Legal Question in Technology Law in California
Domain name ownership
Our company had someone build a website for us in 1995. He has been hosting it since that time. In July of 2002, we received word that our website had been down for approximately three days. In the following days, as we sought to solve the problem, we learned that the man who had built our website had set himself up as the owner of the site and had his name listed as the registrant. Since then, we have been unable to get him to turn over the ownership to us (he refuses to sign any of the simple paperwork that's required to transfer ownership). We have also found that he has reserved all other possible domain names so that the idea of us simply switching to another host with another domain name isn't even a possibility. What rights do we have to ensure that our website is registered in our own name with our employees listed as administrators? At this point, we have no way of transferring hosting companies because we do not have any rights to our own site. Please advise...
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Domain name ownership
I have a number of questions... was the name always registered under your name? Did you receive notices of the domain expiration?
If you would like to discuss this matter further, feel free to call: 818-365-6445
Re: Domain name ownership
please email me with the nature of the agreement between you and the current web host of your site, prior to your site being built and hosted by this person. let me know if the agreement was verbal or in writing, as well as if you have any evidence or witnesses to substantiate your agreement or claim. once i get this information and additional facts, i can further assist you with your legal rights and hopefully get your website/domain name rightfully returned to you asap.
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