Webmaster forum - Getting domain name from a squatter

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Getting domain name from a squatter

apercoco@gmail.com

2006-08-16, 10:43 pm

I'm trying to get control of my domain name, which is annepercoco.com.
Unfortunately, some company called Melbourne IT took the domain name
and won't release it except for a lot of money. My question is, how
long can they keep the domain name before it goes up for grabs again?
Do you have any other suggestions as to how I can get this domain name?
Thanks.

Karl Groves

2006-08-16, 10:43 pm

apercoco@XXXXXXXXXX wrote in news:1155775835.249873.145870
@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> I'm trying to get control of my domain name, which is annepercoco.com.
> Unfortunately, some company called Melbourne IT took the domain name
> and won't release it except for a lot of money. My question is, how
> long can they keep the domain name before it goes up for grabs again?
> Do you have any other suggestions as to how I can get this domain name?
> Thanks.

Google for "ICANN dispute resolution".
The bottom line is that it is a major PITA and there's not a lot of chance
you'll get it back.

--
Karl Groves
www.karlcore.com

Auggie

2006-08-17, 6:41 am

<apercoco@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote in message
news:1155775835.249873.145870@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> I'm trying to get control of my domain name, which is annepercoco.com.
> Unfortunately, some company called Melbourne IT took the domain name
> and won't release it except for a lot of money. My question is, how
> long can they keep the domain name before it goes up for grabs again?
> Do you have any other suggestions as to how I can get this domain name?

The name will become available a couple of months after it expires... you
can check the WHOIS information for the domain to see when that it. But
keep in mind that they can just keep renewing it for $7-10 a year if they
want.

You can file a UDRP for the domain name... but you have to really think in
terms of how much that will cost and how likely you are to win.

Chance to win:

If your name is Anne Percoco and www.annepercoco.com was a portfolio or
resume website then you have pretty much no chance of winning.

If this was a company name, IE: "Annepercoco Electronics, INC" and your
website is www.annepercoco.com and you are incorporated in Smalltown, USA
then you pretty much have a next-to-no-chance of winning.

If you are a major company incorporated in dozens of countries around
the world and this was your corporate website then you probably have a very
good chance to win.

If this is a trademark or trade name, IE: "Anne Percoco(TM) the new
fragrance from Chanel" then you are almost certain to win.

The Cost:

I think its up around $1000 to file a UDRP.

Mark Goodge

2006-08-17, 6:41 am

On 16 Aug 2006 17:50:35 -0700, apercoco@XXXXXXXXXX put finger to
keyboard and typed:

>I'm trying to get control of my domain name, which is annepercoco.com.
>Unfortunately, some company called Melbourne IT took the domain name
>and won't release it except for a lot of money. My question is, how
>long can they keep the domain name before it goes up for grabs again?
>Do you have any other suggestions as to how I can get this domain name?
>Thanks.

Who did you initially register the domain with, and why did you let it
expire?

The domain is now owned by Names By Request, a subsidiary company of
MelbourneIT which re-registers expired domains and re-sells them.
Since this is entirely legal, you really only have two choices: wait
for it to expire again (next year) and hope to be the first to be able
to re-register, or pay whatever they are asking for it. Remember, it
isn't "your" domain any more, it's their's - you owned it once, but
you let it go, so you can't really complain that someone else picked
it up. If it meant that much to you, then you should have renewed it
before it expired.

Mark
--
Visit: http://www.CorporateContact.info - phone and email contacts for Amazon, Paypal, eBay and lots of other hard-to-contact organisations

Charles Sweeney

2006-08-17, 6:41 am

wrote

> I'm trying to get control of my domain name, which is annepercoco.com

What do you mean "your" name? No-one "owns" a name, or has a given right
to a name.

The same applies for names containing Trademarks, but with these you should
be able to get it back. It's not a Trademark is it?

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com

Phil Payne

2006-08-17, 6:41 am

> I'm trying to get control of my domain name, which is annepercoco.com.
> Unfortunately, some company called Melbourne IT took the domain name
> and won't release it except for a lot of money. My question is, how
> long can they keep the domain name before it goes up for grabs again?

I converted from a .com TLD to .co.uk, and in the process simply let
the old one expire. This isn't a problem of any sort for me. But the
old name - http://www.isham-research.com - has been registered by
several of these holding companies over the years.

The last offer I got was $500 for the name. I don't give a damn, but
every year I express interest and they re-register it and send me
another offer. I figure that's their profitability down a tad once
again. Perhaps if we alll did this for all the old domain names they
know about, they'd go out of business.

They've been trying some interesting tricks. One outfit listed twenty
or so old valid keywords and added "Jewish gay dating" at the bottom.
Were they hoping I was anti-semitic or homophobic and would want to
take that down?

If you visit http://www.isham-research.com now, you'll find it's
apparently trying to sell "cheat" papers for students. But click on
the link at the bottom of the home page and you'll see what they're
really at.

MGW

2006-08-17, 6:47 pm

On 17 Aug 2006 03:03:19 -0700, "Phil Payne"
<phil@isham-research.co.uk> scrawled:

> They've been trying some interesting tricks. One outfit listed twenty
> or so old valid keywords and added "Jewish gay dating" at the bottom.
> Were they hoping I was anti-semitic or homophobic and would want to
> take that down?

Maybe they hoped you were Jewish and gay and thought getting the
domain back would get you a date ;-P

--
MGW (Note: my Hotmail address is seldom checked)
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even
when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. - Douglas Hofstadter

Kim André Akerø

2006-08-17, 10:39 pm

Phil Payne wrote:

>
> I converted from a .com TLD to .co.uk, and in the process simply let
> the old one expire. This isn't a problem of any sort for me. But the
> old name - http://www.isham-research.com - has been registered by
> several of these holding companies over the years.
>
> [snip]
>
> If you visit http://www.isham-research.com now, you'll find it's
> apparently trying to sell "cheat" papers for students. But click on
> the link at the bottom of the home page and you'll see what they're
> really at.

Good point. For the curious of you, the "Why Am I Seeing This Web
Site?" text is a mailto: link for info@whois-help.info. And by entering
the URL for whois-help.info, you get redirected to.... eNom!

Sneaky bastards.

--
Kim André Akerø
- kimandre@NOSPAMbetadome.com
(remove NOSPAM to contact me directly)