Advice needed - Domain theft!

SkintBint

All,

I have since sent proof to Nominet that I have paid for the domain and used it since 2003 and they have agreed to return it to me. :beer:

However I have received a call from the 3rd party company today threatening legal action against me as they have paid for the transfer and a web designer to create a website for them for £800 and now can't use it.

Firstly, I am irritated that I wasn't informed before the domain was taken away, and secondly do I have to give up my domain to these people just because they were registered at companys house first? I want to keep my domain.

superscaper

SkintBint wrote:

All,

I have since sent proof to Nominet that I have paid for the domain and used it since 2003 and they have agreed to return it to me. :beer:

However I have received a call from the 3rd party company today threatening legal action against me as they have paid for the transfer and a web designer to create a website for them for £800 and now can't use it.

Firstly, I am irritated that I wasn't informed before the domain was taken away, and secondly do I have to give up my domain to these people just because they were registered at companys house first? I want to keep my domain.

Good news, stick it to the man. They can't take your domain just because they are registered with companies house. So long as all your contact details when you registered your domain are legit then your safe with that. The only thing they can claim is cybersquatting (my personal ethical opinion is "so what if someone got to the domain first") but again it isn't an issue since the name is relevant to your trading business (or was). If they wasted money I don't see how that's your fault. It sounds as if they were being underhanded in the first place as to have your domain stripped from you they must have claimed you were trading under their identity which is obviously false.

Alfie_E

SkintBint wrote:

…secondly do I have to give up my domain to these people just because they were registered at companys house first? I want to keep my domain.

No. As has already been stated, .co.uk domain names are provided on a strictly first-come-first-served basis, unless the registration can been shown to be, in Nominet’s words, abusive.

As someone once said, “It’s only a domain name, dear.” They can use the website with an alternative domain name. They have an absolute right to perfectsystems.ltd.uk, by way of their registration at Companies’ House. The cost should be minimal to register a new domain name, and replace all the references in the text of their website from “perfectsystems.co.uk” to a new domain name.

It’s Ideal Hosting, Perfect System’s hosting company, who are wholly liable for making such a botch of the job. Even there, they’re not going to be liable for the whole cost of the website, as the situation is rescuable. There could be other things they might be liable, such as if Perfect Systems Ltd had just paid for a new set of business stationary with that domain name on it.

While Perfect Systems could go to court to try to get the domain name, it would be unwise of them to do so. Courts are never impressed by complainants who go straight to court when there was a realistic possibility of reaching agreement beforehand. Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service provides free mediation, and it would be Perfect Systems who’d have to pay to get an initial binding decision. If they were to try to claim damages for cybersquatting, they’d have to show more than the fact that they couldn’t use the domain name they wanted.

Dead_Eye_Jones

interesting stuff, let us know how it goes. There are a few stories like this on theregister.co.uk im sure theyd be intersted in it you wanted some attention/support.

Personally I agree that its their fault for not checking out the situation first. You registered and used that domain so I dont see any prob at all. Ive registered a few myself and always check first to see what variations of the name are already in use.

Im looking forward to the day a famous person who shares my name tries to wrestle it from me. An amercian guy owns the .com and I own the .co.uk - Id hope that we would be allowed to keep them, it would really suck if I lost the domain to someone just because of their celeb status as if being famous affords you more rights in the world - pah! Anyways, its unlikely to ever be an issue!!

SkintBint

Sent an email to them this morning, but they appear to have ingored it and have so far rung my mobile twice and my house several times... :mad:

******** and Nominet have apologised and transferred *******.co.uk back to me today. I have finally got my email back after this long period of inconvenience (although all emails recieved in the meantime have been lost). I do regard this whole affair as a hostile takeover but I understand it was down to a mistake at Nominet and not orchestrated by yourselves.

I do understand your position but I have owned and paid for this domain since 2003 and see no advantage in relinquishing it to another company.

Be aware that at no time - or in the future will I - trade under the 'Limited' name or attempt to pass myself off as your company - of which I have not previously heard of.

Also please note that I will not accept any further unsolicited phone calls and will only respond to written communication. Email is satisfactory.

Many thanks for your co-operation and I wish you every success in your future business dealings.

Yours sincerely,

superscaper

Sounds reasonable to me, they shouldn't be harassing you with phone calls anyway. Are you actually answering the phone calls or just ignoring them after seeing the caller id? Just curious as to what they could possibly have to say to you other than a monetary offer for your domain.

SkintBint

I'm ignoring them - that won't go against me will it? I don't see why they cant send an email or letter.

superscaper

SkintBint wrote:

I'm ignoring them - that won't go against me will it? I don't see why they cant send an email or letter.

I don't see why it would count against you. They are trying to contact you (as you say unsolicited) about something that you rightly own. I personally wouldn't want to be bothered by phone either. If they want to pursue anything then they can go through nominet mediation. Depends how persistant they are phoning. It may be worth answering once to see what they have to say to themselves and maybe telling them if they phone again you'll make a complaint against them for harrassment.

lemontart

Their claim if they actually have one should be against nominet or the person they bought the domain name from as you have done nothing wrong.

Beth
xxx

amcluesent

As this company is based in Essex, shouldn't they be trading as perficksystems.co.uk?