Drama Finds International Domain Name Game
LivingSocial.ie, would have been the ideal domain name for the daily deal company to woo Irish consumers with discount offers, but that “ie” ending has proved troublesome.
In Ireland, someone by the name of Gordon Stewart owns the domain name and is not ready to abandon it, according to a report Saturday in Daily Deal Media. So the Washington, D.C.-based company has filed what is reportedly its first arbitration complaint against the site, which currently displays nothing but a “Coming Soon” landing page.
It’s not clear why Stewart has the name, but he might be deploying the common tactic of buying domain names on the cheap and waiting for a big-bucks buyer to write a check and claim the name. (Sedo.com has made an entire business out of connecting such buyers and sellers.)
LivingSocial, which is considered the No. 2 online deal site stateside, is not the only company to find its coupon wings clipped when it goes to set up shop in certain overseas markets.
Daily deal leader Groupon went through similar arbitration in Ireland, making its case via the World Intellectual Property Forum. It won the rights to the domain name Groupon.ie in March. So, if precedent is any guide, Living Social—which is already in Australia, New Zealand, and numerous European markets—might snag that Emerald Isle domain name yet.
But other domain-name skirmishes are popping up around the globe as the daily deal concept pioneered by Groupon in Chicago catches on internationally. Last spring, Groupon bought a European-based clone called Citydeal, an acquisition that allowed it to move into Europe, with sites in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, and Belgium. Then last August, it bought Japanese and Russian clones, Qpod.jp and Darberry.ru, respectively.
But Groupon’s wanderlust yielded a cold shower when it went Down Under. In Australia, Groupon locked legal horns with online retailer CatchoftheDay, which launched the rather shamelessly named deal site called Scoopon. Now, Groupon is operating in Australia under the name, Stardeals, although another company last month launched a site called Dealstars.com.au. It’s a good guess that Groupon founder Andrew Mason, known for his sense of humor, is not amused.
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Teresa Novellino writes for Portfolio.com