In January, I reported that a company called Lorenzo International had filed a UDRP for the domain name, Lorenzo.com. This domain name is owned by Tucows and is a part of the company’s NetIdentity suite of first and last name domain names, some of which have been the subject of successfully defended UDRP filings in the past.

According to the discussion in the UDRP decision (not yet available online), the company’s usage of Lorenzo.com is legitimate, and the complaint was denied. From the UDRP decision:

“there is no evidence that the Respondent’s continuing use of the domain name in the same way in connection with its Personal Names Service is not bona fide. The Respondent states that it was not aware of the Complainant or of its claim to trademark rights until it received the Complaint. The Complainant has therefore demonstrated that prior to any notice to it of the dispute it used the disputed domain name in the bona fide offering of its services.”

Based on prior results of similar cases, it’s not really surprising to me that Tucows prevailed in this UDRP. As a domain owner, it’s frustrating to see another UDRP case filed where one company thinks it has more rights to a descriptive domain name than the registrant.

A three person panel with Desmond J. Ryan AM, Dan Hunter, and David E. Sorkin ruled on this UDRP decision. Tucows was represented by AlvaradoSmith.

You can learn quite a bit of information from public companies who must disclose just about every thing that could have an implication on the value of the company. Because of this, it’s a smart idea to follow the filings of various domain companies so you can read up on company filings, rather than rely on blogs and other news outlets who may or may not report on certain events/filings.

Some publicly traded companies that are required to make public filings that are related to the domain industry include the following (please let me know if I missed any company):

Google
Yahoo
Microsoft
Marchex
Top Level Domain Holdings
Tucows
Dark Blue Sea
Verisign
Banks.com

In order to follow these companies, I set up a stock portfolio in Yahoo specifically with domain industry related stocks. This allows me to see where they are trading as well as news reports and SEC (or other) filings. Don’t simply rely on others’ interpretations of news – and don’t get delayed news reports that fly under the radar (domain sales for example).

Follow these and other related companies and be more informed as a result.

According to an 8-K Form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late yesterday, Tucows entered into an agreement to sell a small portfolio of 2,553 domain names for an aggregate price of $1,000,000.  Payment will be made in all cash, with $900,000 being paid at the close of the sale, $50,000 in August and the final $50,000 being paid in one year.

An interesting note in the filing, states “The agreement further provides that the purchaser will be entitled to purchase up to an additional $1.8 million of domain names from Tucows.com Co. between today and June 2010 on terms similar to the Agreement.”

It would be interesting to know what terms are included in this agreement, and whether the names were sold because of their intrinsic domain value, or if they were sold based on a revenue multiple.  If it was the later, I would be curious about how much of a revenue multiple it is.

Congratulations to Tucows!

Also, I want to note that I was “tipped off” to this great sale after following Tucows GM Bill Sweetman on Twitter.  You can also follow Elliot’s Blog too!