A client of mine renewed his domain name in Dec. with ns.com. It was up for renewal on Dec. 24th. He received a message on Jan. 25th stating that they couldn't complete the renewal because of his email setup. Instead of calling me then, he tried to straighten it out on his own. The upshot is that someone else registered the name on Jan. 29th through a different domain company.

What's the best way to try to get the domain name back?

Thanks all,

John

make the new domain owner an offer they cannot refuse ;)

I don't believe you have any legal recourse, unless the new domain owner can be disqualified under the Uniform Domain Dispute Policy http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm.

You can always threaten the original registrar with legal action if they took his money before the domain expired and they were then unable to register it before it expired. If they did not take his money while the domain was still active, you probably have little to stand on.

It sucks.

-t

Someone snapped my domain name.
I guess it would be hard if you don't have a trademark on the domain name.

Even if you have a trademark you going to have to deal with crap :uhh:

Originally posted by thewitt
I don't believe you have any legal recourse, unless the new domain owner can be disqualified under the Uniform Domain Dispute Policy http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm.

You can always threaten the original registrar with legal action if they took his money before the domain expired and they were then unable to register it before it expired. If they did not take his money while the domain was still active, you probably have little to stand on.

It sucks.

-t

They did take his money before it expired. They sent him an email more than a month after it expired. Someone bought it 5 days later. I've never heard of an expired domain going this fast.

John

Originally posted by jonra1000


They did take his money before it expired. They sent him an email more than a month after it expired. Someone bought it 5 days later. I've never heard of an expired domain going this fast.

John
If they took his money for the renewal before the domain expired, why wasn't the domain renewed?

-t

Originally posted by thewitt

If they took his money for the renewal before the domain expired, why wasn't the domain renewed?

-t

A month after they took his money they sent him an email saying there was a problem with his email setup. Names Direct billed his credit card for the renewal on Dec. 29th. The first indication of a problem was a letter on Jan. 25th. The domain was resold on the 29th of Jan.

This sounds like a very simple case to resolve to me. I'm no lawyer, but they took his money and did not provide the service. The result was a loss of intellectual property.

I would think that a visit to a lawyer would resolve this one quickly enough.

-t

The chance of getting the name back is rather slim unless the new owner is willing to sell it.

It sounds like your customer will have to take Names Direct to civil court and sue for it's appraised value. If you can prove they charged the card and then didn't renew it and after a month it expired it sounds pretty open and shut.

Chances are once they see you are serious about taking them to court they will try to deal with that individual who purchased the name to see if they can't buy it and then give it back to you. It would be cheaper then facing a verdict against them if your customer can prove high damages.

Find a good lawyer and they will file contact Names Direct on your behalf and if that fails they will know how to file the necessary documents to begin the case against them.

For all you know, it could be stolen from you by.....
Normally, if the domain expires, it will not be released to the public untill 45 days later. I know, the domain registrar will send you reminder before they actually delete them.

For curiousity, what was the domain name.

Good luck.

Originally posted by thewitt
This sounds like a very simple case to resolve to me. I'm no lawyer, but they took his money and did not provide the service. The result was a loss of intellectual property.

I would think that a visit to a lawyer would resolve this one quickly enough.But if the name was taken by someone else using a different registrar, what recourse would namesdirect have? They don't have the ability to return the name now. It seems that the best you could get from a registrar under the circumstances is some amount of monetary damages. Possession of the name is now out of namesdirect's control, isn't it?

Then, depending on what the domain name is and the particulars of the John's client's business, maybe they could dispute possession of the name under the UDRP. No way to say what the prospects for that are without knowing all the details.

Originally posted by brandon
For all you know, it could be stolen from you by.....
Normally, if the domain expires, it will not be released to the public untill 45 days later. I know, the domain registrar will send you reminder before they actually delete them.

For curiousity, what was the domain name.

Good luck.

The domain was citifed.com. I'm trying to get everything working properly for citifedmortgage.com, which is another domain they own.

I'm wondering what's stopping my client from registering a trademark for the name? I doubt very much if the new owners have bothered. Wonder if you can get a trademark for a domain name someone else has registered?

John

i am wondering if the police can help ?

Originally posted by chrisrz
i am wondering if the police can help ?

What - after nearly four years???

You dug up rather an old thread there...

Originally posted by Lubeca
What - after nearly four years???

You dug up rather an old thread there...
That's the good thing (or bad thing) about forum and its search capacity. LOL!

Talk about waking up the dead

I suppose that's the benefit with having large bold post dates.
Everyone's done it at some point, especially at a forum they're new at and don't automatically check the date for.