OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
Last week I wrote about a reader that complained that his .xyz domain name was suspended by the registry after a trademark complaint.
I advised the reader to reply to the registry with a simple explanation. Partly because this was not a real complaint and partly because they would do what they liked anyway as there are no rules set about such complaints and suspensions. He didn’t even have a complaint to reply to.
This is what he send them:
Hello,
I was notified by Name.com that my domain “xxxxxx.xyz” had been suspended for trademark infringement and told to provide “clearly convincing evidence that the registration does not infringe on the trademark owners rights and is not likely to lead to consumer confusion.”Obviously, “xxxxxx” is a real word that means xxxxx, and is not a term exclusively owned by xxxxxxx. As this domain name has never been parked, never hosted any advertisements and never been offered for sale, I have never infringed on xxxxxxxx’s trademark. Please lift this domain’s suspension as soon as possible. Thank you.
This is the reply he got:
Hello,
Thanks for providing further information. The domain has been unsuspended and no further action will be taken by the registry. Please be advised that xxxxxxx may still take further action against then name that will be out of our control.Have a great weekend.
I still don’t see the point of this. They put the domain name owner into unnecessary trouble playing judge, jury and executioner without any legal grounds to do this and without any set rules to follow. The domain name owner had to reply to some imaginary complaint and explain the obvious to the .xyz that supposedly did research.
Even if the .XYZ registry thought that there was a hint of trademark infringement they had no right to suspend the domain name, no matter what their ICANN contract says. (And it probably says they can do whatever they want. This has got to change.)
I hope my posts helped a little to clear this issue and I certainly hope that the .XYZ changes this secret “policy” and we never hear about a suspended domain name ever again.
I had a slightly similar issue regarding a .me domain. Name.com sent me this earlier this year:
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Hello,
Thank you for supporting Name.com. We have recently been notified by Afilias (the .INFO registry) that several of your domains are currently involved in the distribution of unsolicited emails. Please find the full list of domains in the complaint listed at the bottom of this email.
After further review we find that this complaint from Afilias is valid and the domains listed are in breach of our registration agreement. Please note that the distribution of unsolicited emails is in violation of our terms of service.
The domains listed below will be placed on ‘hold’ within the next 24 hours, as they are identified in engaging in the distribution of unsolicited emails by Afilias. If you have evidence that proves the contrary and your domains are not involved in such activities, then we are happy to forward any information to Afilias for review on your behalf.
We look forward to your response and are happy to answer any other questions you may have.
—
Thank you,
Name.com Abuse Team
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Obviously this was disturbing. Mind you at the bottom of the email, it was ONE domain, not several. And it was one I had just acquired 36 days prior. And I stated to Name.com that the name had been parked and they knew this. So there is no way the domain could have been used for spam.
We went back and forth a few times finally with them communicating with the registry basically forwarding my replies. The registry replied:
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Please note The domain was identified during an abuse investigation and is still appearing on spam domain blocklists. The domain is listed with SURBL on the SC list. SC contains message-body web sites processed from SpamCop URI reports, also known as “spamvertised” web sites. Entries in SC expire automatically several days after the SpamCop reports decrease. The fact that the hit is still present suggest that spam associated with this domain is still ongoing. However, if the registrant can work with SURBL to get themselves removed from the list we will reinvestigate the domain and not lock/unlock it. Please follow the link to work with SUURBL: http://www.surbl.org/surbl-analysis>>
After review it appears that the domain is still listed on the SURBL page, you can visit the link and enter information to have the domain removed from the listing.
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I attempted to complete forms at the surbl site, but was unable to due to the fact that many fields were not applicable and it would not allow you to advance if the fields were not completed. Long story short, I wrote whitelist@surbl.org , explained the situation and they removed the domain.
But it was a headache I had to deal with and did not really feel supported by the registrar or registry.
Great work. Common sense wins out.
Yes, there needs to be some changes in the ICANN contract. Companies should not be able to do this. Extortion is one of many crimes that can come from this system. I rarely call for regulation, but this situation really needs to be regulated…………….Regarding .XYZ, I am seeing a pattern develop, just like Adam Dicker….
It should not be the responsibility of a domain blog to hold Daniel Negari, and .xyz registry in compliance with ICANN, total nonsense, should never have happend, the owner needs to be compensated for their troubles.
Do not betray your customer who, thankfully, selected you and paid money to you.
Mr. Konstantinos, you did a good job. Cheers.
Great work Konstantinos & investors for voicing out.
A registrar stole the following from me:
car.sale
car.directory
car.auction
car.forsale
car.industries
car.associates
car.directory
car.industries
car.reviews
Then they tried to sell them back to me for $60 and some of them hadn’t even been registered based on ICANN. Then they attempted to sell me cardot.com for $26000!
I can’t stand these registrars out here. They are horrible! Are they all like this? I had pot.farm stolen from my cart earlier today and they actually had the nerve to replace it with old.farm thinking I wouldn’t notice.
I come to this post after my xyz domain was suspended. I registered it though namecheap. The domain name is really a nice name, and they suspended because of “abuse” reason, and it is on the auction now. I’m very disappointed with them. I believe they have no right to suspend a domain. My domain is a regular domain and i’m doing normal small business (web hosting) with it.