GoDaddy: Difference between revisions

 

GoDaddy is known for its racy superbowl advertising campaign, which began in 2005; since then it has been continuing to sponsor various sporting events.<ref>[http://www.investorplace.com/17540/godaddy-sale-which-stocks-buying/ InvestorPlace]</ref> CEO Bob Parsons has called GoDaddy's advertising "GoDaddy-esque"; which he defines as "fun, edgy and a bit inappropriate".<ref>[http://www.webhostingreport.com/learn/godaddy.html WebHostingReport.com]</ref>

In March 2013, GoDaddy announced that it was dropping the ".com" from its logo in anticipation of New gTLDs. Many heralded this as a great endorsement a month ahead of when the first TLDs are to be approved for implementation by [[ICANN]],<ref>[https://twitter.com/sheridanct/status/309344440345038849 Twitter Status, SheridanCT, 6 Mar 2013, Twitter.com]</ref> while others saw it as a sign that the ".com" would continue to be assumed to be dominant in a New gTLD environment and was thus unnecessary anyways.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2013/03/06/breaking-godaddy-to-drop-com-from-logo/ User Comments, Breaking GoDaddy to Drop Com From Logo, TheDomains.com] Retrieved 6 Mar 2013</ref> The company also announced that it was withdrawing its applications for [[.casa]] and [[.home]], and only sticking with its [[Brand TLD]] application for [[.godaddy]]. It was noted that it was withdrawing its applications to focus on its core registrar business, thereby removing competition with competitive applicants it could work with as future registries and eliminating concerns that it will promote its own TLDs ahead of others'. The announcements were made at an event, Registry Days, meant to open a dialogue between the world's largest registrar and new gTLD applicants.<ref>[http://domainnamewire.com/2013/03/06/go-daddy-home-casa-tld/ GoDaddy Home Casa TLD, DomainNameWire.com] Published & Retrieved 6 Mar 2013</ref> The applications were withdrawn in time to receive a 70% refund for each of the $185,000 application fees.

* In 2007, GoDaddy agreed to take over [[RegisterFly]]'s entire portfolio of 850,000 domains.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-29may07.htm ICANN Announcement May, 2007]</ref> The latter lost its ICANN accreditation due to internal conflicts in the company that were causing its renewal and other automated services not to function properly.<ref>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/19/registerfly_angry_customers/ Registerfly Angry Customers]</ref> GoDaddy's move was enthusiastically welcomed by ICANN, which was put in a critical bind by the situation.

* Over the years, GoDaddy has been the victim of numerous scammers sending out fake ICANN related notices to their customers.<ref>[http://community.godaddy.com/godaddy/consumer-alert-fake-icann-notification-email/ GoDaddy Community Pages]</ref>

* In 2004, GoDaddy supported ICANN throughout a legal battle between it and [[Verisign]] over the latter's [[SiteFinder]] and [[Wait Listing Service]]s, even agreeing to pay up to $100,000 USD for legal bills incurred though the process. Originally, GoDaddy had sued ICANN over it allowing the Wait Listing Service to go forward; that case was thrown out by a U.S federal judge.<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/2100-1038-5168598.html CNET News]</ref>

* The company filed for an IPO to go public in 2006, but later withdrew its filing.<ref>[http://mashable.com/2010/09/10/godaddy-eyeing-1-billion-sale-report/ Mashable]</ref> During early September, 2010 it was reported that GoDaddy was up for sale and could fetch as much as $1 billion USD. However, during late October, 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company took itself off the market and pulled out of a potential sale.<ref>[http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/10/26/20101026arizona-go-daddy-pulls-out-potential-sale-report-says.html Arizona Business & Money]</ref>

* A [[DDoS]] attack was made on GoDaddy.com on January 16, 2009 which affected thousands of shared hosting customers for many hours.<ref>[http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/godaddy-hit-by-a-ddos-attack/2391 ZDNet]</ref>

* Also in December 2011, GoDaddy announced that they would once again be featuring [[.co]] in their infamous Super Bowl advertisements. They first ran an ad for the 2011 Super Bowl, promising before-hand to unveil a brand new .Co girl, to be added to the likes of current GoDaddy girls, Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels. The new girl ended up being a bit of a prank, as it was Joan Rivers. At the time of announcing the 2012 ads, they had already passed NBC's censors. [[.co Internet]] noted that the first ads they were featured in, in 2011, immediately caused an unprecedented amount of traffic and registration.<ref>[http://www.cointernet.co/blog/super-bowl-sunday-%25E2%2580%2593-here-we-come Super Bowl Sunday Here we COme, CoInternet.co/blog]</ref>

* In January 2012, an anti-GoDaddy site, NoDaddy.co, was launched. This was significant given that a prior site, NoDaddy.com, opened in 2007 and was later acquired in July, 2011, by GoDaddy itself. It is unknown whether GoDaddy purchased the original NoDaddy.com site or threatened legal action. Prior to being acquired, NoDaddy.com was the second highest [[Google]] result for the search term "GoDaddy", and the site had received some 2 billion in investment. The new [[.co]] site is unaffiliated with the NoDaddy.com owners.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/go-daddy-gripe-site-relaunches-with-co-domain/ GoDaddy Gripe Site Relaunches with Co Domain, DomainIncite.com]</ref>

* In 2012 and 2013, [[Afilias]] teamed up with GoDaddy to auction off [[.info]] domains that had been reserved under its Sunrise periods but whose trademarks later proved to be invalid. The first round of auctions produced highlights such as Cancer.info, sold for $16,005, and loans.info, sold for $12,205. Together both auctions include over 235 domain names.<ref>[http://domainnamewire.com/2013/01/08/afilias-and-go-daddy-to-hold-second-info-auction/ Afilias and Go Daddy To Hold Second Info Auction, DomainNameWire.com]Published 8 Jan 2013, Retrieved 9 Jan 2013</ref>

* In January 2013 GoDaddy brought in new CEO [[Blake Irving]] to take over the reigns of the company. Having spent time at [[Yahoo!]] and [[Microsoft]], Irving started to shift the companies focus. GoDaddy advertising focused on small businesses owners and the company began partnering with and buying other companies in the industry, such as [[(mt) Media Temple]] later in the year.<ref>[http://www.godaddy.com/news/article/go-daddy-appoints-blake-irving-as-chief-executive-officer.aspx GoDaddy Appoints Blake Irving as CEO, GoDaddy.com] Retrieved 31 Dec 2013</ref><ref>[http://domainnamewire.com/2013/12/30/2013-top-stories-a-new-direction-for-godaddy/ A New Direction for GoDaddy, DomainNameWire.com] Retrieved 31 Dec 2013</ref>

* Also in January 2013, GoDaddy announced that it had teamed up with OfficeMax to offer the first-ever retail store sales of domain names. Given that GoDaddy recieves many of its registrations from small and medium sized businesses, it was teaming up with the business supplier and retailer to offer bundles of domain names and other online business services, such as website development.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2013/01/17/godaddy-goes-brick-mortar-teaming-up-with-office-max/ GoDaddy Brick Mortar Teaming Up With Office Max, TheDomains.com]Posted & Retrieved 17 Jan 2013</ref>

* April, GoDaddy acquired 28 [[nTLD|new top level domains]] from [[Minds and Machines, LLC|MMX]], [[.club]],  and the [[.design]] TLD from [[Top Level Design]].<ref>[https://domainnamewire.com/2021/04/07/godaddy-to-acquire-mmx-club-design/ GoDaddy Acquires New TLDs, DomainNameWire]</ref>

* Web Hosting- Different kind of website, blog, word press, podcast, hosting on virtual, dedicated, cloud servers.

GoDaddy has been named “Best Registrar” by [[DomainNameWire.com]], a domain name industry news source, for five consecutive years (2005-2010). For six consecutive years, GoDaddy has also ranked as one of the top employers in the Phoenix-metro area by The Phoenix Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work in the Valley” employee survey. GoDaddy was honored as the AZCentral.com's “Best Perks” Employer in 2009 and 2010. GoDaddy received several 2007 Arizona Corporate Excellence (ACE) Awards, including the prestigious distinction as the state's "Most Innovative Company". GoDaddy also ranked #2 on the ACE "25 Fastest-Growing" companies list and #20 on the ACE "Top 50" companies list. It was ranked #8 on the 2004 Inc. 500 list of the nation's fastest-growing privately held companies; #20 on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 (growing 8,274 percent); and won the [[CNET]] Editor's Choice award in 2001, the Name Intelligence Largest Net Gain Award in 2002, 2003 and 2005; and the Name Intelligence Users' Choice Award in 2005.<ref>[http://icannwiki.org/GoDaddy ICANNWiki.org]</ref>

In February, 2010, the Chinese Government imposed new rules for website operators. The new guidlines stipulated requirements such as the need to submit photographs and other information, and meet the service provider in person.<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10458420-245.html CNet News]</ref>

Google protested this legislation by refusing to censor their search results on Google.cn on March 22, 2010.<ref>[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-approach-to-china-update.html Official Google Blog]</ref> On March 24, 2010 GoDaddy announced to Chinese lawmakers that it will cease registering websites in China in opposition to the new intrusive government rule. According to GoDaddy, this rule of increased monitoring and surveillance will put the individual or firms at risk. The company also said the rules will have a "chilling effect" on new domain name registrations.<ref>[http://www.pcworld.com/article/192335/go_daddy_to_china_no_more_domains_for_you.html PCWorld].</ref>

During early September, 2010, rumors began to circulate that GoDaddy was up for sale.<ref>[http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2010/09/13/godaddy-for-sale/ BARRON'S]</ref> The rumour was later confirmed by the Wall Street Journal when they published a report verifying exactly that. The report also mentioned the company could fetch more than $1 billion, and that the company had hired the financial firm [[Qatalyst Partners]] to find potential buyers.<ref>[http://nexus404.com/Blog/2010/09/11/rumor-godaddy-for-sale-new-report-has-the-worlds-largest-registrar-selling-itself-for-big-money/ TFTS]</ref>

At first, a GoDaddy spokesman said that the company “does not comment on rumours”. But later, another report by the Wall Street Journal published in late October, 2010, noted that the company pulled itself off the market and was no longer for sale.<ref>[http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/10/26/20101026arizona-go-daddy-pulls-out-potential-sale-report-says.html AZCentral]</ref>

Unlike many major Internet companies,<ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-faces-december-29-boycott-over-sopa-support.ars GoDaddy Faces boycott over SOPA support, http://arstechnica.com/]</ref> GoDaddy came out in support of [[SOPA]] in late October, 2011. The reasons cited for their support were interests in protecting American businesses from being robbed and American consumers from being harmed by counterfeit products. The company stated that it was trying hard to help SOPA become an acceptable form of legislature for all those involved.<ref>[http://support.godaddy.com/godaddy/go-daddys-position-on-sopa/ Go Daddy’s Position on SOPA]</ref> This move came as a surprise, as GoDaddy, just like any other domain name [[registrar]], could potentially have a major liability under the bill, as the responsibility for [[cybersquatting]] could be shifted from the registrant to the registrar.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2011/12/22/red-hot-on-reddit-com-move-your-domain-away-from-godaddy-day-based-off-of-support-of-sopa/ Red Hot on Reddit.com: “Move Your Domain Away From Godaddy Day” Based Off Of Support Of SOPA, thedomains.com]</ref>

By the end of December, significant media and Internet user attention was being paid to GoDaddy's SOPA support; users of the webforum Reddit.com began a protest against GoDaddy, urging those hosting their domain names with the company to transfer their domains to another service. The original poster suggested that December 29th be made "Move Your Domain Day," and in response many of GoDaddy's competitors began offering discounted rates to those wanting to transfer.<ref>[http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/nmnie/godaddy_supports_sopa_im_transferring_51_domains/ GoDaddy supports SOPA, I'm transferring 51 domains & suggesting a move your domain day, reddit.com]</ref> Reddit users began contacting larger corporations hosting with GoDaddy, such as the [[Wikimedia Foundation]], urging them to transfer their domains from GoDaddy as well.<ref>[http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/nnuwt/til_wikipediaorg_is_registered_at_sopa_supporter/ TIL Wikipedia.org is registered at SOPA supporter GoDaddy, reddit.com]</ref> On December 23, GoDaddy released a press release stating that it no longer supported SOPA, stating that it will support it in the future when and if the Internet community supports it.<ref>[http://www.godaddy.com/newscenter/release-view.aspx?news_item_id=378&isc=smtwsup Go Daddy No Longer Supports SOPA, godaddy.com]</ref> In the first week of protesting, GoDaddy lost approximately 72,300 domains due to their support of SOPA.<ref>[http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/12/24/go-daddy-lost-21054-domains-yesterday-in-wake-of-sopa-pr-disaster/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=share%2Bbutton&utm_campaign=social%2Bmedia GoDaddy lost 21,054 domains yesterday due to their support of SOPA, thenextweb.com]</ref> After two weeks, when more solid figures were available, it was noted via the pay-site RegistrarStats.com that GoDaddy had seen 100,000 domains transferred away from its system; however, in that same time frame 117,000 domains were transferred to GoDaddy; therefore, the boycott did not see the registrar take a net loss to its hosting numbers.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2012/01/06/2-weeks-of-sopa-the-actual-godaddy-numbers-100k-domains-transferred-out-117k-domains-transferred-in/ 2 Weeks of SOPA The Actual GoDaddy Numbers 100k Domains Transferred out 117k Transferred in, TheDomains.com]</ref>

The case involved two disputed domain names, petronastowers.net and petronastower.net, which were registered with GoDaddy by a third party, named Heiko Schoenekess, who used the registrar's online“dashboard” to automatically redirect the Internet traffic for the disputed domain names to pornographic sites. Petronas learned that its trademark was violated by the registrant On November 26, 2009. The company asked GoDaddy to "cease its contributory infringement of the petronastower domain names." In response, GoDaddy argued that domain name ownership disputes should be sent to the registrant or to an arbitration forum such as the [[WIPO]]. The company also said it will not tolerate illegal content of customer's websites and it will cooperate with law enforcement agency for the websites to be taken down. Instead of resolving the case through arbitration procedures, Petronas filed a trademark claim with GoDaddy on December 16, 2009 using the company's "Trademark and/or Copyright Infringement Policy," which excludes domain name disputes. GoDaddy replied that it can only take action against websites related to trademark infringement if the hosting was provided by the company, however the disputed domain names were hosted by a different company. GoDaddy reiterated its position that the proper venue to resolve the problem was through a [[UDRP]]. Futhermore, under ICANN's policy and the UDRP, registrars are prohibited to get involved with domain ownership disputes.<ref>[http://www.scribd.com/doc/77067353/Berhad-v-GoDaddy Berhad vs. GoDaddy]</ref> Petronas insited GoDaddy take down the domain name and the website, but GoDaddy did not. The registrant of the disputed domain names was also unreachable when Petronas tried to contact him or her. On December 19, 2008, Petronas filed an in rem action against petronastower.net. On May 13, 2010, the court ordered the transfer of the domain name to Petronas. The same situation happened to the second domain name petronastowers.net, which was also transfered to the company on August 27, 2010.<ref>[http://www.scribd.com/doc/77067353/Berhad-v-GoDaddy Berhad vs. GoDaddy]</ref>

GoDaddy filed a motion to dismiss the case due to failure on the side of Petronas to state its claim. On May 5, 2011, the court denied the motion citing that some issues needed to be clarified including the terms forwarding and routing and if they were part of domain names registration services. Following, the court's ruling, GoDaddy filed a motion for summary judgement on the three allegations against the company. Go Daddy argued that it is not the registrant of the disputed domain names and based on ACPA, cybersquatting is the bad faith registration of domain name that is identical or confusingly similar to a distinctive mark. In addition, the company asserted that its only role was it provided the registrant with an automatic infrastructure service to route the disputed domain names to his chosen websites. Petronas has no evidence to prove that GoDaddy acted in bad faith with the intention to gain profit from the Petronas trademark. GoDaddy effectively defended its position. On Janury 12, 2012, the court granted its motion for summary judgment.<ref>[http://www.scribd.com/doc/77067353/Berhad-v-GoDaddy Berhad vs. GoDaddy]</ref>

In September, 2012, a plaintiff sought a class action lawsuit against GoDaddy for its downtime on September, 10. GoDaddy makes a "99.99% uptime guarantee" for hosting, which would apparently equate to 43.2 minutes in a month. GoDaddy already has an established policy for downtime exceeding this .01% guarantee, “you may contact Go Daddy and request a credit of 5% of your monthly hosting fee from Go Daddy for that month. The credit may be used only for the purchase of further products and services from Go Daddy, and is exclusive of any applicable taxes.” The plaintiff alleges that he was not even given this word.<ref>[http://domainnamewire.com/2012/09/20/class-action-lawsuit-filed-over-go-daddy-downtime/ Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Go Daddy Downtime, DomainNameWire.com]</ref>