A client of mine has asked for my advice about a .com domain which a former director of the company has control over and is using to gain business by using my client's company name. The domain name in question goes in the form <companyname>.com. My client's main website uses the form <companyname>.co.uk, but the .com was registered in addition to stop other parties gaining business from the company name.
They have already sent formal communications requesting he relinquish the domain name and have kept records. My question relates to the process involved to contact ICANN/the registrar (MelbourneIT) to allow my client to recover the domain name. It seems a fairly open/shut case - I'm just unsure of how the process should be started.
I have dealt with a similar issue with a .co.uk domain before and Nominet (the .uk registration body) have a very good dispute procedure that can be initiated on their website. However, when I looked at the ICANN website, I merely find a policy wording rather than an actual means to starting the procedure. If I'm allowed to show the url of the ICANN page I mean, it is:
[icann.org...]
It seems to me that ICANN require you to use a third party arbitration panel rather than handling the procedure themselves - is this true?
If anyone has any experience of the actual recovery procedure involving ICANN/the registrar/an arbitration panel I'd be very interested to hear from you.
Kind Regards,
John
If you visit the WIPO and National Arbitration Forum websites you will find that they post the decisions of the arbitrators. Pretty illuminating. Not too hard their reasoning and fact patterns.
Cheers,
John
Three things to try first before you commit to that.
#1. If you have documentation that you (your company) had/have an ownership right in this domain you can contact the registrar directly and go on the theory of "domain hijacking". Make sure that the name is not in danger of expiring soon, (if it is pay the renewal yourself) as having the domain expire will only complicate things for you.
#2. Get a lawyer experienced in the ACPA Anti-Cybersquatting Legislation and decide if the fines and penalities under this law will motivate your ex director to transfer the domain.
Anti-Cybersquatting Piracy Act (ACPA) Lanham Act S. 43(d) 15 USCS1125(d)
This link to the Harvard Law school may give you some more ideas.
eon.law.harvard.edu/property00/domain/legislation.html
#3. Contact the owner either directly or thru a brokerage like Afternic.com and make an offer on the order of $1,000 considering that your legal and arbitration expenses are likely to be in excess of that.
ALSO, before you do any of the above review the availablity of the other popular TLD extensions like .info, .net, .org, .biz, .us and acquire any of those you want before stiring the pot.
Failing that, review the ICANN approved arbitration results and confirm that your facts are consistent with favorable decisions.
GOOD LUCK :)
If you have documentation that you (your company) had/have an ownership right in this domain you can contact the registrar directly and go on the theory of "domain hijacking". Make sure that the name is not in danger of expiring soon, (if it is pay the renewal yourself) as having the domain expire will only complicate things for you.
That's if bmbjohn's client is listed as the registrant of the domain. Otherwise, registrars don't
care until they get notice from a Court or an arbitration provider.
If you visit the WIPO and National Arbitration Forum websites you will find that they post the decisions of the arbitrators. Pretty illuminating. Not too hard their reasoning and fact patterns.
BTW, I posted this before. But here's another link to give you guys a "clearer" picture:
[arbiter.wipo.int...]
