Advice on websites that were rebuilt by someone else after being dropped

martin-s · Oct 7, 2016

We recently elected to drop a domain and have just realised that Steven Rice (a member on here, anyone know?) picked it up.

Steven has rebuilt the website with our copyrighted design and content, including references to our limited company name in the footer.

Because the site continues to mention our company name, and operates in our industry, we have sent an abuse request to the host and registrar (eNom), asking that they take the site down.

Unfortunately Steven is using a protected whois, and we aren't able to contact him directly.

Does anyone have any recommendations for additional actions we should be taking?

Thanks

ian · Oct 7, 2016

Quite common when domains are picked up for seo value with existing traffic. Not something I do.

I guess you could contact Nominet, but they'll send you down the DRS route.

Sadly always worth holding on to domains that have prior links to existing businesses.

Hope you get it sorted.

aZooZa · Oct 8, 2016

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/starting-passing-off-procedure-help.333814/

gimpydog · Oct 8, 2016

martin-s said:
Unfortunately Steven is using a protected whois, and we aren't able to contact him directly.

This guy??

https://who.is/whois/manaview.com

keys · Oct 8, 2016

This issue arose because you (unwisely) elected to drop a domain. There is a good chance that retrevial of the domain will resolve the matter. On that basis DRS looks like the best route.

From your explanation, you should have a clear and strong case for a DRS complaint. The process is intended to offer a straightforward alternative to litigation, with much lower and defined costs.

After carefully reading DRS policy you may feel confident to prepare a complaint yourself. Alternatively, you could instruct your lawyer.

In your best outcome the Respondent would not reply, and a summary decision would return the domain to you for a payment of £200 +VAT.

woopwoop · Oct 8, 2016

keys said:
This issue arose because you (unwisely) elected to drop a domain....

He can drop the name if he wants and can expect the name to be reused without his old content being reused. He shouldn't expect people will steal his content.

He also shouldn't have to DRS or pay for legal advice.

Usually if you get in touch with people who do this they remove it, but I'd also think if they are really harming you? Just because of the hassle it may take to get it removed if they don't do as you ask.

If you are using the same content now on another site and they're stealing the G juice then it's potentially harming you.

Good luck and you can PM them here if you know their username, you could reach out to Nominet, their registrar and host, and maybe even Google if they are running adsense. Anything to rock the boat until you get a response.

keys · Oct 8, 2016

Perhaps the stolen content, hidden identity and motive for registering the domain have an innocent explanation - it seems unlikely.

woopwoop said:
He also shouldn't have to DRS or pay for legal advice.

Apart from time and effort to prepare the claim, DRS could provide a free resolution, if the new registrant will cooperate.

martin-s · Oct 8, 2016

gimpydog said:
This guy??

https://who.is/whois/manaview.com

Thanks for the suggesting, but I think it's unlikely. I suspect it's a Brit we're looking for - and we may have found him thanks to someone else on here. We'll see what happens.

To be honest, the domain is total rubbish (why we dropped it), leaving only the SEO value which is minimal - just 18 referring domains. And from what I can tell, even that meagre value isn't being used.

There's no content to speak of either, just a few hundred words of dross. I don't care if they keep the content and the links to be honest - I just want our company name removed!