I know someone whose domain name was registered by her website designer who now is ignoring her emails to give her the control.

Short of hiring a lawyer, what are her other options to get back the domain name which is her name?

http://whois.sc

Do a whois lookup on the domain.

The person in the Registrant feild is the legal owner of the domain.


Sorry to say but theres nothing you can do if the domain is registered under the designers name.

If she has a written agreement indicating the domain was to be hers, she may have a chance (depending on the wording) other than that, not much

If the domain was registered by the designer, with money from her account then you probably cannot do much. Unless ofcourse you want to spend a lot of money on a lawyer and other fees. How valuable is this domain to your friend?

she's an actress so the website is important

The webdesigner might be having personal problems (they ARE artistic and temperamental :D ). Before you break out the big guns, have her try the personal approach and telephone him/her. It's easy to ignore an email. A personal voice asking nicely, even on a voice mail, is much harder.

If no reply after several nice telephone calls and a few nice notes maybe asking to "reimburse" the webdesigner for a "reasonable transfer fee" (aka - extortion money) that the designer might want. I would give this several weeks to a month to take effect. It's easier to catch bees with honey rather vinegar as they say.

But if that doesn't work, then she should send several escalating certified letters stating that she paid the webdesigner for the domain name and that she wants it transferred into her control as soon as possible. Subtle, but escalating suggestions of legal action should be included. Be sure to send them via certified mail - return receipt requested (it's very intimidating)

Next step would be to contact an attorney nearby the webdesigner to send out a demand letter on the attorney's letterhead. This should cost about a couple of hundred dollars or so.

After that, my friend, it gets expensive. I believe a UDRP is a couple of thousand for mediation fees not including the attorney's fees. If the guy is a total jerk, she could try reporting him to all the government authorities (state attorney general, FTC, BBB, local police).

Hopefully the guy will respond and give her the domain back... but you might want to put a backorder on it just in case.

Good Luck! ;)

Thanks, 4solutions.

She will be contacting him by phone next.

The webdesigner's main business is creating websites for actors and actresses so I suppose a subtle solution about not giving him a good recommendation might also do the job if he doesn't respond in a positive manner.

It is too bad that people do no pay attention to things like this before it is too late.

I know of another actress who lost her .com domain and was forced to register her .net domain. One of her fans blamed it on scumbug domain thiefs. The problem was that a fan registered the .com but lost in interest and let the registration drop. The actress did not think it was important while the fan was handling it, and then for some reason decided it was important again because she had a solo CD and wanted a website. By then it was too late.

Originally posted by ieee488
It is too bad that people do no pay attention to things like this before it is too late.

Many people just simply don't know or even care about this. And if
this does happen, that's when they start paying attention.

Human nature...or is it?

Anyway, ieee488, hope that actress gets the domain back.

Originally posted by davezan


Many people just simply don't know or even care about this. And if
this does happen, that's when they start paying attention.

Human nature...or is it?
[/B]

True enough.

Or they think that one website designer is much like another.
So they choose based on the design skills and that alone.
Unforunately, it's the non-design stuff that comes back and bite them in the tush. ;)

It is frustrating to be not able to get across the point that
some handle these issues in a more professional and ethical manner than some others. I would never register a domain name for a client in my name unless they want it, and who would when it is explained to them?

Ah, well. We shall see what happens. It's 3+ weeks and counting on this, and still no resolution.

Appeal to the United Nations ( Really ) do a search. Cost about a G-Note , Cheaper than going to Belgium with ICANN though. UN regularly arbitrates domain name disputes. If it is worth a G-Note than you can get it.

if the name is her FirstLastnames.com she can get it via UDRP such as other actresses got theirs

Wow that is a lot of money for UDRP.

I think she paid like $250-300 for her entire website.
Too funny that it could cost her $1000+ to get her domain name back.

I haven't heard from her about this since her last email telling me she was going to call the website designer.

Originally posted by eventbroker
Appeal to the United Nations ( Really ) do a search. Cost about a G-Note , Cheaper than going to Belgium with ICANN though. UN regularly arbitrates domain name disputes. If it is worth a G-Note than you can get it.

:confused:

Eventbroker: You mean WIPO, right?

Filing a UDRP is $1,500.00 exclusive of your lawyers' fees.

Yep that is where a lot of Actors are going. Morgan Freemen just got his back from there.

Originally posted by ieee488
Wow that is a lot of money for UDRP.

I think she paid like $250-300 for her entire website.
Too funny that it could cost her $1000+ to get her domain name back.

I haven't heard from her about this since her last email telling me she was going to call the website designer.
Not to be rude, if she (the actress) can't even afford a couple of thousands to get file for an UDRP, then she might want to think about a career change.

LOL - Gotta point htere!

Originally posted by nameslave
Not to be rude, if she (the actress) can't even afford a couple of thousands to get file for an UDRP, then she might want to think about a career change.

Nah, just stick to acting and forget about establishing an online
presence. :D