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  1. #1

    Transfer of ownership of domains after a business buyout

    Hi experts!

    I'm hoping you can help with a query I have following the business I work for going into administration, and then being bought out by another business. I've had some advice from Safenames on this (our registrar) but I don't really trust that they are advising me completely accurately.

    So, "Business A" went into administration in April. As part of a buyout deal by "Business B" the legal ownership of our portfolio of domain names was passed in the contract to "Business B".

    However, Safenames tell us that while the domain names came over in the buyout deal, the NIC will not LEGALLY recognise the domain names as belonging to Business B unless we carry out a transfer. This transfer comes with a cost, obviously. Safenames advise that unless we pay them per domain to make the registration change the following applies:

    • Business B will have NO legal rights to any of the Domains we do not change.
    • Domains are legal assets. If in the unfortunate circumstance anything did happen to Business B these would not be able to be listed if the company went into liquidation.
    • Without the ownership being correct, individuals can go straight to the registry and have Domains transferred away or deleted.

    Safenames tell mee that someone could write a letter on Business A headed paper transferring the domain. The registry would simply check WhoIs, confirm the details are correct, and effect the transfer. Of course the transfer could be disputed by us, but in the event of a dispute for the domains still registered to Business A, all our rights would be gone, as we are not Business A.

    Can anyone clarify the risk here? Despite the contract, do we really not legally own our domain names in the eyes of the registrar?

    Thank you!
    Gary

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,042
    What kind of domains are these? .com? .uk? Or something else?

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Lubeca View Post
    What kind of domains are these? .com? .uk? Or something else?
    They are a mixture. We have already transfered some over (as apparently these are free to transfer) - .biz / .com / .info / .net / .org

    But the ones that will cost are a mixture of all sorts of different ones including .at / .be / .co.uk / .de / etc etc

    Thanks

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,042
    What is the legal status of Company A? Does it still exist? Once it no longer exists it cannot own anything including domain names. A company that has been struck off is like a person that has died.

    So - yes, the domain names will need to be transferred to Company B, and if Safenames do the legwork then they are entitled to charge you for it, especially if it says so in their contract (which it probably does). Safenames aren't cheap - they specialise in looking after the domain names of large corporations, and they charge accordingly. You could save yourself some money by going to a retail registrar and doing all the legwork yourself, but either way the legwork needs to be done.

    I don't know what the procedures are for transferring .de/.at/etc domains to a different registrant. I do know what they are for .uk domains. If the new details for your .uk domains are all the same then you have the much cheaper option of making the changes directly with the Registry (Nominet), and paying a flat fee, not a fee per domain name.

    I must say, however, that some of what Safenames are saying to you sounds very much like scaremongering - like:

    "Safenames tell me that someone could write a letter on Business A headed paper transferring the domain. The registry would simply check WhoIs, confirm the details are correct, and effect the transfer"

    This may be true for GTLD domains (which you have already transferred, so not relevant), but it's not true for .uk and many of the other European ccTLDs who carry out data accuracy checks on domain names, and check against company registers.

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