I’ve just been speaking to a prospective client who may end up losing their company’s domain name; this would affect their website and email services. So I thought it would be helpful to explain a number of issues surrounding the registration of domains.

First of all make sure, if you use an agent to register your domain name, be it a web developer, hosting service provider, employee or best mate that they use your details and not their own. Now this may seem obvious, but in so many instances this just doesn’t happen.

Sometimes it’s perfectly innocent; the agent is ignorant of the fact that by registering your domain name in their name they are investing legal ownership in themselves and not you. Consequently, they should be happy to consent to transfer of ownership to you.

Unfortunately, where web developers, and to a lesser extent graphic designers, are concerned I suspect the majority who register your domain name in their name actually know the legal ramifications, but do it to exercise a hold over you. Personally, I feel this is extremely unprofessional to say the least.

My advice would be to put your request for registration of your chosen domain name to your agent in writing; this way you have a record of the fact, which may prove very useful if your agent still registers the domain name using their details and not yours.

Assuming you’ve done this or your domain has already been registered in your name or that of a business you’ve no need to read any further.

Changing legal ownership

OK, so you’ve discovered you don’t own your domain name. What do you do now?

That depends on whether it’s a .uk domain (e.g. .co.uk, .ltd.uk, .plc.uk, .org.uk or .me.uk) or a gTLD (global Top Level Domains) such as .com, .net, .org, .biz to name but a few.

.uk domains and Nominet

Nominet is the organisation that controls and administers .uk domains. You can buy a domain from Nominet direct, but it will cost about £80.00 + VAT for two years whereas agents charge just a fraction of that cost - Nominet want you to use registration agents so that they don’t have to deal with the administration overheads.

In the case of employees or ex-employees, provided you can prove this to be the case Nominet will charge you £10.00 and transfer ownership of the domain - once all the paperwork has been completed.

However, if the legal owner of the domain isn’t an employee, or ex-employee, you will have to go down another route.

First plan of action is to try to come to an amicable arrangement with the present legal owner. Talk to them, point out the mistake and ask them to agree to the transfer. If that works, download the transfer forms from the Nominet website and both parties will need to complete and sign the documentation. Send it off to Nominet with the appropriate fee and it should take about a week for Nominet to effect the change.

If you’re unlucky enough and the present owner disputes your rights to legal ownership then you will need to invoke Nominet’s DRS, Dispute Resolution Service.

The initial stage is free. Nominet speaks to both parties and tries to resolve the dispute. According to Nominet it has a 60% success rate.

Failing that, the next step is to request a Paid Expert Decision, which costs £750.00 + VAT. Once the decision has been given Nominet will either leave ownership as it is (the decision didn’t go in your favour) or change ownership - you won.

If either party wishes, there is the option to appeal against the decision. The appeal is organised by Nominet and the fee is £3000.00 + VAT. Again whether the ownership is changed will depend on the outcome.

gTLD Domains

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has overall responsibility for gTLDs and its Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) defines how disputes over domain name registrations are resolved in the global top-level domains (.biz, .com, .info, .name, .net, and .org as well as .aero, .coop, and .museum). The UDRP includes a mandatory, non-binding, low-cost administrative procedure to resolve a certain set of claims - namely, claims of abusive, bad faith registration. This means a bad faith violation of someone else’s trademark. In situations other than these, the UDRP provides that disputes must be resolved by traditional means such as voluntary negotiation and lawsuits. The UDRP is part of the Registration Agreement that Internet users sign to register domain names in the global top-level domains. A copy of the policy is available at http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm.

However some registrars, like Tucows, allow the person with access to the domain records to change the ownership details in real time without having to obtain anyone’s permission. If you’re lucky/foresighted enough to use such a registrar life will be a lot easier.

I hope this post has been helpful to you either in preventing problems arising in the first place, or as a starting point in assisting you to regain control of your domain name.

Registering domain names is easy, the choice of service providers bewilderingly large and the potential for regretting one’s actions later - humungous.

Let me explain, there are hundreds nay thousands of domain name registration agents only too willing to help you part with your money.

And the vast majority provide a reasonable service. However, there are some very well known companies, large ones, with the marketing muscle to offer what appear to be some very financially attractive (OK, I mean cheap) deals. Unfortunately, these often come with a sting in the tail.

For example, to name a few names, Easily will ’switch off’ your name servers usually within thirty minutes of you transferring your domain name elsewhere, leaving your website suspended in cyberspace "with no-where to go".

Another example is UK2. Their systems are fraught with the potential for delays in the transfer process simply because they make it unduly complicated, not to mention the appalling avenues of communication the company uses, or more accurately doesn’t.

And finally, Iomart - a £50.00 transfer away charge. Although having spoken to Nominet on the subject they inform me it is not uncommon for companies to charge as much as £100.00.

Moral of the story? Check out your domain name registration company and their terms and conditions before placing your business with them, otherwise you will almost certainly live to regret it.

Moving on, if you do decide to register your own domain name make sure the contact email address you use is ALWAYS kept up-to-date with your domain name registration agent. Failure to do so can mean losing your domain name. Why? Well, for instance, when your domain name is due for renewal the majority of domain name registration agents will notify you by email. And if you don’t receive the email because you have changed your email address without informing the company you only have yourself to blame. Bye bye domain name.

Finally a word about the legal registrant - that is the person who legally owns the domain. There are many potential problems here. Ignorant or unethical agents (these could be friends, web developers, graphic designers…) who you have asked to register your domain name on your behalf.

What happens far too often is that these people register the domain name not in your name, or the name of your organisation, but in their own name. I have truly lost count of the number of poor unfortunates who have fallen victim to this scenario.

In short, if someone else is registering your domain name for you, inform them in writing of the EXACT name of the legal registrant. That way you have documentary evidence of your instructions. Also, having paid for the domain name insist on an invoice/bill that states that you are paying for the domain name.

What often happens is an agent may be providing hosting services as well and just lumps all services, say, under one description such as "virtual Server". Insist that somewhere in the description it mentions the specific domain name. That way you have proof that you purchased the domain name and Nominet in the case of .uk domains will accept such an invoice/receipt as proof of ownership and will change the legal registrant’s name to correct any anomalies.

But at the end of the day, if in doubt seek out the advice of a reputable professional.

This is by no means an exhaustive guide as to what can go wrong, but highlights a few of the more common problems.

It’s your domain - look after it!

I could write pages and pages of stuff about "difficult" domain name registration companies, but I won’t today, because I’m far too busy.

But I do have a smile on my face, because one of the most awkward companies to deal with when it comes to transferring domain names away from them, UK2.NET, has just been side-stepped thus avoiding considerable delays and their ’sour grapes’ transfer fees.

How? By using Nominet to change the IPSTag without involving UK2.NET at all. OK, it cost £15.00 + VAT, but it meant the domain got transferred to our management system in a few days as opposed to the few weeks my client had spent being totally ignored by UK2.NET.

I call that a result.

When I have more time I’ll return to the subject of UK2.NET as they are such a wonderful example of what can go wrong when you deal with a ‘cheap’ company that actually turns out expensive to deal with.