hello Everyone

I need a little bit of help. One of my clients had some bloke register a domain name for them. Lets call this A.com. The bloke who registered this used to work for my client but decided to quit and start his own company up doing the same thing.

Now that he has left the bloke has decided to point the a.com to his web site so all the a.com customers see his site not a.com

The A.com is registered in the blokes name and address but the bloke who registered it had sent them an invoice to say they have bought a.com from him.

I Know the answer to this question "Who owns a.com" the bloke who registered it and whos name its in.

What i need to know is does my client have a leg to stand on to try and get it back some how?

any help would be brilliant

Thank you

You already have the answer, but if the a.com name is the name of your clients business, then they do have one leg to stand on.

so if the clients business is called a then the client has a leg to stand on? for example if a bloke from coke decided to start a new business up called dr pepper and when he left he redirected coke.com to drpepper.com cus he registered it for the company would coke beable to get the domain back?

thanks
Dave

He who owns the trademark owns the domain.

No trademark? Perhaps a famous brand?

No famous brand? Perhaps an expensive lawyer who likes to send lots of letters?

They also have a leg to stand on on the basis of past usage, and agency. The employee/contractor acted as agent of the employer/client in buying the domain on their behalf. Furthermore, there is an invoice to prove it.

It is always a good idea to have domain billing and administrative contacts on the domain owner's name. The techniical contact can be on anyone's name. I am not sure of your clients has enough leg to stand on this matter. Good luck anyway!

He who owns the trademark owns the domain.


I'd like to ask a slightly removed question.

If the domain was registered before the trademark, then the trademark holders claim on the domain is invalid, correct?

He who owns the trademark owns the domain.

Not necessarily. I can point you to various cases where the trademark holder filed a dispute but failed to get the domain name-sake, one of the most egregious (and messy) being the mess.com dispute.

If the domain was registered before the trademark, then the trademark holders claim on the domain is invalid, correct?

Also not necessarily. Although it was eventually overturned, see the first MySpace.co.uk decision to get an idea of what exceptional, limited circumstances can a subsequent trademark holder possibly...possibly...obtain the domain name.

To the OP: as the others intimated, though, the biggest question is does your client have a trademark for the word or so matching the domain name? Otherwise, your client practically has no enforceable claim towards the domain itself other than maybe buying it from its current holder

If your client can demonstrate that, then s/he better talk to a lawyer versed in these things. No online forum is going to completely answer if your client will possibly get it or not.

I know a forum wont fully help me i just wanted to ask to see if you lot had any idea.

i may aswell say the name

the domain is halcyonic.co.uk they have now just got www.halcyonic.net but if you see halcyonic.co.uk ends up at http://www.copyfaxservices.co.uk which is direct competition.

for got to say are also a limited company as A ltd

sorry double posted

... they have now just got www.halcyonic.net ...

They're in as much danger with this domain name as it apparently belongs to:Registrant Contact:
4sites Ltd
Best they get themselves appointed as Registrant asap or face the possibility of history repeating itself.

[edit]
Regarding your query about ideas on what to do about halcyonic.co.uk, I would start reading up here: nominet disputes/legal (http://www.nominet.org.uk/disputes/)

this is hurting my head!!!!!!! But I would simply sue the offender because what he is doing is stealing from the company he USED to work for. Take legal action against him. The business owner has full wrights to the domain since the EMPLOYEE was working for him at the time the domain was bought. Cheers