Can a .ie domain owner be made surrender the domain if biz name not registered?

B

billythefish

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Hello all

I registered a business name with the CRO with a view to securing a .ie domain on it once it was processed.

Now that I have the cert, I find that the domain is already taken. I've done a thorough search on the CRO's website and my company is the only one with a registered business name for that domain. There is not even any other variant of it registered.

My company is a commercial enterprise as is the body which owns this domain. The owner of the domain use it to divert people to their main domain.

My questions are:
- is there an authority here I can complain to about this?;
- is it realistic for me to expect that the owner of the domain be required to surrender it and go through the proper procedure?

Many thanks in advance for any help on this.

Billy
 
Not answering your question fully but hopefully this might help -

The IE Domain Registry is the body you should contact, and they have a Dispute policy.

From IE Domain Registry - domains may be registered in any of the following categories:
Personal Name
Corporate Name
Registered Trade Mark Name
Registered Business Name
State Agency Name
Publication Name
Educational Institution Name
Politician's Name
Unincorporated Association Name
Personal Trading Name
Discretionary Name

The Irish Domain Registry only awards a .ie name after adequate evidence has been provided by the applicant that they are entitled to a particular domain name.

There can be other reasons for being able to obtain "WHATEVER".ie than simply having a company entitled "WHATEVER", so I think you may not be in a position to force the domain owner to hand it over to you. You could see if they were willing to sell it to you.

It's a pity the CRO website doesn't warn people about this problem, I'm sure you're not the first to get caught out this way. I set up a company recently but I knew that there were various ways of getting a .ie domain so I spent ages checking availability of names, my first dozen or so ideas were gone! Eventually I found a name that was free, registered the .com and .co.uk, had the company set up and then was able to get the .ie domain.

I'd be curious to hear how you get on if you do try have do have something done about it.
 
The IEDR work on a first come first served basis and all the ask for is genuine proof of a connection to the domain name in question. At the end of the day, a domain name or address is only that. It is not a business, it is not a company, it is nothing on its own but an address to a place where business is carried out in the same way a street name would be where you would find a shop or factory. The registration of .ie domains has nothing to do with the CRO.

You also do not have to register a business name which is identical to the .ie domain name you wish to purchase. You could trade under the name Sean's Sweet Shop and then register sweets.ie as a domain. 100% correct.

To resolve your issue you will need to have a read of [broken link removed]
 
Thanks for the replies.

Ronan, in the link you provided, it says it costs €1,500 for me to dispute the current owner's right to the domain.

I think I'll just spend €20 registering a new biz name...
 
billythefish said:
Thanks for the replies.

Ronan, in the link you provided, it says it costs €1,500 for me to dispute the current owner's right to the domain.

I think I'll just spend €20 registering a new biz name...
Click to expand...

Yup, and unless you really want it, I dont think its worth the bother.
 
Next time register the .ie before the cro.

Once you have applied to the CRO it's enough to keep the IEDR happy.
 
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