Domain ownership question - Selling

[spadez8]

I bought a domain recently, directly from the person in the Whois record of the domain. This domain was used by another company back in 2010. The person I bought it from was the CEO of this company. He moved company and started his own company in 2010 and changed the Whois of the domain to reflect this.

The COO (one step down) from the old company emailed me asking me a lot of questions about who I bought it from, how much for, and asking how that same company can get the domain back.

I know I bought the domain from the registered owner (Whois record) and CEO of that company, but I'm worried that for some reason, on some contract somewhere, the COO also had shared ownership of the domain from the old company.

Can this happen? I bought it legitimately from the owner, but what if he didn't have the full right to sell it?

Please help, I am stressed over this.

James

 

[carob]

Really you need to know the whois history. It sounds like when you bought it, the whois showed tne name of the individual you bought it from. But before that was it registered in the name of the company?

Did this guy start the company and originally register the domain in his own name?

 

[spadez8]

It was registered as part of this company. I.e [email protected]. Then it changed to [email protected], then it changed to [email protected] at which point I bought "domain.com". There was a year between each stage.

Sorry I can't say the exact name but I think it wouldn't be right at the moment.

---------- Post added at 02:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 PM ----------

I am not sure, but I don't think he started the company.

 

[Keith]

You could PM the name to me and I'll look up the history on domaintools.

 

[spadez8]

Thank you for the offer. I signed up to a domain tools trial this morning though. The creation date was in 1995 but the earliest record on domain tools was 2003 and it was with the guy who sold it to me.

 

[Keith]

Thank you for the offer. I signed up to a domain tools trial this morning though. The creation date was in 1995 but the earliest record on domain tools was 2003 and it was with the guy who sold it to me.

I would'nt worry then. You have the domain so let the other guy bring a suit if he really wants it...or pay the ransom :lala:

 

[spadez8]

If he shouldnt have been able to sell it in the first place, is there a chance the sale could get reversed, or would I keep the domain and owner a and owner b would have to sort out the legal stuff between themselves?

 

[Keith]

If he shouldnt have been able to sell it in the first place, is there a chance the sale could get reversed, or would I keep the domain and owner a and owner b would have to sort out the legal stuff between themselves?

I think you're fine. The guy who sold it may have an issue if his partner goes after him.

 

[carob]

I would'nt worry then. You have the domain so let the other guy bring a suit if he really wants it...or pay the ransom :lala:

Basically I agree. If you bought it to re-sell this could be good, it would probably be easier, cheaper, faster and more likely to succeed for them to just buy it off you.

The truth is, I don't know. If the domain was registered to an individual it is fair to say they owned it. If it was registered to a company, it would probably mean the company owned it. But who knows what agreements there might be behind the scenes, leasing for example.

I've seen some WIPO cases where a company tries to get a domain back from an employee or former partner/franchisee and fails because the domain was not actually registered to the parent company and they had allowed the person to use it.

But if an employee with passwords just changed a whois to their name and then sold the company name, wouldn't we be talking about a stolen domain?

Still, to get it back would mean proving ownership.

 

[spadez8]

There has been a bit of development about this. I confronted the previous owner and the person who email me and it seems there is nothing to worry about. The owner had full rights to the domain and the other person was simply trying to acquire it rather than claim it.

Thank you for all your help though, hopefully this information will be useful for others.