DomainTools Blog

SnapNames was recently awarded patent #7,742,160, as brought to light at Domain Name Wire. The primary points of the patent cover the ability to capture domain names dropped for non-renewal, ‘tagging’ names and acquisition monitoring services.

Primary competitors in the dropped names capturing mechanism include NameJet and Pool, both of which could be in violation. The tagging process is quite interesting as well. Tagging names is their method of quantifying interest of a name. It would appear that you could lose your “next in line” status if they decided to send a higher-ranked domain to auction.

Of particular note is their description of domain monitoring services. Their stated claims in the invention ostensibly constrain the monitoring services to apply only to monitoring and valuing expiring domains. However, their description of the monitoring service states, among other examples, that a monitoring service could be used to “track competitor’s movements” and have “multiple subscribers per domain”. The monitoring services could be “offered independently from … the acquisition services”. Those statements may broaden the application of the patent beyond simple acquisition services and could directly affect monitoring services currently offered by many companies in the industry.

Not only does the patent give the lawyers at Oversee.net, SnapNames’ parent company, something to do, but it could affect the marketplace and healthy competition. If SnapNames pursues this patent and requires competition to license the technology, they could become the only contender in the dropped names aftermarket and monitoring services – a huge advantage for them, but it may prove unhealthy for the market. Or, it could be good… ? Healthy competition can spur innovation.

So while this may be a boon for SnapNames and Oversee, it’s an even better win for their lawyers, depending on how the patent is interpreted, as they weed through potential violators.