Domain Names

More Than You Ever Would Want to Know

By Kevin McKnelly

First of all, a little primer: A domain name is the part of your website address that appears after the www.   If your website’s address is www.mywidget.com, your domain name is mywidget.com.  No one actually “owns” a domain name. The right to use a domain name is delegated by domain name registrars which are accredited by the Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization charged with overseeing the name and number systems of the Internet. These organizations are allowed to grant exclusive right of use only. The registrants do not have exclusive rights to “sell” any one domain name, but are allowed to compete with one another, and charge for their services. So, you can get your domain name from any accredited registrar. Here is the list of accredited registrars: http://www.internic.net/regist.html

Recently, a potential client who was thinking of having our company build him a new website for his business asked me this question: “My domain name is about to expire. Will the company that sold us the domain name and website let us take our old domain name with us?” That got me thinking: What are the rights of ownership for domain names? Could the company that lets you “own it” for a length of time pull the plug after your contract is over? That wouldn’t be good. You build your company up using a great domain name, and then a few years later, the company that sold you the name takes it back? They could hold you up for ransom to get it back, right?

First of all, it is important to find out if you are the actual owner. Many business owners are shocked to learn that they don’t actually own their domain name. They assume that because they paid for it, they own it. Don’t assume. Many times the website company or web designer that created your site put their own name down as the owner. This can sometimes be helpful at first when getting the thing set up, but should ultimately be transferred over to you. You might want that in a contract before you hire them, or just go get it yourself.

How do you find out if your name is listed as owner? All Registrants are required to keep a “Whois” list of information regarding each domain name. A few websites for this are:

www.centralops.net      http://www.allwhois.com       http://www.whois.net

You can find this information out by going to one of the above websites, and typing in the domain name in question. After you submit your query, scroll down the page to see the results. To understand whether you own it or not, you must understand what is involved in the ownership rights of a domain name.

Every domain name has a Registrant, Administrative, Technical, and Billing contact listed for it. The most important is the Registrant. The Registrant is the legal “owner” of the domain, so you want to be sure that you (or someone you trust) are the Registrant. The Administrator is also important to be you or someone you trust. Make sure that the mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address listed for these two categories are yours. If they are not, contact the one listed (hopefully it is the web designer or someone you trust), and request that the Registrant, and Administrator are listed as you with your contact information.

When you register a domain name, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires your domain name registrar to submit your personal contact information to the WHOIS database which is available to the public. In order to protect your privacy, some companies offer to act as your proxy — meaning that if someone looks up your domain name, the company’s information will show up, not yours. Either way, just be sure your name and contact info are on there. You are legally allowed to change domain registrants anytime. Most of the time, it isn’t a problem. If it becomes a problem, contact ICNN’s dispute resolution department www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp.htm and they will take care of it.

There are a few reasons they can refuse to change it like:

- The domain has only been with the registrar for 60 days.

- The domain name is in a legal dispute of some kind.

- The identity of the domain name holder is in dispute or unknown.

- The domain name holder is in bankruptcy.

- The registrar refuses to transfer for other reasons.

Getting back to my friend’s original question: At the end of your contracted term of ownership, can the registrant hold on to it? Well, yes and no. The best way to handle this situation is to not get into it in the first place. Either transfer it to another registrant, or pay to renew before the term of ownership expires. If you forgot and it expired, they may try to charge you extra to get it back again. You can take this to ICNN’s dispute resolution department (see above link) and they might be able to help. The longest you are allowed to register a domain at this time is 10 years. If your site is doing great, don’t forget to re-register with either your current registrant, or someone that offers better service.

If you are transferring to a different registrant, it takes between 4-10 days to complete to process. The cost to transfer is between free (if you sign a multi-year deal with some companies) to $20. Shop around. Here are some choices:

1. Namecheap.com

2. GoDaddy.com

3. Moniker.com

4. Dynadot.com

5. Dotster.com

We also can get you a domain name for your complete web solution.  We have an application that can instantly tell if a domain name is taken or not.

Hope this helps

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