Just Had My First DRS on a Generic .UK

Siusaidh · Aug 1, 2019

Personally I would change that page to "This domain has been registered for possible future development" or just put "Pending"

And then: Enquiries to: (and an email address)

Just my thoughts... then again, I guess they've taken a screenshot of the page you already have, so maybe my thought would make no difference.

Siusaidh · Aug 1, 2019

One other thought: is this Acorn page visible to the whole internet or just to members?

armistice · Aug 1, 2019

bens said:
Thanks for all the reply's and support. I'll keep you all posted with how it goes. To answer a few points above:

- The domain was caught during the RoR process on 4th July and featured on Nominets own RoR list.
- The domain is parked with DomainManage. Displays a page saying "This Domain Is Available For Sale"
- No other contact from Nominet. Just the Notification of Complaint so far.
- I won't be quoting sales figures to the complainant.

Does anyone know if Nominet checks the DRS submissions before they are accepted? Or are they just happy to accept the fees?

There is no fee for making a DRS complaint.
Nominet do not check the submitted complaints.

The important thing is to submit a response. It does not need to be complicated or long winded. Just state the facts. If you submit a response this will then move to mediation where a Nominet Mediator will discuss with the complainant and yourself. The mediator will explain the law and situation to the complainant. This complaint is unlikely to go any further.

As part of mediation, the mediator will offer the possibility to sell the domain to the complainant as part of the solution to their complaint.

If you don't send a response the complainant can apply for summary judgement for £200 + VAT.

If you do respond and mediation fails they can apply for a Nominet Expert to review the case for £750 + VAT.

bens · Aug 1, 2019

armistice said:
There is no fee for making a DRS complaint.
Nominet do not check the submitted complaints.

The important thing is to submit a response. It does not need to be complicated or long winded. Just state the facts. If you submit a response this will then move to mediation where a Nominet Mediator will discuss with the complainant and yourself. The mediator will explain the law and situation to the complainant. This complaint is unlikely to go any further.

As part of mediation, the mediator will offer the possibility to sell the domain to the complainant as part of the solution to their complaint.

If you don't send a response the complainant can apply for summary judgement for £200 + VAT.

If you do respond and mediation fails they can apply for a Nominet Expert to review the case for £750 + VAT.

That's great. Thank you. For some reason I thought you had to stump up £750 to just make a complaint.

dee · Aug 1, 2019

Siusaidh said:
One other thought: is this Acorn page visible to the whole internet or just to members?

Doesnt matter anyway. No mention of any specific domain

bens · Aug 29, 2019

UPDATE:

So interestingly it looks like the complainant thought they had bought and paid for the name via their host. They have an invoice confirming this. Unfortunately it looks like their hosting company (a very reputable UK hosting company) didn't actually register the domain. Oops!

Does anyone have any experience of this? I've had offers from hosting companies in the past trying to buy back domains they didn't renew but they never turned in to sales.

Clearly we were oblivious to this at the time of registration so it can't be argued that we registered it in bad faith.

on to mediation......

getmein · Aug 29, 2019

Yes, I made a sale via a SEDO broker to a mid sized registrar where clearly the same thing had happened. They were a motivated buyer.

Sound · Aug 29, 2019

I sold a .com to a hosting company that had forgot to renewal a local tax company's domain.

lazarus · Aug 29, 2019

Thanks for the update. I am Interested in how this turns out for you.

TRUK · Aug 29, 2019

bens said:
UPDATE:

So interestingly it looks like the complainant thought they had bought and paid for the name via their host. They have an invoice confirming this. Unfortunately it looks like their hosting company (a very reputable UK hosting company) didn't actually register the domain. Oops!

Does anyone have any experience of this? I've had offers from hosting companies in the past trying to buy back domains they didn't renew but they never turned in to sales.

Clearly we were oblivious to this at the time of registration so it can't be argued that we registered it in bad faith.

on to mediation......

That's a lying cake. Please check the exact date and time for the invoice. The rights period ended on 25th June 2019 at 06:00 BST (UTC+1). I am sure they waited until the last day and tried to register it within business hours which was too late because the period ended at 06 BST.

cubebox · Aug 29, 2019

Received a similar complaint about two months ago (before ror release) on a .uk generic domain from the .co.uk owner. Stating since they have registered the .co.uk I registered the .uk in violation to there right to register .uk and threatened to open a complaint case against me with my registrar and Nominet. The .uk was available to register so I registered it

I didn't bother replying back, nothing else happened since then

.....