Domain Name taken - by company...sort of?!

Derek W

Derek W

Derek W

Soldato
Joined
1 Oct 2008
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Designing Buildings
My bosses wanted me to look into making a basic website which contained some contact info and images of projects we have done in the hope of attracting more business via the web.

When looking for a domain name the name we wanted was already registered by Yell.com whom we advertise with anyway. From memory yell did say they had reserved that domain name and if we wanted it we could at a charge of x amount of pounds per year (more than a standard build it yourself site)

What my question is....is there anyway to get the domain name from yell without having to pay a stupid amount of money to them?
 
there is a dot com available which we'll probably use instead. I'm just wondering if we dont renew the advertising for next year that they will let the registration expire as well?
 
How much are we talking to buy it off them anyway? It's doubtful they'd ever let it expire really, not on an individual basis anyway. They probably hold thousands of domains so they're unlikely to specifically remember that you've stopped advertising with them and cancel the renewal. And for the £5 a year it costs it's cheaper to just leave it than pay someone to cancel it :p.
 
I dont know if it is possible to buy it from them but from what i can remember they did offer web address space and domain name for somewhere around 70 - 100 quid a year! but when i heard this from one of the partners I said it should really be costing about 30quid a year if that when you build your own. which sort of gave them the idea for me to get one made instead. wish i'd kept my mouth shut now :p
 
Derek W said:
I dont know if it is possible to buy it from them but from what i can remember they did offer web address space and domain name for somewhere around 70 - 100 quid a year! but when i heard this from one of the partners I said it should really be costing about 30quid a year if that when you build your own. which sort of gave them the idea for me to get one made instead. wish i'd kept my mouth shut now :p
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extra work for you my son...however it's all good fun. Wordpress and build from there, or static html?
 
it would be wordpress i think. I'm sure i can knock together something despite how crap my own one is at the moment.
 
Have you tried asking yell if they will release the domain to you?

If yell ask an excessive amount for selling it to you, you could see if Nominet can force its release through their dispute resolution arrangements.
 
john_s said:
Have you tried asking yell if they will release the domain to you?

If yell ask an excessive amount for selling it to you, you could see if Nominet can force its release through their dispute resolution arrangements.
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Under what reason would the OP attempt to use the dispute resolution?
Nominet don't listen to every single dispute along the lines of "They have a domain we want".
Domain names always have been first come first served with the exception of registered trademarks - and then it's whoever registered their trademark first.

Very difficult to get Nominet to hand over any domains.
 
I would say if the domain is the name of a registered company and yell have taken it there should be enough reason for a dispute as yell aren't trading under the name of the url of the site

I seem to remember years ago this was going on all over the place (companies taking domain names and trying to sell them for stupid money) but I also seem to remember there being regulations put in place to help prevent this from happening so would hope that nominet could do something.

Altho I don't fully know the in's and out's I'd definitely take some legal advice before paying yell any money as the way they have gone about it seems completely wrong as they have intentionally bought the name of one of their clients and are trying to profit from it.

But I guess as stoofa says if it's not a registered trademark there might be nothing you can do :(
 
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if you do decide to pay yell to use the domain make sure you own the domain after you pay for it and aren't just renting it as if you're just renting then you'll be stuck to paying them large amounts each year and as soon as you stop paying then all the hard work to promote the domain is lost.
 
People are far too quick to throw the word "cybersquatting" around.
Just because you register a domain and then do nothing with it is not cybersquatting - it is simply speculating on what may or may not become a valuable domain in the future.

Far too often people do feel they can simply come along many years after and register a domain somebody else has got just because, well basically "They want it".

You stand a chance of getting a domain taken off somebody really in one of only three situations:

1. You have a registered trademark and after your trademark was registered somebody registers a domain name containing your trade mark.

So you register the company "fhchdcbdhh IT Equipment" and then soon after somebody registers fhchdcbdhh.com
You would have a very good argument to have this domain as you owned the trademark.
However if somebody registered fhchdcbdhh.com any time before you registered your trademark then you've really got no rights to it at all.

2. Somebody registers a domain in "bad faith".
This is where a domain name is registered for the express reason of trying to sell to one particular company.
Registering a domain name that you know a particular company will want and then immediately offering them the domain for an inflated price.

3. Soundalike domains.
This is a lot more difficult to prove, but if a domain is registered that doesn't contain your trademark, but "sounds" like it does and is attempting to do something similar to yourself, you may stand a chance of getting the domain.

The rules are the same in the UK and the US and a domain simply "not being used" does not give anyone the right to start the procedure to get the domain.
And what constitutes being used?
I have domains that are used only for email - you go to the www for that domain and you'll get a directory listing showing no files.
I have other domains that are only used for nameservers, again going to the www will reveal nothing.
 
Hi - Derek W, I'm the community manager at Yell.com and just picked up on your original message. Could you post your business name or message me your details so someone can look into this and get back to you?
 
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