Should you register your .uk or wait 5 years ?

mojoco · Jul 3, 2014

If somebody DRS's you for a .co.uk and wins, they gain the rights to the .uk

If you have registered the .uk, the complainant can DRS you for both names within the same fee.

With this in mind, in some cases it may be prudent to register the .uk sooner rather than later, to a different registrant entity.

anthony · Jul 3, 2014

mojoco said:
...If you have registered the .uk, the complainant can DRS you for both names within the same fee.

Really? Well I never knew that!

mojoco · Jul 3, 2014

anthony said:
Really? Well I never knew that!

Apparently, a DRS can include upto 7 names within the same complaint.

foz · Jul 3, 2014

http://www.nominet.org.uk/disputes/resolving-domain-disputes/fees
Full decision (1 - 5 domain names, 1 complainant) £750 + VAT

A concern is when you register a .uk will the Expert take the original date of the .co.uk as the factor for predating the complainants rights? We may have to see a few cases established to see how the Experts will handle it.

Stephen · Jul 3, 2014

.uk is an easier target

For old domains, when the .co.uk was registered, nobody had established a business with that name and therefore easy to defend against the majority of such claims.

However if you register a .uk now, when a business may have subsequently established itself, it could be more easily proved that the new .uk registration is an abusive registration and you would possibly loose the .uk and presumably also the .co.uk.

As Foz said, would need to see a few DRS cases or have some guidelines from Nominet, if they want UK portfolio holders to start some bulk .uk registrations.

foz · Jul 3, 2014

Stephen said:
For old domains, when the .co.uk was registered, nobody had established a business with that name and therefore easy to defend against the majority of such claims.

However if you register a .uk now, when a business may have subsequently established itself, it could be more easily proved that the new .uk registration is an abusive registration and you would possibly loose the .uk and presumably also the .co.uk.

As Foz said, would need to see a few DRS cases or have some guidelines from Nominet, if they want UK portfolio holders to start some bulk .uk registrations.

You could see the .uk awarded to the Complainant and the .co.uk remaining with the Respondent.

This should have been touched on by Nominet and a possible clause placed in the DRS policy.

Edwin · Jul 3, 2014

"Patterns of behaviour" may also come into it.

If you have 500 .co.uk, and you register the matching 500 .uk, it's easy for you to demonstrate a consistent pattern of behaviour (pairing up).

Similarly, if you own a generic that's also a TM (for example a colour) then owning lots of other generics makes it easier to show that your pattern of behaviour is "to register generic domains" and therefore demonstrate that you didn't register the domain because of an intent to profit from the existence of the TM.

On the flipside, if you're sitting on a very "grey area" TM, then having other dodgy domains in your portfolio is also a "pattern of behaviour", but one which is likely to swing things against you in a DRS if the Complainant can trace the dodgy domains back to you.