cambusman

(nice simple starter post)
I recently spoke to someone at Nominet regarding the ownership of a domain name and I would be interested in reading eveyones thoughts on the matter.

The domain name in question is registered by a limited company which has now been dissolved. In passing, the man from Nominet said that if the "owners" were still using the domain name then all they would have to do to re-register it was prove that they owned the previous company. I questioned this as my understanding of company law is that if a limited company is dissolved all its unclaimed assets are retained by the crown, Bona Vacantia:
The man from Nominet just re-iterated his point adding, this is an accepted practice. I'm not sure that this is an acceptable practice, since the owners of the company no longer own the company because it doesn't exist! If we take it a stage further then would I, if I owned shares in a PLC which went under, would be able to demand the domain name on production of my share certificate?

(Point of info Bona Vacantia used to deal with domains of dissolved companies)

retired_member12

Nominet don't consider them as assets, just an entry in their database.

tifosi

Domain names are not owned. They are a rolling contractual agreement based on the registry t&c.

BonaVacantia got their come-uppance a few years ago when domains they appeared to control and were auctioning were released by Nominet. One that comes to mind was rock.co.uk which made the new registrant £xx,xxx from memory.

S

cambusman

Fair point, got my terminology wrong. I suppose the title should be "Who is the contract with?" The registrant must be a person, either body corporate or an individual. So if the domain name is registered by a body corporate which subsequently is dissolved then the contract no longer exists. For an ex director to then go to Nominet and say "I used to own the company please can I get the name?" and be given it I think is wrong. Contractually the ex-director has the same standing as anyone else.

retired_member13

If you're that bothered about it why don't you challenge Nominet in court over the name?

retired_member12

Any chance you recorded that? PM me if you did.

m4c

I was a director of a company now dissolved, but had a personal email listed as the whois contact - have just received this letter from Nominet in case you are interested in the process from the 'other side'.

The expiry date is not until mid 2011 - so they must be running a check for dissolved co's against registrant names.

>>>>

Hi,

I refer to previous correspondence regarding the [yourname].co.uk domain name. The domain name is registered for [Your Company] Ltd, which is listed at Companies House as a dissolved company.

If you believe that the domain name should have always been registered to you and you can provide evidence to show this I may be able to issue an indemnity (correction) form to correct the registrant details. Please note that there is an administration fee of £30.00 + VAT.

If you want to start this process please provide us with the following information:

* evidence that the listed registrant is now dissolved

* evidence of your established use of the domain name, this may include:
- order forms and invoices relating to the domain name.
- evidence of historical use of the domain name e.g. historical web pages showing clear use.
- the ability to receive and respond to emails sent to an email address at the domain name.

* evidence that the registration should have been transferred from the dissolved company before the company ceased to exist.

* confirmation that there are no dispute or third party claims that you are aware of.

Please mark all correspondence for the attention of Paul ******** and send it by fax to 01865 332288 or by post to the address listed below.

If I do not hear from you by 15 March 2010, the domain name will be put forward for suspension pending cancellation at a later date. Once suspended any services associated with the domain name will stop.

Regards,

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I replied to ask whether I could simply arrange a transfer of the name thru the nominet website, as I still control the registrar account - the answer back was:

>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hi,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately you are unable to complete a transfer now as you do not have the authority to make these changes. This is because the registrant no longer exists.

The only way we are able to change the registrant information is if you can provide us with evidence that the domain name is still being used. If it remains dormant, we will need to proceed with the cancellation process. Once cancelled, you will be able to re-register it.

Evidence that the domain name should have been transferred would be something like a sale of assets to the new registrant.

etc etc etc
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hope that helps a bit...

HariSeldon

Good post, thanks for publishing the letter which clears everything up.

To me this backs up what the OP's contact at Nominet said apart from he didin't mention this all important part:

All seems very fair and reasonable to me.

retired_member12

Why would anyone think this is an issue to Nominet?

cambusman

Thanks for the posting m4c, but I am not sure this clears things up.

The reasons that companies own domain names and not an individual of the company are many

• company believes there is an asset value in the domain name
• they own the brand name
• they don't want an individual to move to competitor holding the domain name
• legal responsibility

So it strikes me as a little puzzling that Nominet's first letter to an ex- director of a company, which no longer exists, contains DoubleTap said earlier that Nominet don't consider the domain name to be an asset which is completely wrong, re poker.org $1 million pretty good money for a non-asset! It is not Nominet's remit to consider whether a domain name has an asset value, this is the responsibility of the insolvency practitioner.

My point in starting this thread that if a company is dissolved it no longer exists so nobody can re-register the domain name as there own. As a consequence of this the domain should then be left to drop.