Domain names, the marquee signs for organizations on the World Wide Web, are a viable asset purchased and traded legitimately or in bad faith like any other commodity . Despite the existence of several governing bodies and laws, enterprises must look out for their own interests when it comes to domain names.
How Domain Names Get Lost
Reasons for lapsing domain names vary from negligence to victimization by dot-com no-goodnicks.
- Expiration. Oops, through sheer negligence a corporate Web site is not renewed. Think this only happens in the beer-league enterprises? Microsoft twice managed to let Hotmail related domain names “Hotmail” and “Passport” expire in the UK in 1999 and 2003.
- Domain name predators. Cybersquatters send fraudulent e-mails to corporations reminding them to renew their domain, and providing a form. This form is used to transfer the domain name to the culprit.
- Lost e-mail accounts. The e-mail account used to register a domain name no longer exists; as a result, notification for domain name renewal warnings are not received and the domain name lapses.