Here it's what happened,

a new client looking for a website design... he used to have his domain name. renewed for the first year and domain expires at July 2005. i don't know what reason he had for DON'T renew his domain this time...

so, in Dec 2005 someone else did it. Now the domain he used to have is registered to someone who is trying to re-sell it. The new registrant is Spiral Matrix.

i don't know who they are but if we go to www.kenyatech.com and make a search they have my client's domain and a "Make Offer" link.

I know the fault was not renew the domain... but what changes do we have to recover this domain that 'll be used for my client's company website.

Well the domain's lost because nobody renewed it right?
Only hope is to buy it from the current owner.

if it's stuck in a reseller, you may have to wait until they go out of biz to get it back...should be too long...few years...but then again may be sold to another reseller...which would cause the process to repeat itself..few more years

like oceanworld said, you'll have to make an offer if you're serious

btw...i'm sure the registrar had him fill out the contact email...

yep there's a contact email billing@kenyatech.com :)

i'll say it to my client so, he decide if we make an offer or dont. Too bad this practice is still not penalized.

Buy it from new owner, this is the only solution

Too bad this practice is still not penalized.
What practice? Registering an available domain?

:) yep i know the domain was available.

but the current owner's bussiness has nothing to do with the domain more than overcharge for release the domain. This domain is related to my client's company.

well we'll see how much does it cost the domain now

You have 100% chance to buy it back from kenyatech :) But it won't be cheap :( Please let us know how much the ask and settle for.

Even if your client had a trademark on the name they probably wouldn't recover it by filing a UDRP case because they do not favor trademark owners who let their domains drop.

kenya tech is buying all the names lately it seems

Yep. Some of my plurals/singulars too :)

During my divorce I became distracted and lost several of my better domain names by failing to renew them. Other people registered them and then immediately sold them making huge amounts of money off my misfortune. While it didn't make me happy - I certainly can't blame them. They simply registered (or backordered) great domain names that were becoming available. They didn't know me and they didn't mean to hurt me. This is business. To succeed you can't make mistakes like failing to renew your domain names. If you do, you should expect someone to take advantage of your error.

With that said, Kenyatech has been doing this for some time and they've upset quite a few people. Some of whom have put up retaliation sites and forums. See: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=kenyatech

You might want to read these to give you some insight into negotiating with them.

It just seems they like to focus on africa names

kenyatechsucks.com is available :)

I agree with 4solutions. You've only got yourself to blame for your own mistakes and oversights.

You've only got yourself to blame for your own mistakes and oversights.

The OP originally said it's his client who didn't renew the name. ;)

That was meant to be a generic statement, davezan. Not pointed at anybody in particular, except probably me :(

That was meant to be a generic statement, davezan. Not pointed at anybody in particular, except probably me :(

He he he, no prob. :)

Spiral Matrix in Kenya (kenyatech.com) is another one of these companies that are specialists in extorting people. Here is how it goes. They swoop up expired domains or register new ones, that most likely belong to someone or some company, i.e., such as a trademark owner. If you want the domain back, you have to offer them money. So instead of simply paying $7 dollars for a domain, they want to sell it to you for $70 or $700 or $7000. Obviously this is criminal think. They know it is your name and so they are trying to extort you to pay them money for it back.

The legal term which covers this is "cybersquatting".

One particular website I found said this about Kenyatech.com

"My domain was gone. I had the .org and I was willing to take the hit and gamble for the .com that I might lose. Turns out this company Kenyatech, which is listed on your blog sniped the domain. I guess on his business side this vulture lilke behavior can be profitable. If he hits a $500 domain out of 30 sniped expiring domains he doubles his money. Not bad by any standard for ROI. Selling crack and being a pimp has a good ROI too. The question of course is ethics. There is also no viable body to go to for redress. It costs $1500 just to get a hearing on a trademark/domain case. It's cheaper just to pay these hyenias off. But ultimately I agree with you, I'm not negotiating with terrorists. It's lose-lose. If nobody negotiated with them they wouldn't exist. It's like ticket scalpers. If everyone demanded face value only tickets scalpers would go away."

WIPO stands for World Intellectual Property Organization. They are a dispute resolution system for domain names. This is like a legal system for domain names. Kenyatech.com, interestingly enough, has been involved in several of these. I wonder why.

Perhaps because they thought they could get away with registering:

porsches.net
porschespr.com
etc. etc.

It looks like they were also involved in another arbitration matter, using a different arbitration forum. This one is known as the National Arbitration Forum. They thought they could get away with registering targetsstore.com. Funny thing is, they keep losing these cases.

That is because they are LOSERS. Sometimes you have to confront the truth. The more you know about them, the more you can not be affected by them.

I am putting together a list of links. As soon as I finish this posting, I will be able to give them to you. I hope...

Okay, read these and understand for yourself what I am talking about.

WIPO Decisions:
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2005/d2005-1044.html
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2005/d2005-0890.html
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2005/d2005-1196.html
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2005/d2005-1145.html

NAF Decision:
http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/decisions/624926.htm

Other Sites:
http://www.fontcraft.com/csa/culturecomments.php?id=379_0_6_0_C
http://www.blogdenovo.org/archives/000188.html

These kind of extortionists shouldn't be allowed to get away with this. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones.

if you lost your name, it means that you are either Cheap or you suffer from some weird syndrome that make you feel desperate and stupid after not do what you were suppose to do. This is simple as 1, 2, 3, and 2+2=4

i don't know about the company you use, but godaddy and 1and1 gives you the choice of auto renew the name every year. it is your responsibility to be on top of this, in my case I have a bunch of names which i don’t use and not even planning to use them, but they are on auto renew! So if someone one to buy the name, they will need to talk to me about it, which at that point I will make my money back. And even if I don’t sell the names, what’s 8 dollars even 100 a year? Do the math and I bet you that you spend more on soda and tips than having the auto renew “ON” instead of “OFF”.

My 2 cents.

Thanks. I appreciate your response. And while you may be correct. I happen to have personal experience that they registered, I repeat, REGISTERED a domain using a registered trademark. So there was no chance of forgetting to renew. I am pointing out to others that this is not a reputable company and their activities I would consider criminal. I bet you haven't read:

"Squatters Exposed"

http://www.rootfest.net/squatters.html

No, this wasn't me. I just found it, otherwise I would have cited to it earlier. For the love of all, I am alerting them to who they are really dealing with.

Looks like even Wikipedia discovered the truth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Solares

But why in the world anyone let their names get into "redemption period"????

probably im missing something, can some one please enlighten me?:uhh:

I happen to have personal experience that they registered, I repeat, REGISTERED a domain using a registered trademark. So there was no chance of forgetting to renew.
Not sure what exactly did you mean by that.

Please note that at least in this case, the thread starter actually mentioned a 5 - 6 months' lapse between expiry and the new registration date. Of course, if a trademark is involved, then it's another story.

domain expires at July 2005. i don't know what reason he had for DON'T renew his domain this time...

so, in Dec 2005 someone else did it.

Having been also a victim of (my own stupidity and) Kenyatech, I've enjoyed all these links, Hey Now. Good job.

Elfalso, You are correct. Why would someone let their domain lapse, if they still want it? However, there are some people that do, forget to pay, don't pay timely, etc. I suppose that's the best response I could give. It would be definite lack of foresight from my perspective (yours too).

Nameslave, thanks. If you work at Porsche AG in Germany and are in charge of domain names, you might get an idea of what they may have to go through to protect their trademarks. Porsche is a registered trademark. It isn't okay for Kenyatech.com to register domains which misuse that trademark. If someone decided to register porsches.net, such as in the above case, this is obviously an attempt to attract people who may have mistyped their intended URL. They would only be doing this because they know people search for data on Porsches and they want to make money. Thus, registering porsches.net would simply be done in bad faith (a legal term - in other words done maliciously and intentionally). The second WIPO link above covers this.

Stu2, Thank you. I am glad it was helpful.