Domain name dispute

[Ali]

I need to get some answers on this issue I've been asked about. I am hosting the website for a local mosque. They had someone working on thier website before, but those guys have left the mosque now - taking the domain with them. They never handed in any paperwork for the domain and since they left, they've been propogating their own personal views (ie not in accordance with the mosque).

Is there any way to get them to hand over the domain name or at least to stop using it for their own purposes?

any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Jonathan]

I may be wrong, but if it is in their own name (and not the Mosque's)
then I doubt there's anything to do except accept it or find a way to buy it back.

[sdjl]

It entirely depends on the dispute policy on the NIC in question.
Look at the pages they have setup for this type of thing to find out

David

[Ali]

its a .com domain - I found this on ICANN

http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/policy.htm

but am not sure exactly if they qualify for the dispute. I shall be forwarding this page on to the mosque. If anyone know of anything else I should be aware of, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

[Frank Hagan]

Ali, generally speaking, ICANN will become involved if the domain name infringes on the "trademark" of someone else, even if the ownership is not in question. In other words, even if the other party registered the name and thinks they "own" it, if the domain name is really the name of your Mosque or Islamic Center, they may not have a right to it.

The first step would be to check to see who the registrar is; you can use:

http://www.whois.sc/domain.com

(substituting the domain name in question for "domain.com"). Write down who the registrar is, and then visit their site. They may have their own appeal process, or be able to help otherwise. The next step is to file a complaint with the ICANN.ORG website (the page you already found.)

If they are damaging the Mosque's reputation by what they are doing with the domain name, ICANN will most likely step in as an arbitrator.

[Ali]

that is fantastic - yes, the domain is in fact the mosques name - (right down to the funny spelling) and the mosque verifies that they are damaging their reputation by what they upload on the site - so there might be a case afterall - this will be welcome news indeed.

[Ali]

I checked the domain and it is registered by Easyspace. This is the best I could dig up according to domain registrations: http://www.easyspace.com/regulations/nsi.html

The guy has registered the domain under his personal name and a yahoo email address, with an incomplete postal address in the whois record. - All this isnt much help. I suppose an email to them is in order, but it seems that I should get my domain registrar to handle the transfer request on my clients behalf... ?

[Frank Hagan]

There's a pretty good article on how to go about retrieving a disputed domain name at http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=20275

It can be a daunting task, according to the poster there. I doubt that your Mosque has a trademark registered on their name, but you said it had an unusual spelling, and that it was used previously for the Mosque's site, so that weighs in your favor (at least by the way I read the decisions). If you have a member attorney, a letter from the attorney may be enough to get them to give the name back to the Mosque.

Another good site is the dispute resolution organization at http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/index.html. Going to arbitration on one domain name would cost $1500, but that amount may be recovered by suing the current domain holders in small claims court if you win.

Good luck!

[Frank Hagan]

Here's a link to a decision that might give you some hope:

http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2004/d2004-0121.html