Recently in domain hijack Category

ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organisation (GNSO) has formed a working group to consider changes to the domain transfer process to enhance security and reduce hijacking.  The working group consists of registrars, aftermarket players, domainers and other members of the ICANN Community.  The group published its preliminary recommendations at the ICANN meeting in Brussels two weeks ago and the 20-day comment period has just begun.

The key areas of focus for the working group are as follows:

 a.    Whether a process for urgent return/resolution of a domain name should be
developed, as discussed within the SSAC hijacking report (http://www.icann.org/announcements/hijacking-report-12jul05.pdf; see also http://www.icann.org/correspondence/cole-to-tonkin-14mar05.htm);
b.    Whether additional provisions on undoing inappropriate transfers are needed, especially with regard to disputes between a Registrant and Admin Contact. The policy is clear that the Registrant can overrule the AC, but how this is implemented is currently at the discretion of the registrar;
c.    Whether special provisions are needed for a change of registrant near a change of registrar. The policy does not currently deal with change of registrant, which often figures in hijacking cases;
d.    Whether standards or best practices should be implemented regarding use of Registrar Lock status (e.g., when it may/may not, should/should not be applied);
e.    Whether, and if so, how best to clarify denial reason #7: A domain name was already in "lock status" provided that the Registrar provides a readily accessible and reasonable means for the Registered Name Holder to remove the lock status.

Comments by registrants, registrars and other interested parties are strongly encouraged and can be viewed at:

http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#irtp-b-initial-report

The deadline for submitting comments is 25 July.

Disclosure - I chair the working group

You'll have to excuse me for the Shakespeare quote, but something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

While talking to some of the people involved with the Danish domain industry it becomes evident that there is something something seriously wrong with how .dk handles disputes.

A recent case revolved around the domain orango.dk

The domain had been registered for nearly 10 years (since 2000)

The registrant was using the domain in good faith since they registered the domain name, but now found themselves subject to a dispute.

The dispute involves a 3rd party that have requested a trademark for "orango", but only did so this year.

Somehow, and this is the bit that makes absolutely no sense to me, the arbitration court found in favour of the complainant!

If that isn't a reverse hijack then I'd love to know what it is!

Maybe Danish registrants would be better off using other TLDs?

You can download the original text of the decision here (it's in Danish)

Thanks to the guys in Larsen Data for providing various translations of it. (Peter has posted about it also - again in Danish)

I mentioned the issue facing Solidhost a while back. Although the legal proceedings are still ongoing the Dutch company have managed to regain control of the domain name in the interim.

In a post on the company's forum Andre van Vliet was very candid about what was going on:

As of today we have recovered our domain solidhost.com - it now belongs to us again and is completely under our own control.

The lawsuit against the registrars and hijacker is not over yet, however through a premilary injunction the court has decided that we have provided more than enough evidence that the domainname is our property. The hijacker has a few more days to respond to the lawsuit in order to object this decision, but we do not expect him to respond at all (as he would then also have to identify himself).

Until the case is over, I'm afraid I cannot share any information about the claims for recovery of our damages (resulting from the hijack). Needless to say - as soon as we are able to - more information about this will be posted later.