UKNM: Re: UKNM Digest V1 #170 - Domain Name Theft

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Dear Charles,


With regard your domain name situation.


I have been on both sides of this battle before but not gone to 

court. However there is some court precedence now and alot 

depends on the situation.


My advice is not legal and does not necessarily have any 

coincidence with reality! So take it or leave it at your own discretion.


Alot depends on the domain name and where they registered it.


If it is a generic word or description like free.co.uk or ukindex.com 

or somesuch then you can't do much about it. Noone can copyright 

or register these sorts of words as trademarks so anyone can have 

them as a domain name. However if the word is a genuine 

registered trademark then you are in a good position to get it back.


If the person/company who registered it are in the same country 

(same jurisdiction) then you've a good chance and first stage is a 

legal letter. They could conceivably charge a transfer fee but it will 

be up to you to not allow that to be more than a couple of hundred 

quid max. Precedence has ruled against such companies getting 

away with this extortion in court and they get alot of bad press too.


If they are in another country, if its in Europe (EC) then the same 

trademark laws apply, just its a bit more expensive, cumbersome 

and difficult to prove you were there first.


If its outside the EC then you've a bit more trouble on your hands. 

The first stage is to check whether your client has actually in the 

past registered their name in that country before. If so then you 

probably hold the trademark in that country and therefore hold the 

rights to it same as above.


If not then the best you can do is to go to Internic (or nominet) or 

whoever, depending on which domain it is, and follow their 

guidelines for dispute.


As far as I know, copyright law is not yet global, however there are 

large moves to make it so after the huge music pirating scandals in 

China etc.. It might be worth finding out about latest developments 

as they may act in your favour.


Best of luck.


Anthony Appleby 

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