Back in September of 2008, Domain Name News reported that the Chicago Olympic bid team and United States Olympics Committe (USOC) tried to take claim of the domain name Chicago2016.com but current owner Stephen Frayne filed site to block this.
Mr Frayne registered the domain name in 2004, which was 2 years before the "bid" even started.
Since the domain name Chicago2016.com is still owned by Mr Frayne today, I would have to say the suit he filed worked, but sadly still had to protect his domain this way.
Mr Frayne also happens to own Tokyo2016.com which was another leading location for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Fast forward until today (10-2-2009) and Mr Frayne got some bad news!
Chicago, even though backed by star power in the likes of Oprah, the First Lady Michelle Obama and the President of the United States, Barack Obama himself in person in Denmark, Chicago was voted out in round number 1!
Tokyo was knocked out in round number 2.
This leaves two locations left and one will win, Rio De Janeiro or Madrid.
Rio De Janeiro is the Winner for the 2016 Summer Olympics!
As for Chicago2016.com and Tokyo2016.com, those domain names lost interest with the losing votes….
Madrid2016.com forwards to Madrid2016.es
RioDeJaneiro2016.com is a "Luxury rental site" and has nothing to do with the Olympics. Currently at least!
With the win, RioDeJaneiro.com will likely see a nice jump in traffic and Value.. without the silly "year" on the domain name, RioDeJaneiro.com just might become a real winner out of the 2016 Summer Olympics bid. Other related travel sites to Rio De Janeiro will also see a value increase.
On a side note, the domain name Brazil.com recently sold for $500,000, which makes that purchase even look sweeter by the day for the buyer!
lumpenfolk
“No Olympics For You”
Does anybody have any experience / information / links regarding the (domaining) trademark status of “Olympic” – ie. would it be OK to register, & develop something like “myOlympicFanSite.com.”
TIA.
- Paul
Jamie Zoch
@Paul,
There are some 3,846 registered .com, .net, .org, .biz, .mobi and .us domain names that either start with or end with “olympics” and how many others that “contain’ the word. There are another 7,093 that start or end with “olympic”. There are 56 current trademarks for the term “olympic(s)”… it might be best to stay away from the term but 10,000+ others are using the term in some way, shape or form in a domain name.
Gordon
the olympics are very picky about their trademark – i wouldn’t go near it.
lumpenfolk
@Jamie, @ Gordon
Thanks for the info. Interesting now! I have 2 which I registered when I thought the word was like “football” or “soccer.” So now, development sounds like bad news. If I try to sell them for a few bucks on eBay, could I be implicated in the buyer’s trademark infringement? If I let them drop am I in the clear (my failure to renew will cause them to be publicized on the drop lists)?
It’s Friday night here!
- Paul
Mark Yin
The 2016 Olympics site is at: http://www.rio2016.com *way easier.