Can I get my domain back?

October 30, 2006 9:12 PM

Is there anything I can do to deal with a quasi-cyber-squatter?

Owing to a serious miscommunication between me and my hosting provider (not sure whose fault), the domain name on my blog expired about a month and a half ago, and was sold at auction to a Search Engine Optimization outfit (it has a Pagerank 7).

I discovered this for the first time today, since they'd left everything so that it continued to behave as normal for a while. Other than asking them if they're willing to ransom the site back to me, is there anything I can do?

I think that the UDRP doesn't help very much because I never trademarked the name of the blog, but surely I'm not the first person this has happened to. Is there anything else to be done?

posted by willbaude to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

How much is the domain worth to you? How much are they asking to sell it back to you? Even if you haven't registered a trademark, you might still be able to file a UDRP complaint (the UDRP only requires you to have rights in a trademark, not that you've registered your trademark). If the domain is valuable to you, but isn't very valuable to the squatter, a UDRP complaint has a good chance of succeeding because squatter's rarely bother to defend the domains they've snatched (unless the domain is very valuable). It costs approximately several thousand dollars to have a lawyer draft a UDRP complaint and to pay the UDRP filing fee.
posted by RichardP at 9:43 PM on October 30, 2006

If it really was only 45 days ago that the domain EXPIRED - you need to contact the registrar of the domain and complain. The domain should have gone through an expiry period and a redemption period that averages about 75 days total between the two. During that time you, as the registrant, are the only one that is allowed to renew the domain.

Feel free to contact me via email for greater assistance in this matter.
posted by FlamingBore at 10:16 PM on October 30, 2006

Click on your tag "domain" and you will find several previous questions about this sort of situation. The practice seems to be widespread ni addition to being totally vile. Same thing happened to Brian Weatherson earlier this year. Good luck!
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:36 PM on October 30, 2006

I doubt it's worth doing anything other than trying to negotiate a reasonable price with the SEO firm. It might be worth buying a similar replacement domain now so you can 'play it cool' and say you'll use the new domain if the old one's too expensive, etc.

A lot of firms that buy up domains don't respond to queries or flatly refuse to consider selling (perhaps they're afraid of being accused of extortion if they negotiate?). It's frustrating when someone's willing to pay a decent sum for a domain that's worth little to anyone else.
posted by malevolent at 1:23 AM on October 31, 2006

As far as I can tell from what you say, the current registrant of the domain has bought it fair and square, and getting it back will require them to co-operate voluntarily. You may have a serious complaint against your service provider but I don't think that pursuing that will get you the name back.
posted by winston at 9:01 AM on October 31, 2006