Can a Registrar Be Sued For This?

[DomainOgre]

Can you sue a registrar if you have proof that you renewed the domain, but it dropped anyway? Just found out tonight that I lost a great .org back in the summer and didnt even know it! I checked my transaction with that registrar and it says that I renewed that domain back in April of 2005. This registrar probably has already lost my business after about 4 years, but I want to know if I can take legal action as well. Also, is there any chance to get the name back? I doubt it myself but wanted to ask anyway. Thanks for any help on this.

 

[simon]

if you have proof that you renewed the domain and its a legit proof, then you can sue the Registrar for doing such act and ask for compensation.
there is no link to support this claim but from my knowledge.

 

[petrosc]

Of course paying for renewal is binding for both sides, registrar aswell as registrant. If you have the statement for your renewal payment with the transaction number on it then its sufficient proof I would say. Before you do anything I would suggest the following. Get an appraisal certificate for the domain name from an accredited service such as SEDO or Moniker.com. Then contact the registrar provide the certificate and renewal transaction number and ask for compensation. If they fail to compensate you then seek advice at a legal consultant, he will help you get your compensation.

Or, even better, if the registrar himself offers appraisal services, then maybe you should try to get an appraisal from them, but only if you haven't contacted them with this problem yet. If they are not aware of this problem, they will give you a fair estimation of the domain name's value. Then, when you ask for compensation, you will provide them with their own certificate and they will not be able to say anything about your asking. You will have a certificate published by themselves
Be sure to ask an appraisal from them only if you haven't contacted them about the problem yet. Otherwise seek appraisal elsewere.

I am not sure if they provide appraisals for domains that you dont actually own though, u'll have to look into that.

 

[ForumDomains]

What's the name of that regstrar?

 

[DomainOgre]

Thanks for the info. I hadn't thought about appraising it because I was so mad I guess.

Not only do I have confirmation via my account history with them, but I also have an email confirmation from them. That's the good thing about saving emails I guess.

I have contacted them already via their ticket system tonight, so hopefully I will hear something back from them tommorrow.

 

[simon]

Yea appraising before claiming for conpensation is a good idea indeed. keep us updated as the story develops.

 

[jberryhill]

Your starting point is the registrar's service agreement. FD asked which registrar, and you didn't answer.

 

[DomainOgre]

At this point, I just wanted to know what I can do. Besides being well-known and ICANN Accredited, I would rather not say the Registrar's name right now.

Once I hear from them, I will decide whether to say which Registrar it is not and may even say the domain that I lost as well.

 

[David G]

At this point, I just wanted to know what I can do. Besides being well-known and ICANN Accredited, I would rather not say the Registrar's name right now. Once I hear from them, I will decide whether to say which Registrar it is not and may even say the domain that I lost as well.

Don't see what the big deal is in giving their name? Why do you want to protect them after they apparanety damaged you? Do you really thing one random negativity will harm their business anyway?

This is something I do not like about the forums. We come here for knowledge and information but there is often a great reluctance by many members to give specifics.

 

[jberryhill]

At this point, I just wanted to know what I can do.

...and then...

I would rather not say the Registrar's name right now.

Then nobody can point you at the relevant language in their service agreement. What you "can do" is written in that agreement, since it defines the relationship between you and the registrar relative to this domain name.

 

[FineE]

...and then...



Then nobody can point you at the relevant language in their service agreement. What you "can do" is written in that agreement, since it defines the relationship between you and the registrar relative to this domain name.

That pre-supposes that the entire service agreement will hold up in a court of law. The service agreement is relevant in any subsequent litigation but it is not the end of the story.

When it comes to registrar negligence or allegations of registrar negligence the sex.com case comes to mind. There the final outcome was very different from the position taken by Network Solutions / Verisign and resulted in Verisign having to pay a rumored $15,000,000.00 to settle the case and among other things domains were considered property by the courts.

 

[jberryhill]

There was no "final outcome" of the sex.com case. The case was settled after a federal appeals court decided that the conversion claim could go forward.

Additionally, on the "property" ruling, you have to understand a quirk of the federal/state system here in the US, to put that ruling in context. Property law, and determining what is property, is primarily within the jurisdiction of state courts. The sex.com case was brought in a federal court, and was appealed to a federal appeals court. In the course of trying to determine whether a claim of conversion - a property claim - could apply to a domain name, the appeals court realized that there was no California state law on that issue. So, under a procedure known as a "certified question", the appeals court transmitted the question to the California Supreme Court. The California Supreme Court decided not to answer the question. They can do that - it's their court. So, the federal appeals court went ahead and answered it for the purpose of resolving the case in front of them. However, there remains NO authoritative ruling in the state of California one way or another. A CA state court could agree or disagree with the federal appeals court at their own choosing, as could the CA Supreme Court if faced with the question.

Also in sex.com you had real damages claimed. Here, you have a guy whose domain was so important, that he just realized it dropped last summer.

 

[Domagon]

Knowing the registrar name is very important ... until you share that information, this thread is pointless.

Heck, for all we know you could have been dealing with a reseller ... again, too many unknowns for anyone to really give you an adequate response.

Ron

 

[actnow]

If the domain is worth $ 5,000 or less, it isn't worth starting any legal procedings.

Namescout/Pool use to be famous for taking the renewal fees for domains they didn't control.

 

[DomainOgre]

Actually, I have been helped by the appraisal idea and is the type of thing I was looking for when I created this thread in the first place .

Thanks, ActNow. That helps as well.

Just giving the registrar a chance to respond. Brow-beating me for the name in the meantime is not helping anything.

 

[Dave Zan]

There's always the remote possibility a domain renewal might not have gone
thru, or the registrar cancelled the renewal. Have you checked your card
company?

Most if not all registrars have these items in their legal fine prints called "right
of refusal" and "limitation of liability". They can refuse payment for one reason
or another, and they're not liable if the domain name was not renewed on time
in their eyes.

So here's my suggestion:

1. Check your card company and see if the money's returned.

2. If yes, then that's the end of the story. You can still sue the registrar for
that if you insist, but you have no guarantees you'll win.

3. If no, then your only option is to get the registrar to refund the money. No
registrar on earth can possibly regain a domain name that's expired and later
deleted due to non-payment.

On the side, there are lots of this kind of thread: people have sworn they've
renewed the domain name, then it turns out payment didn't push thru as had
originally thought for who-knows-what, and the domain dropped.

Whoops, forgot about the appraisal thing.

There was no "final outcome" of the sex.com case. The case was settled after a federal appeals court decided that the conversion claim could go forward.

Personally it would've been nice to see the "final outcome". But it was still a
smart move to settle it early on and leave this "issue" hanging 'til someone
decides to try taking it steps further, if possible.

Too bad they didn't think of it earlier. :-D

 

[DomainOgre]

Good point, Dave Zan. However, I just looked and the payment was completed. If the payment had not gone through, I doubt that I would have recieved confirmation of the renewal by email.

To update this, the domain has now been removed from my account and they are having a manager contact me.

 

[NameWolf]

They had the expired domain still under your account ?

 

[Keral_Patel]

the domain has now been removed from my account

Didn't understood this. Was it still in your account?

And if it was then what is the point of this thread.

 

[Mr. Deleted]

Didn't understood this. Was it still in your account?

And if it was then what is the point of this thread.

way I understand it, it was SHOWING in his account, but was no longer registered to him. I have had that happen before. I have sold/tranfered domains early this year that are now getting renewal notices from the reseller...