London Stock Exchange lets domain name LondonStockExchange.co.uk expire and gets it back with DRS complaint

The London Stock Exchange won a DRS domain name dispute over the domain LondonStockExchange.co.uk. The London Stock Exchange, that operates it’s official website under the LondonStockExchange.com domain, owned the domain LondonStockExchange.co.uk since at least early 2000 according to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. The .co.uk domain was always redirected to the .com domain name until it expired. Apparently the London Stock Exchange neglected to renew the domain LondonStockExchange.co.uk, as it was not actively used and it expired this past summer.

On the 25th of August 2013 Anna Thompson, that used a Romanian address in Whois, registered the domain name LondonStockExchange.co.uk at Enom.com, an ICANN accredited registrar.

It seems that LondonStockExchange.co.uk was never used by Anna Thompson (and is currently not resolving) until it was hit with a DRS domain name dispute. Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) is a way of resolving .uk domain name disputes.

The DRS was established by Nominet, the .uk registry. The Dispute Resolution Service operates within a set of binding policies and procedure. When a DRS complaint is submitted then Nominet attempts to resolve the case with the help of one of their mediators. If the case does not settle at mediation, or the registrant did not respond to the complaint, Nominet offers the complainant the chance to pay to have an independent expert appointed. If there was no response from the domain name registrant, the complainant can opt to pay £200 + VAT for a summary decision, otherwise the fee is £750 + VAT for a full decision.

It seems that the current owner of the domain name LondonStockExchange.co.uk, Anna Thompson, did not reply to the complaint, so the London Stock Exchange opted for the cheaper summary decision option. The DRS decision of the independent expert was that the domain name registration was abusive and ordered that the domain name be transferred to the London Stock Exchange PLC. The summary decision was published by Nominet.

The domain name LondonStockExchange.co.uk will be transferred to the ownership of the London Stock Exchange after 10 working days unless an appeal is made. An appeal is very expensive and highly unlikely to happen in this case.