It is hard to identify a potential domain names from the market, but it could be even harder to keep the domain name safe in your pocket since the cyber crime is prevalent these days. Here we have two lawsuit cases of domain names ---- one is that the buyer unfortunately bought the stolen domain name, the other is owner suddenly lost his domain name which he had kept for ten years.
Case A: The newly bought domain name turned out to be Booty
On Nov 27th 2014, Mr. C spent about $15k bought a domain from the Registrar A. But a few days later, the arbitration institution from America sent him an email claiming the domain name is a stolen domain name, and the former registrant had already apply for arbitration at Godaddy. The domain name was retrieved on 21st Jan, 2015.
Mr. C learned it after the event that just after the domain name auction was closed; the registrar received a notice from Godaddy requiring the registrar to check the FOA of the domain name. The FOA is a very important document in the domain transfer. The registrar must make sure that all the information was correct, and then could they process the transfer of domain names.
But the registrar was not altered at all and continued asking Mr. C to fulfill the payment, and charged CNY of 4,600 as the auction fee. Only after the transaction had Registrar A contacted Godaddy and checked the FOA again. But it was already too late. Godaddy immediately proposed attribution after they found the problem of FOA. At last, Mr. C paid $15K for nothing. He suited Registrar A after the domain name was retrieved.
In the trail of the case, the judge ruled that as in the auction of the domain name, the registrar shall act as a guarantee of the transaction. The key reason for Mr. C’s loss was due to Register A’s disoperation in the transfer process. As the auction platform, the registrar did not fulfill its obligation to examine and verify the FOA document, which constitutes the breach of the contract, so Registrar A shall compensate Mr. C’s loss.
Case B: Buy Domain Names with $0 cost; throw the helve after the hatchet.
In the last case Mr. C got his money back finally, but Mr. Z in this story was not that lucky.
Mr. H had kept a domain name from 2003, but it was stolen in 2014, and was transferred to Registrar A. He soon called the police after he found the domain name was stolen. In the 12 hours after the domain name was stolen, it has been sold for 3 times. In the second time it has been sold for ￥24,240, but in the third time the record it was sold for ￥0.00 to Mr. Z. Since the domain name was frozen in time, it was held in Mr. Z’s account. But he insisted that he was also the victim. He said he had bought 3 domain names from a stranger through instant message without any contract. All the 3 domain names cost him ￥60,000. To avoid extra transaction fee, he paid the domain names via bank remittance. That’s why the transaction fee was 0 on the registrar’s record.
Mr. Z was then in an awkward situation. Although he had a remittance bill for the remittance, the recipient is not the domain name registrant. The buyer cannot prove the relationship of the remittance and the domain name, thus the justice decided in his situation he shall return the domain name to the original owner.
Tips to Make Domain Name Transaction: Choose an Agency When Trading with Strangers
Nowadays, there are many ways to make domain name transactions. Sellers can sell the domain names on the auctions, employ a broker or indirectly. In the first case, Mr. C made the domain name through an agency, while in the second case the transaction was made directly.
There is no indeed the perfect solution to the transaction. But since the ways to protect domain name transactions are limited, and the change of domain name registrant information is easy, the domain names might pass through several hands after stolen. In the civil legal relationship, the prerequisite for judging the buyer obtains the goods by good faith is that the goods are traded at reasonable price. In the virtual good transactions, there could be less proof to verify your transaction. So it would be advisable for you to choose a secured agency which can provide the records of the transaction and the payments and protect you in the dispute.
Also you could see my previous article: How to detect balck domain names
Case A: The newly bought domain name turned out to be Booty
On Nov 27th 2014, Mr. C spent about $15k bought a domain from the Registrar A. But a few days later, the arbitration institution from America sent him an email claiming the domain name is a stolen domain name, and the former registrant had already apply for arbitration at Godaddy. The domain name was retrieved on 21st Jan, 2015.
Mr. C learned it after the event that just after the domain name auction was closed; the registrar received a notice from Godaddy requiring the registrar to check the FOA of the domain name. The FOA is a very important document in the domain transfer. The registrar must make sure that all the information was correct, and then could they process the transfer of domain names.
But the registrar was not altered at all and continued asking Mr. C to fulfill the payment, and charged CNY of 4,600 as the auction fee. Only after the transaction had Registrar A contacted Godaddy and checked the FOA again. But it was already too late. Godaddy immediately proposed attribution after they found the problem of FOA. At last, Mr. C paid $15K for nothing. He suited Registrar A after the domain name was retrieved.
In the trail of the case, the judge ruled that as in the auction of the domain name, the registrar shall act as a guarantee of the transaction. The key reason for Mr. C’s loss was due to Register A’s disoperation in the transfer process. As the auction platform, the registrar did not fulfill its obligation to examine and verify the FOA document, which constitutes the breach of the contract, so Registrar A shall compensate Mr. C’s loss.
Case B: Buy Domain Names with $0 cost; throw the helve after the hatchet.
In the last case Mr. C got his money back finally, but Mr. Z in this story was not that lucky.
Mr. H had kept a domain name from 2003, but it was stolen in 2014, and was transferred to Registrar A. He soon called the police after he found the domain name was stolen. In the 12 hours after the domain name was stolen, it has been sold for 3 times. In the second time it has been sold for ￥24,240, but in the third time the record it was sold for ￥0.00 to Mr. Z. Since the domain name was frozen in time, it was held in Mr. Z’s account. But he insisted that he was also the victim. He said he had bought 3 domain names from a stranger through instant message without any contract. All the 3 domain names cost him ￥60,000. To avoid extra transaction fee, he paid the domain names via bank remittance. That’s why the transaction fee was 0 on the registrar’s record.
Mr. Z was then in an awkward situation. Although he had a remittance bill for the remittance, the recipient is not the domain name registrant. The buyer cannot prove the relationship of the remittance and the domain name, thus the justice decided in his situation he shall return the domain name to the original owner.
Tips to Make Domain Name Transaction: Choose an Agency When Trading with Strangers
Nowadays, there are many ways to make domain name transactions. Sellers can sell the domain names on the auctions, employ a broker or indirectly. In the first case, Mr. C made the domain name through an agency, while in the second case the transaction was made directly.
There is no indeed the perfect solution to the transaction. But since the ways to protect domain name transactions are limited, and the change of domain name registrant information is easy, the domain names might pass through several hands after stolen. In the civil legal relationship, the prerequisite for judging the buyer obtains the goods by good faith is that the goods are traded at reasonable price. In the virtual good transactions, there could be less proof to verify your transaction. So it would be advisable for you to choose a secured agency which can provide the records of the transaction and the payments and protect you in the dispute.
Also you could see my previous article: How to detect balck domain names
