seems that Boston.com is going to be a beefed up version of many city .com websites found in the GeoPublishers.com network.

What will ultimately come of one of the best US city .com domain names remains of interest to me?  Could the Boston Globe ultimately sell off this prized website? Time will tell if the subscription based revenue model will work.

My gut says they will have a difficult time converting Boston.com readers into paying subscribers. I don’t think it would be wise to sell of the Boston.com brand, but who knows.

What do you think will happen to Boston.com and do you think the subscription model will work?