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Username: Casino
Date/Time: Tue, February 5, 2002 at 3:06 AM GMT
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer V6.0 using Windows NT 4.0
Subject: More names available

Message:
 

 
       
      Roll up! Roll up! Theres hope yet ... see below:
(NB: Note esp. the candid remarks about litigation!)


Article from LA Tribune (IT Pages) 4th Feb 2002
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NOMAD GROUP TO BRING GREATER COMPETITION TO NAMES MARKET
Cistirn, Nevada

The Nevada based Nomad Corp announced plans today to introduce an "all-encompassing domain name sales and marketing system" to "break the stranglehold" of the existing players.

Donald Bidstrup, vice-president of Sales, announced "After lengthy examination of the current operating environment in the domain space, we have made the decision that there is great potential for managed growth in this area." He claimed that, on conservative estimates, over $20 million annual returns can be expected simply through broadening the reach of new domains.

Mr Bidstrup outlined a six point strategy, centered around the concept of "Intellectual Property and the Desire to Gamble". He claimed that the driving force in domain name allocation and hence disputes was the "eternal battle between established and speculative wealth". "Established forces - generally larger, well-known corporations - are willing to spend great sums on protecting their claims to Intellectual Property. Of course, in order for players like us to achieve maximum profit levels, we must encourage the large entities to sufficiently broaden their conceptualization of their I.P. to cover not just all variations of trademarks, but - ideally - anything remotely connected to the company or its products."
"On the other hand, the small speculative players must be given the belief that they too can obtain obscene profits for their efforts. Through the results of previous landrushes by our competitors, we have learnt that there are vast numbers of gamblers willing to invest in any speculative arena in the hope of great wealth. We now have almost an entire generation of people who have had their natural greed tweaked by decades of all-pervasive marketing. Its almost as if there were a new class - 'slack but greedy' - and its these people who we are keen to target."

When quizzed on the subject of litigation, Bidstrup stated "We actively encourage it. Far from being a problem, it helps us immensely. Remember the famous .com litigations? They helped bring a previously little-known field into the glare of the entire world media. Many made fortunes, as you well know, out of that period. Furthermore, litigations generally allow us to remarket, resell and reposition product time after time... what other industry allows one to sell the same product repeatedly - without controls or responsibility?"

And here lies the source of some considerable public concern. Just who regulates the domain industry? "Well, to be frank, its pretty much self regulated at the current time," Bidstrup noted, "and that has to be good for the players."

The Nomad plan broadly consists of these 16 orderly stages:

1. Preliminary Marketing Stage (media releases to alert entry of new player)
2. Open "Speculative Bids" Registry
3. Open "Stage 1 Challenge" Database
4. Re-open "Speculative Bids" Registry
5. Open "Stage 1a Challenge" Database
6. Introduce "Level Two" Registrars
7. Open "I.P. Pre-bids" Registry
8. "Level Two" Registrars open "I.P. Bids" Registries
9. Registry Consolidation Period
10. Open "Initial Round-Robin Pre-Bid Auction"
11. "Level Two" Registrars open "Round-Robin Pre-Bid Auctions"
12. Introduce "Level Three" Registrars
13. All Co-Registrars open "Public Land Rush"
14. Registry Consolidation Period
15. Database update and replication
16. "Real-time Go-Live"

Mr Bidstrup asserted that "The 16-stage process allows an orderly roll-out of the entire system - acting, as it were, in the form of an extended 'Proof of Concept'. Further releases may add extra stages to the process to 'iron out the glitches'."

It remains to be seen whether Nomad's roll-out can match the efficiency and smoothness of those of its competitors, Afilias and Neulevel.

Nomad Corp is part of media magnate Richard Ritstih's growing New Technology empire.
 


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