UK based webhosting firm FastHosts is reporting that disputes over domain name ownership has increased by 30 per cent in the past 12 months.
According to Fasthosts, the reason behind it is that companies are registering names with employees or third parties as the owner. These companies are finding their claims of ownership were harder to prove or defend if their domains are registered in an employee or advisor’s name.
It is necessary to have a contact (administrative, technical, billing etc) on the Whois record. Corporations usually have an employee’s contact information on the whois record. If the employee leaves the organisation, by way of termination, resignation or death the corporation has a problem.
Fasthosts said” if these people then leave the organisation, the business owners may endure a lengthy process of trying to prove their right to own and control the domain because the former employees have become the legal ‘registrant’ of the name.
“While we investigate domain disputes in-house and support businesses as much as we can, the process inevitably takes some time and there is always the possibility that business activity can be disrupted,” said Fasthosts chief marketing officer Steve Holford.
“Rather than domains being overseen by an IT colleague or agent, businesses should audit them like a business asset and keep an eye on their status”.
The trend in increased domain ownership disputes is common throughout the domain industry.
This sort of difficulty to prove ownership would mostly likely affect .co.uk domains. With other TLDs, the company would just need the login details at the registrar to make the necessary changes. On the other hand, with .co.uk domains you would be better off trying to climb mount everest. It can be an absolute nightmare at times just trying to update contact details such as a change of address for .co.uk domains.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0