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Thread: Ex-partner owning my domain name
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04-22-2015, 07:46 AM #1New Member
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Ex-partner owning my domain name
Hello, this is my first post on here.
My last partner set up a domain name and wordpress site for me so that I could use it to promote my artwork.
When we split (protection order involved temporarily) I realised that he had changed the content and passwords for me to access my website and domain name.
I found that his company was the registrant of my domain name and that I have no legal rights to get him to cancel the ownership. I tried to appeal to his sense of reason (the domain is my full name) but he refused to cancel it. He told me that I had made my choices and had to deal with it, and that he had purchased that domain with his money. Which is in a sense true, but it was in good faith as a partner.. and hey, it is my personal name!
I'm dealing with a narcissistic control-freak who is unfortunately on the right side of the law.
I need to regain control over this as it affects me professionally and to a lesser degree, personally. In some sense, he is 'cyber-squatting' but because I initially gave him permission to buy the domain name so that he could help me with my website, it isn't so easily described.
The domain is anneliesehough.co.nz
If anyone has advice, or experience, i would be very glad to hear from you!
A
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04-22-2015, 07:56 AM #2Web Hosting Guru
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If you partner does not want to talk just get a new domain name.
Respectfully,
Mr. Terrence
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04-22-2015, 08:04 AM #3New Member
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It isn't that simple. He has changed the placeholder I had in place for the site. It now in no way reflects who I am as an artist.
In my profession, people google your name. This domain comes up fairly high in the search of mine, and my ex has the right to alter the site and post what he wants on there.
It is a form of control.
I will make a new site and work on it being 'top' in search engines... but my ex has a very techie BG, I think he will make this difficult.
I just wonder if there is any law, or successful cases, of people gaining the right to their domain names in situations like this.
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04-22-2015, 08:54 AM #4Web Hosting Guru
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He can promote "his" site, the .co.nz one, but you're the one in control of promoting your new site and getting it to the top of Google page 1; hence, don't waste your time and start building and promoting your new site.
In the meantime, you can fight for your original domain, if you have available resources. I'm not an expert, but definition of Cybersquatting at Wikipedia, "according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.", I'd say you have the chance to prove he uses it in bad faith.
If he "alters the site and posts what he wants on there", you will have even more rights to sue him for image damage.
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04-22-2015, 04:41 PM #5Junior Guru Wannabe
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Its more legal than domain-name question. You can consult with some lawyers specialized on this sphere. Maybe the fact the domain is you full name will help somehow, or there are some other help-keys. By the way it all should be tried if the game worth playing. As for me, you'd better start a new site.
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04-22-2015, 06:10 PM #6Temporarily Suspended
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My honest advise would be don't waste your time chasing after that domain/website. I can already see that there are other extensions available such as the .net (a .net domain is way more better/international and appropriate for an artist anyway). Just spend your time, energy and money developing that instead.
Also, have you contacted the web hosting provider? Perhaps they you give you a backup of the website?
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04-22-2015, 08:29 PM #7Web Hosting Master
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It is your name. From what you are saying it is also the name of your business (i.e., you are self-employed trading under your own name). If you were to file a domain name dispute chances are you would succeed.
I am not familiar with the dispute resolution policy of the .nz registry, but there will be details of it on their web site - http://www.nzregistry.co.nz
The alternative, as others have suggested, is to go for a different extension. Make sure you go for something sensible, not one of the silly new domains
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04-22-2015, 09:23 PM #8Newbie
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getting on top of the search for you name is no big deal. You can register a new domain name (a variant of this one or a .com one) and add some real quality content in the website, keep it updated, promote it online etc. You will easily rank abouve that site for your name because that site does not have any content or information. Secondly, I dont see any reason of you being worried for now as the site is a plain website just staying on the internet with no information. But in case in future he is adding information "pretending" to be "you". You can easily take him to the court and win the case as you are still "you" ! dont worry and dont take such small things spoil your peace of mind. Start another domain. Another approach is trademark your "name" for your work and am sure he does not have it already. once you have your name trademarked, you can easily request a domain name as you are the trademark owner. Chill and have a nice day
PS: i don't understand what is the problem with people in this world nowadays! If he used to love you one day, atleast he should respect his decision then and enjoy the time in this world making it easy for all.
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04-22-2015, 09:49 PM #9Managed VPS Experts
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Is this information from your ex-partner:
registrant_contact_name: Krome Technologies Limited
registrant_contact_address1: PO Box 5155
registrant_contact_city: GREENMEADOWS
registrant_contact_province: Napier
registrant_contact_postalcode: 4112
registrant_contact_country: NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
registrant_contact_phone: +64 6 8336925
registrant_contact_email: jason@krome.co.nz
?
- Daniel
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04-22-2015, 10:15 PM #10
You could have a read of http://dnc.org.nz/content//Final_Dispute.pdf
EDIT: The first level of complaint is free.
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04-23-2015, 09:01 PM #11Web Hosting Master
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04-24-2015, 03:21 AM #12New Member
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06-24-2015, 12:40 PM #13Newbie
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I'm sorry, what you're going through sounds horrible.
Have you considered one of the new TLDs like .design or .graphics? This way you can turn a negative situation into a change for the better
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07-09-2015, 12:35 PM #14WHT Addict
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You may also want to keep an eye on the .art gTLD. It's not available yet, but there may be a "supplemental sunrise" period where you (operating as an artist under your full name) would be eligible to register the domain, while your ex-partner (who is effectively squatting your domain out of spite/control) would not.
Originally Posted by artdomainname.com
Regardless of which avenue(s) you wish to pursue, I wish you the best of luck. I run the website for my fiancee (also an artist), and would never dream of pulling such nasty crap on her -- it's her work, her brand, her life. Even though I host on my servers, hand-coded the site, and have paid for the domain registration, I don't consider her site "mine" -- I consider all of that to be my contribution to her success, and regardless of what happens between us down the road, those were "gifts" to her while we were together. If something were to happen between us I'd give her the opportunity to take over the domain registration and transfer to her own hosting, only shutting them down if she didn't do so in a month or two (and in all likelihood unless things were really bad, I'd give her the option to simply pay me to continue managing the hosting and registration).
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