Lost Domain Name, but paid for it first

[Kostaz826]

I was the owner of the domain [example.com]. I had the hosting and domain through [example.com]. On January 20th I let the domain and hosting lapse. I went and renewed the domain on April 10th and the hostin on April 12th.
As of April 15th the domain was bought by someone else. I found this information out by a whois search, how was this domain registered after the date that I registered it, and how do I get all my files back in case I can't restore that domain? Is it even legal to be able to take a domain after it has been paid for? I'd appreciate any help that can be given. Thank you.

[edited by: buckworks at 9:02 pm (utc) on April 18, 2007]
[edit reason] Please don't list specific domain names. [/edit]

[kncmultimedia]

Hi, It sounds like you may have been attempting to renew during or after it had dropped? When your domain expired It went into into a Grace Period. If it was a .com it was 40 days. You can renew during the 40 days. After this it goes into an Redemption Period where you can renew but may have to pay premium up to ~$70 - $100 Dollars to get the domain back. This lasts 30 days for a .com then after that theres a Pending Delete Phase of about 1 to 7 days then it drops. Before it drops if someone backorders the domain through another registrar they get the domain. In this instance you could have ordered it but was reversed because someone had backordered it first, or was registered at about the same time but beat you to the punch. Lesson Learned? Dont let your Domain expire, set it to auto-renew with valid credit card attached to your account.