Registries and registrars have been touting auctions as the fairest way to distribute names where there are multiple parties and no clear rights that favor one party over another. The fact that they have a fair amount of self-interest in promoting this solution doesn’t mean it’s the wrong one. Auctions may be the only way to distribute competitive names without hideous amounts of cost and time.

Dot Asia has auctions for Sunrise and Landrush names; the Dot Asia Sunrise auctions are going on right now. These have been referred to as “collision auctions”; they occur when two parties have the same (or similar) trademark for a name, and they both want it. When there are two applications for the same name, Dot Asia immediately sets it aside for an auction between the contenders. So far, this has occurred with about 200 names, with an average price (so far) of US$1515 each. The winner to date is ace.asia, which sold for US$20,501.

What’s baffling here are some of the very low auctions numbers. You’d think that if there was more than one party who wanted century21.asia, for instance, it would sell for more than US$20. I’m guessing that one of the parties didn’t show up for the auction.

The Landrush collision auctions should be much more interesting, with more names and more contenders.

Posted by Antony in: Domains