How to Get Your Stolen Domain Name Back When Cybersquatting Law Will Not Help

Has your domain name been stolen? 

What do you do when your domain name has been stolen but you lack the requisite trademark rights to recover the domain via a domain arbitration under Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) or a lawsuit under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA)?  Keep in mind that both the elements of the UDRP and the ACPA require that the prior owner of the domain name own a valid, protectable trademark corresponding to the domain name.  Moreover, both the UDRP and ACPA require a bad faith intent to profit from the registration and/or use of the domain name.  Oftentimes a domain name may be taken by a hacker, a disgruntled employee, a web developer, or the like leaving you, as the one-time registrant and previous owner left wondering what can be done.  Domain names are not property like a bicycle, computer, or pair of shoes right?

[Click the link for more information on trademark registration]

More information about how to retrieve a stolen domain name:

• someone stole my domain name
• domain name theft and cybersquatting on rise
• retrieve your stolen domain name 
• retrieve your domain name as registrant

Wrong.  There is hope.  Recent court decisions have held that domain names are property.  We have previously discussed the California domain name case that held that domain names are intangible personal property and are subject to claims of conversion.  The more recent Ninth Circuit case has held that domain names are property for purposes of conversion by theft or fraud.  The finding that domain names are property rights as opposed to contract rights is essential to a conversion claim.

A lawsuit for conversion of property does not require that the prior domain name owner establish trademark rights in the domain name.  Rather, conversion generally requires (1) you own or have the right to possess the personal property; (2) the defendant intentionally interfered with your property; (3) the interference deprived you of possession or use of the personal property; and (4) that you were damaged as a result of the interference.  Thus, so long as you as the prior domain name owner can establish these elements, you likely have another avenue to redress the stolen domain.

If you were the registrant of, or owned, a domain name, no longer can access the domain name and control it via the domain name manager account or otherwise, and believe you have been the victim of conversion, you should contact a domain name attorney to understand your options.  Domain names, like both real and personal property, have value worth protecting and there are options available to get a stolen domain name back.

Comments

[Enrico S.]

If you have trademark rights in the domain (meaning you have trademark rights in the word which is used for the domain), then getting your domain back is typically accomplished with a threat letter. Sometimes, the web developer will provide emails showing that you consented to have them register the domain for you and thus you can not have the domain name back. These cases depend in part on how the communications rolled out and what they say.

Under any scenario, your trademark rights give you leverage over your domain name. Even without trademark rights, you may have a contractual right to the domain name.

[How to get a domain name back]

I need to know how to get a domain name back. My web developer registered the domain name in his own name and now won' turn it over. he says there is a billing dispute. But I own the trademark registration so how can my web guy hold my domain name ransom for a bogus bill?