A recent article from the Times has been making the rounds reporting that several domain names, such as TRUCK.COM and BEEF.COM have sold for high amounts.

Coincidentally, I recently discovered that LookSmart has posted online an article I wrote for Brandweek in February 2000 entitled “Why The Splurge On Generic Domain Names.”  Re-reading it, I find that my view that generic domain names make for bad brands, remains largely unchanged since 2000, with cases such as that of RX.COM proving my point that the PTO would not look kindly on such names.  The rise of search engines probably dim generic domain names’ usefulness as traffic generators as well (although the Times article suggests in the last grafs that search engine contextual advertising may help some of these names – although how is not immediately apparent to me.  The name AIRLINETICKETS.COM has no apparent advantage in a Google search for the term AIRLINE TICKETS).