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retired_member12

Putting aside for a moment that you are referring to a .org, I can assure you that as far as .uk is concerned, I am 100% correct regarding Nominet's stance on this point. Section 10 of their T&Cs explains their belief.

cambusman

DoubleTap I am not doubting Nominet's T&C's. My point about poker.org is the registration of the domain name has a value, but i do take your point that Nominet do not consider the domain name as an item of property or have an owner.

The ownership/registration thing aside, I still don't understand how a director, who in law no longer exists, can re-register a domain name which was registered to a company which no longer exists.

bb99

You are right... but you're also wrong

You're right if you assume that we live in a perfect world and the Nominet WHOIS database always reflects the business reality of what has gone on. It usually does.

However you are wrong in cases where the WHOIS data is inaccurate or out of date. The domain name could have been transferred/sold prior to the company's dissolution but without the WHOIS database being updated.

[I suppose you could argue that the domain was not transferred/sold if the WHOIS database was not updated and the transfer was not notified to Nominet - in which case you're right again!]

But sometimes these things just get forgotten, or people don't realise that there is a WHOIS database that needs updating, or that Nominet need to know about the new owner. So the new owner carries on for years completely unaware of their "incorrect" registration.

So my point is that it's not as black and white as what the WHOIS database shows - much like the DVLA database I suppose

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HariSeldon

All valid reasons but in any one specific case you'd just be assuming these were the reasons.

You're missing the crucial point in the letter that I highlighted earlier.

If as far as the company's books/documents were concerned the domain was sold/transferred to an individual then that individual has a right to the domain regardless of whether the Nominet Transfer was actioned.

It's standard business practice that there are circumstances where actions can be taken even though technically a legal entity no longer exists. One example would be claiming VAT back from HMRC if you receive a supplier's invoice after you've dissolved your company and de-registered for VAT.

Edwin

One example might be if the person enquiring is the founder of the company and was still the majority shareholder at the time it was dissolved. I don't know if that would be a strong enough case to get the domain name, but it might be?

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bb99

Indeed. And, if that was the case, I'm sure that he/she would be able to produce some... ahem ... paperwork relating to a sale/transfer (dated before the dissolution) to prove their case

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retired_member12

What's the point of recognising a company as the seperate legal entity it is, if you are going to allow a Director or shareholder (or both) lay claim to its assets or anything registered in its name. This thread has become very interesting, Nominet seem to pick & choose when they consider that line as broad on one occasion, but jumpable on another.

bb99

Only if they have paperwork to prove their claim - not just because they were a director or shareholder.

But my point in my last post is that *because* they were a director/shareholder, knocking up a bit of retrospective paperwork is perhaps not a big problem.

I guess this is why Nominet also ask for a signed indemnity, so if a claim later comes in then they aren't left to foot a big bill.

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Edwin

You may want to do business as a limited liability company even if you're a small 1-2 person outfit, precisely to limit your liability. In practice, that would give you near-total control over everything the business does. Or even if it's a much larger outfit, if by virtue of being the founder you also have overall control it's likely to be relatively easy to set up "favourable" deals on terms that - if vigorously scrutinised by an independent 3rd party - might seem too generous.

I won't name names (as I can't prove anything), but in the .com space I noticed one company hand over a portfolio of names that I would realistically appraise as a $50 million to $100 million portfolio (yes, really!) to their former CEO for a total consideration of about $1 million a few years ago.

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