Verisign hijacked my domain name!!

[buy.name]

ok, I think some of you guys have noticed my story about Pets.TV in another domain forum,
but I still want to post it here to let more people know what the evil thing that Verisign is doing.......

I spent a lot of money to buy Pets.tv from another forum member,
he registered this domain name when it dropped via normal registration procedure and then sold it to me. Yesterday, I received an email from Verisign....

Dear Lin,

Please be advised that your registration to the domain name Pets.tv has been revoked because the domain name was not available for registration. Your registration fee will be refunded. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
VeriSign, Inc
www.verisign.com
1 703.925.6999
1 703.421.5828 Fax

They cancelled my domain name without a reason and transferred it to PetsTV.com(the current listed registrant)!!!!!

it means that PetsTV.com wanted to pay more registration fee(premium price) than me(standard price), so they terminated my registration and gave it to PetsTV.com............... WTF!!!!!!!! the most terrible & evil thing happened.................

I hope that everyone of us can take notice on this issue,
you can also go to below links for more info:
http://www.icannwiki.org/Pets.tv
http://www.namepros.com/272170-my-re...revoked-5.html

PS. any lawyers here can help me?
Thanks!!

 

[Focus]

I smell a lawsuit

 

[Theo]

Verisign runs the .tv registry... lovely.

 

[Zoobar]

That is unbelievable.

"the domain name was not available for registration" --> Obviously a false statement.

 

[Domagon]

It comes down to politics ... .COM domains are generally much safer - not because the TOS is necessarily much different than other TLDs, but rather because "business" and the public-at-large have such a large stake in .COM and thus much clout...

Wildcarding every domain, like VeriSign tried with Sitefinder, is an example of nonsense that's tolerated in various other TLDs, but won't fly in .COM.

In regards to this particular situation, there are two aspects to consider ...

1. The general policies / implementation of .TV

2. The particular situation regarding pets.tv

.TV, like many other ccTLDs, is very shady in how they conduct business ... the variable pricing, inconsistant policies, utilizing a ccTLD as a gTLD, and jurisdictional issues ...

Many .TV registrants don't realize their .TV registrations are ultimately governed by the country of Tuvalu ...

Tuvalu could potentially at any point revoke .TV domains on their own irrespective of any agreements VeriSign / Enom, etc may have ... and don't think it can't happen, because similar situations have occurred in the past in some other ccTLDs ... including .TM and even .US!

With all that said, it's not clear how the original registrant obtained the domain (this thread is convoluted; perhaps someone can post a whois history explaining who's who, etc) ... it could simply be that the poster bought a "stolen" domain, it could be some registration glitch, or perhaps the simplest explaination is the correct one ... VeriSign / Enom got a better offer for pets.tv and sold it out from under the previous registrant.

On an aside, perhaps someone here can explain to me how stable .TV pricing is ... ie. if someone pays $500 per year for a "premium", how long is that rate stated as guaranteed? ... or does .TV not guarantee that at all ... and could raise it to whatever, like a million dollars per year? ... a frightening prospect for anyone building a business around a .TV domain.

Ron

p.s. also posted at NP:
http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?p=1649190&posted=1#post1649190

 

[Focus]

A good reason why myself and many others stay the heck away from garbage .tv

 

[copper]

Sorry this happened to you, Lin.

They do it just because they can do it legally?
Damn, why would anyone develop the site, put much effort to be successful and
then, it can be taken away from you?

 

[Raider]

When the previous owner sold you the domain name, how exactly was it transferred in your name? or was it? If the previous owner moved or transferred the domain into your account at Network Solutions, then I find it hard to believe NS registered it someone else, if there was any issue over the domain, it would be frozen in your account until the issue is resolved. Please be explicit about what actually happened, I don't think its fair to bash Verisign without explaining the facts...Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 5660]

In the old days they used to delete domains by mistake all the time and them take them back. I don't know if that is the case here but I have been on both ends of screwed up releases in the past.

 

[DOTCA]

I am sure Mr.John Berryhill is the person for this type of cases. I am sure he will be able to help you on this. Very sad to hear about this.

 

[Gerry]

It would be nice to say contact ICANN but ICANN are the idiots that awarded control of .com domains to Verisign...without any bids or "open for discussion" scenarios.

This whole episode smells of a corrupt system and payoffs. These types of things are exactly what several in the industry were warning about should ICANN award Verisign control of regulating .com and setting the prices.

Even though your domain was a .tv, look where it ended up. Get the feds involved...contact the FBI's department of Internet Fraud and anyone else who could have the clout to deal with this...

Start by filing a local police report. I know this sounds corny but follow the chain up the ladder. If you have filed a case with the local police or Sheriff's office, then they have no choice but to take a statement and have it on file. Make sure you have proof of payment and former ownership proof, such as being in your account history from your registar.

Contact the legal team at your registrar where this domain was. Most are simply [email protected]. They usually have certain criteria they follow for domain disputes. Contact the legal department of the current registrar where this domain is now hosted. You do not have to specify (tip off) everything you are doing but let them know that the domain was obtained falsely and you are going to contest ownership. They may be totally in the dark on this and actually may be able to assist rather than tarnish their record.

Contact the regulatory body that oversees the .tv thing. Let them know what has happened.

File a report with you State Attorney General's office. Look for a link for fraud, theft, and internet (cyber) crime.

It may not be a bad idea to contact Versign and let them know about your displeasure and your intent on contesting the right to ownership.

As silly as it sounds after stating my displeasure with ICANN...read, study, and absorb ICANN's own policies of contesting and disputing ownership of domain names.

Here are some links that will be of help on a national level:

www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/cyberhome.htm

Here's a whole list of Federal links. I'd make up one letter and send them to all. Get someone's attention, everybody's attention.

It includes links to the FBI local office, the US Secret Service (Financial Crimes Division), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and others:

http://www.cybercrime.gov/reporting.htm

I would also contact the Better Business Bureau (BBB) which Verisign is part of. I would also file a complaint witht Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as I believe Verisign is a publically held company.

Certainly file a letter with you state's congress persons and representatives.

Expect long delays in any, if any at all, responses from the above. Most are merely links to reporting these issues. But if someone takes a genuine interest in this fiasco, you could get the boost you need.

Sorry this is such a mess for you. You will certainly have your work cut out. I wish I could be more of a help but taking these steps (perferably in the order listed...any other agency will most likely ask if you have filed a police report...should be of some help to you.

 

[Theo]

He's in Taiwan and all of the above tools are useless. Still, the case is very suspicious and it reeks of byzantine scenarios.

 

[Gerry]

He's in Taiwan and all of the above tools are useless. Still, the case is very suspicious and it reeks of byzantine scenarios.

Did not realize he/she was in Taiwan...got caught up in the reading.

Not necessarily useless...

Internet fraud is internet fraud. If the gaining registrar or persons involved are US based...not useless.

If Versign has a US office and affiliation...not useless.

All the above, with the exception perhaps of the Secret Serivice would still apply. The FBI does not just investigate locally and nationally anymore.

He still needs to contact both losing and gaining registrars, file local police report, contact Taiwanese national and international wire fraud teams (Interpol?) for assistance.

The point here is file, file, file. Make others aware of it.

But, hey, anything is worth a shot, don't ya' think!

 

[Raider]

This whole episode smells of a corrupt system and payoffs.QUOTE]

A corrupt system and payoffs? Contact the FBI and Secret service? This is the biggest case of jumping the gun that I have ever read in my life!, do us a favor and dont join the Police department, there are SO many unanswered questions to what actually happened here, its incredible that anyone would suggest what your suggesting at this stage.

The best advice I have read thus far in this thread, was to contact the losing and gaining Registrars to find out exactly what happened, if that's been done, what did they say? perhaps the domain never expired at all, are we taking Registrant A's word for it? it would be interesting to know how Registrant A obtained the domain, the new owner (Registrant C) may actually be the previous owner. Registrant A could of hijacked it and sold it to Registrant B, WAY too many possibilities here, ignoring the facts only adds to the feeding frenzy for those who dislike Verisign, I'm not a big fan of theirs either, I just believe in getting both sides of the story.

 

[copper]

Main thing is enom's registration agreement which states that:
-----------
SERVICE(S) PROVIDED AT WILL AND TERMINATION OF SERVICE(S): We and your Primary Service Provider may reject your domain name registration application or elect to discontinue providing Service(s) to you for any reason within 30 days of a Service initiation or a Service renewal.
-------------------
They can do whatever they want, PERIOD!

 

[italiandragon]

without a sort of Union, domainers are weak against these crimes.