Comments on the .CM Landrush

No Comments Written by on July 9, 2009 – 4:00 pm

In response to TechCrunch and Mike Berkens, I’d like to comment on the .CM landrush. Enom together with NameJet is now offering .CM domains for pre-order and other domainers and auction houses like Rick Latona, for example, are offering .CM domains for sale, too.

While I completely agree with those saying Cameroon has every right in the .CM top-level domain, a ccTLD it was awarded by IANA years ago, I also have to agree with those saying .CM domains are little more than a new way for getting your hands on high-traffic typo domains. Those who have been reading my posts over the years know that I’m a supporter of the domain industry. I try to promote domain names whenever possible, but I’m also an outspoken critic of cybersquatting.

Cybersquatters have been hurting the domain industry for many years, leading to the industry’s negative image of today. Just take a look at all the reader comments left over at TechCrunch. TechCrunch writer Robin Wauters, for instance, says the domain industry is a “nasty cybersquatter rat nest”. I can assure you that it is far from that, but that is how others perceive our industry, so we may not look the other way. Cybersquatting and typosquatting are serious threats to every domain investor and trademark-owner alike.

The opening up of the .CM ccTLD also changes some aspects of this controversy. In the beginning, few really owned .CM domains. Cameroon together with Kevin Ham’s Reinvent Technology had a wildcard on unregistered .CM domains very similar to the wildcards of large ISPs and other corporations. This way they were able to cash in on the typos of millions of Internet users. But most of those domains were not really registered and therefore were not legally owned by any person or entity. Although ethically disputable, legally it was a gray area. Now, however, people are rushing to officially register .CM domains, which will make the registrants the legal owners of their .CM domains. I guess this will expose them to tons of legal threats, as many .COM domain owners and trademark owners will surely sue them in order to get their corresponding .CM domains.

All in all, I don’t really see why domain investors are so crazy about .CM. Those domains would be worthless were it not for the traffic some of them will possibly be receiving. Like with all ccTLDs, it only makes sense to register a .CM domain if you’re based in Cameroon or doing business there. Otherwise, why buy such a domain? The answer is that many domainers want to make a quick buck by purchasing traffic domains, even if it’s only typo traffic. This is a very short-sighted strategy, in my opinion, and in some cases it is just plain wrong, too.

If you want the domain industry to evolve, don’t bother with schemes like the .CM TLD, even if they’re being promoted in such a big way. If anything, these promotions will only bring a very short-term boost. More likely, they will either result in bad press or dilute the value of individual existing domain names. It would be more productive to spend your time and energy in the right places. Domain investors should be developing new auction formats, promote accurate pricing of domains, find solutions to put more useful content on parked domains, develop professional tools for domain valuation, portfolio analysis and risk reduction, promote the benefits of domain names to corporate buyers, and so forth. In short, domain investors must be willing to be more professional about their business if they want the industry to mature.

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Comments on the .CM Landrush