Maxim magazine has been around since 1995, started in the U.K. and then headquartered in New York since 1997.
The magazine has gone through some ownership changes but it’s the intellectual property, specifically domain names, that I want to dive into.
Maxim.com is the home of the magazine. Earlier this year the domain name MaximOnline.com expired and sold for $32,000.
At the time I thought maybe Maxim had gone out of business. It had been years since I saw the magazine or even looked for it online.
According to Wikipedia, On June 15, 2007, private equity firm Quadrangle Group, along with long-time media executive Kent Brownridge, announced the acquisition of the parent company of Maxim, Blender, Stuff and MaximOnline.com in the United States, under the name Alpha Media Group.
Quadrangle apparently gave up on it’s investment in Alpha and the company tried to sell Maxim to another company which did not go through.
Eventually in 2014 entrepreneur Sardar Biglari, the founder of Biglari Holdings and Biglari Capital, purchased Maxim.
It seems that all of the domain names owned by Alpha Media Group did not go with the deal. MaximOnline being one of them.
There are other names like MaximFashion.com which is now owned by Huge Domains. They are asking $4,795 for the domain they won at GoDaddy for $116 the same day MaximOnline.com closed.
Another company picked up MaximLounge.com for $202 and have it parked at Bodis.
MaximMagazine.com interestingly is still owned by Alpha Media Group and points to Maxim.com.
MaximOnline.com is a fully developed website now, ownership under privacy.
One has to wonder what is going on at Bilgari that they are not protecting their intellectual property? How MaximOnline can say there would be no confusion with Maxim.com seems to be almost impossible.
