My client has bought a domain name (I'll call it "mydomainname.com") from someone and wants to transfer the ownership to himself. But when the previous owner originally registered the domain (years ago) they put "thedomainname.com" in the organisation field and their personal details in the other fields. Now the registrar wants "proof of ownership" from an organisation called "thedomainname.com" and proof that "John Doe" (not his real name) is entitled to sign on behalf of that organisation.
Anyone come across this situation before, where the owner is not strictly a legal entity?
How to prove that John Doe can sign over 'thedomainname.com'?
In this situation, as both current and previous owner are friends and its a friendly 'take over', we can probably fudge the issue with some piece of paper, but I feel the situation must come up rather often.
In similar cases, I have two (not related) clients who have registered their domain names in their stage or writing names and there is no simple way to transfer the name to their legal names. Even though they are the same people. The registrar will only accept the transfer if they go to a notary and will accept that as proof that they are their 'stage name'.
1. Transfer the domain to a registrar that has a control panel that allows online Registrant changes
2. Change the Registrant at the new registrar to whatever you like - bingo, you "own" the domain!
#2 doesn't seem to exist. There is, as far as I know, no registrar that will transfer ownership without proof of ownership.
(Excpet maybe some rather dodgy looking russian ISP that I would not want to give my credit card number to).
For example NameCheap, eNom, NamesDirect, GoDaddy etc.
They all have online control panels that allow you to change the "Registrant" field after logging in with a username and password.
That's the norm these days.
And the owner of a domain is whoever is listed as the "Registrant" so as soon as that's changed, you're done.
Excpet maybe some rather dodgy looking russian ISP that I would not want to give my credit card number to
OK, it seems like it depends on the registrar and the 'applicable laws' of where it is based. So, it looks like I got some shuffling to do....
thanx
