Google acquires StreetView.com
Google has got its hands on the domain name StreetView.com, four years after first launching its occasionally controversial street-level maps service.
The domain switched to Google’s contact information and name servers this week, according to Whois records.
It was first acquired quite recently from its original owner, who registered it in 2001, by an outfit called Brand Certified Inc, ostensibly based at a strip mall in Nevada.
A bit of digging shows that Brand Certified appears to be a front, a shell company operated by MarkMonitor for the purpose of quietly obtaining domain names for its clients.
There’s no UDRP record for the name – it would have been a far from straightforward case – so I guess it was acquired either by being purchased or through some other means.
The domain does not currently resolve from where I’m sitting.
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What prompted you to look into this domain name?
The fact that Google just took over the name servers.
Google doesn’t own a trademark for “streetview”
Yup. Not a straightforward UDRP at all 🙂
How did u know google took over the name server? Do u track google domain activities?
Sometimes.
How did you discover that Brand Certified acquired the domain? BC wants to buy a domain from me, but I want more intel on their client before I make a decision.