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Legality of Domain Name Question

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  • 04-10-2009 8:57pm
    #1
    jetsonx
    Registered Users Posts: 1,326 ✭✭✭


    A friend of mine owns a domain name, lets call it www.widgetservices.ie
    ...now somebody has come along and bought a sight called
    www.widget-services.ie

    How is this allowed / is it allowed?


Comments

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    #2
    dlofnep
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,759 ✭✭✭✭dlofnep


    It's very common with other top level domains, I don't see why it would be any different with a .ie


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    #3
    jetsonx
    Registered Users Posts: 1,326 ✭✭✭jetsonx


    But if you have to register with the CRO for certificate of business name...how
    do two businesses both called

    "Widget Services" get clearance?


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    #4
    jhegarty
    Registered Users Posts: 6,438 ✭✭✭jhegarty


    jetsonx wrote: »
    But if you have to register with the CRO for certificate of business name...how
    do two businesses both called

    "Widget Services" get clearance?

    Duplicate names are allowed by the CRO.


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    #5
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,966 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    As a former .ie Hostmaster, I feel able to answer this question.

    As others have said, the CRO allows duplicate company names. And it is not just company names that will get you a .ie domain. It is also Registered Business names, Charity names, individuals trading as, a school, a college, a band, or an individual for his/her own personal use. So if you have a company called widget-services.ie, and there happens to be an individual who is called Mr Widget C. Services, he is entitled to a domain, as is also "Widget Services" the new neo-celtic-grunge band from Ballsbridge D4.

    To get around this, a lot of people registering domains while I was working as a hostmaster would register every possible iteration of their company name, for example www.widgetservices.ie, www.widget-services.ie, www.widgetservices101.ie etc.

    While this is quite a good way of protecting your domain, and getting you to the top spot on google, a better way in my opinion is following standard SEO guidelines. This will ensure you get to the top faster. Another common way to improve the accessibility of your domain is to register domains with easy to make miss-spellings in them. For example, go to http://www.gooooogle.com. Www.widget-services.ie is not a good example, but if your domain was www.tooquiet.ie, registering www.tooquite.ie, www.tooquiite.ie etc would improve your accessibilty, by those who want to access your site, and cant spell.


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    #6
    jetsonx
    Registered Users Posts: 1,326 ✭✭✭jetsonx


    But surely the Domain Registry (Ireland) when they see somebody setting up
    www.widget-services.ie

    and there is an existing

    www.widgetservices.ie registered since 1999...surely they must smell a rat somewhere?


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    #7
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,966 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    jetsonx wrote: »
    But surely the Domain Registry (Ireland) when they see somebody setting up
    www.widget-services.ie

    and there is an existing

    www.widgetservices.ie registered since 1999...surely they must smell a rat somewhere?

    Why would they? Where is the rat to smell?

    Go to www.cro.ie and in the company search, type O'toole.See how many companies are registered with O'toole in the name?

    If someone registers otoole-services.ie and there is already a otoole-dentalservices.ie, do you really think it should be in their power to prevent the registration of otoole-services.ie?

    Do you think the first person to register a domain name with an otoole in it should have Carte Blance on all domain names that have otoole in them?


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    #8
    AARRRGH
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,382 ✭✭✭✭AARRRGH


    jetsonx wrote: »
    But surely the Domain Registry (Ireland) when they see somebody setting up
    www.widget-services.ie

    and there is an existing

    www.widgetservices.ie registered since 1999...surely they must smell a rat somewhere?

    From my own dealings with the IEDR, you definitely don't want to give them the power to decide whether something is a rat or not. :)

    As others have said, as long as you have the business name, etc., the IEDR will give you the domain.


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    #9
    mneylon
    Registered Users Posts: 7,739 ✭✭✭mneylon


    jetsonx wrote: »
    But surely the Domain Registry (Ireland) when they see somebody setting up
    www.widget-services.ie

    and there is an existing

    www.widgetservices.ie registered since 1999...surely they must smell a rat somewhere?
    It's not the registry's responsibility to do this.

    As long as the registrant complies with the registry rules then they are entitled to the domain name.

    If you or your friend feel that a registered domain name infringes on your rights then you should lodge a complaint via the dispute policy
    http://www.iedr.ie/DisputeRes.php
    http://www.iedr.ie/IEDRP-Policy.php
    Previous decisions are here:
    http://www.iedr.ie/IEDRP-Decisions.php

    The other thing to bear in mind is "fair use" and non-conflict

    If I was selling apples (fruit) I would have rights in the term "apple"

    If the other domain is being used by someone in a completely different sector then you'd have no grounds for complaint

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