.me.uk domains - for individuals only?

[TheSide]

Hi there all,

I was wondering about the rules of .me.uk domain names.

As far as I am aware, the Nominet rules state they are for registering by individuals...

Now, I have a domain name which is .co.uk (and .com) and was ranked number 1 in Google - great - earning a reasonable sum of money. However, some competition arrived on the scene - OK, competition can be good - BUT, teh competition is from a company who have registered a .me.uk with the same name as my .co.uk (and .com)... They are advertising heavily on Google, and after a period of about 4 months of heavy advertising are now ranked number one, and I am ranked number two!

Their .me.uk domain name is clearly for business / earning potential - they have affiliate advertising on teh site (as do I) - is this allowed?

I'm not raging about this, although a little pee'd off as I secured all teh domani names I thought I would need to keep a niche area and top search phrases, therefore have invested significantly in my project.

Your comments would be welcome on this (and, do I have a good reason to complain to Nominet?)

Look forward to reading some responses,

 

[TheSide]

These are the Nominet rules on .me.uk for your perusal!!

9. Specific rules for the .me.uk SLD
9.1 Introduction

These are the specific rules for the .me.uk SLD, administered directly by us. They form part of and, in the case of conflict, take precedence over the Rules.

9.2 Charter

The .me.uk SLD is intended to provide a personal namespace within the .uk Top Level Domain. Unless Rules 9.4 or 9.5 apply, registrants of .me.uk domain names must be, and remain at all times, natural persons (a “qualifying person?), and shall not be recorded on the register as being the agent, trustee, proxy or representative for any person or entity (whether having an individual legal personality or not) which is not a qualifying person.

9.3 No actions unless in accordance with the Charter

Unless Rules 9.4 or 9.5 apply, no registration, transfer, renewal or change may be requested to a .me.uk domain name which would be in breach of Rule 9.2, and any such request may be rejected. If, despite the previous sentence, such an action is requested and does occur, Nominet may reverse that action at any time in addition to any other rights Nominet may have by contract or otherwise.

9.4 Charter

9.4.1 Where, as the result of the DRS or judicial proceedings (of relevant jurisdiction) a .me.uk domain name is to be transferred to a person who would not qualify under Rule 9.2 (the “transferee?), the transfer to, and continued registration by, the transferee shall be permitted provided that no use is made of that .me.uk domain name for any purpose, for so long as the transferee holds the domain name.

9.4.2 To prevent a breach of Rule 9.4.1, Nominet may put the domain name into a special status e.g. by blocking the entry of any nameservers onto the record for that domain.

9.4.3 The transferee under clause 9.4.1 will be able to transfer the domain name to a qualifying person, in which case the specific restrictions imposed under this Rule 9.4 will cease to apply.

9.5 Transitional Arrangements

As a transitional measure, any .me.uk domain name registered before 25 October 2004 will not be subject to Rules 9.2 and 9.3 until it is next transferred or cancelled.

 

[retired_member13]

I asked Nom about this recently to get a clear steer before buying a few me.uk names.

Their answer was: the only restriction on me.uk is that of ownership - they must be registered to an individual, not to a company.

Wrt commercial activity, the same rules apply to all UK ccTLDs - if you are going to use UK domains commercially then you cannot opt out of showing your address on whois.

If they have the name regged to a company you can complain and they will be asked to transfer it to an individual, if they are not showing their address then you can complain, then Nominet will request that they remove the opt out, if they do not do so them Nominet does it for them.

That's it I'm afraid.

Hi there all,

I was wondering about the rules of .me.uk domain names.

As far as I am aware, the Nominet rules state they are for registering by individuals...

Now, I have a domain name which is .co.uk (and .com) and was ranked number 1 in Google - great - earning a reasonable sum of money. However, some competition arrived on the scene - OK, competition can be good - BUT, teh competition is from a company who have registered a .me.uk with the same name as my .co.uk (and .com)... They are advertising heavily on Google, and after a period of about 4 months of heavy advertising are now ranked number one, and I am ranked number two!

Their .me.uk domain name is clearly for business / earning potential - they have affiliate advertising on teh site (as do I) - is this allowed?

I'm not raging about this, although a little pee'd off as I secured all teh domani names I thought I would need to keep a niche area and top search phrases, therefore have invested significantly in my project.

Your comments would be welcome on this (and, do I have a good reason to complain to Nominet?)

Look forward to reading some responses,

 

[jonno]

quite humerous where google.me.uk is redirected to

i wonder how tms works with .me.uk domains?

 

[retired_member13]

BTW, is the domain *******.me.uk by any chance?

 

[TheSide]

Hi Ty_

Thanks for the info...

Will consider my next step carefully!

K

 

[cm1975]

I asked Nom about this recently to get a clear steer before buying a few me.uk names.

Their answer was: the only restriction on me.uk is that of ownership - they must be registered to an individual, not to a company.

Wrt commercial activity, the same rules apply to all UK ccTLDs - if you are going to use UK domains commercially then you cannot opt out of showing your address on whois.

If they have the name regged to a company you can complain and they will be asked to transfer it to an individual, if they are not showing their address then you can complain, then Nominet will request that they remove the opt out, if they do not do so them Nominet does it for them.

That's it I'm afraid.

Yes, that's the same info I was given. Also, I've been told that the Registrant Type is unmonitored on .me.uk domains, so even if a company does register it, Nominet will not be proactive in doing anything about it. ie It would require a complaint, before they would take any action.