client did not pay for renewal and now wants auth code

It seems to me this guy has been getting to you, and the domain name issue is the only way you can retaliate without harming your business.

I say go for it!

In business people expect you to bow and scrape to the paying customer, and to the larger extent this is a neccesary evil. However the bottom line is you reap what you sow. If this guy has been harrasing you, especially implying that he will visit your home - then I say make his life as difficult as possible.

It would seem that you registered the domain for him as his nominated agent. Obviously if you have a contract that has specific clauses regarding how the registration and owenership are handled that will be used to settle the dispute.

I think the overwhelming evidence is that you have a record of notifying the client that he should transfer the domain and he failed to do so.

A court is highly unlikely to rule that you are cybersquatting unless the client can prove that he attempted to transfer the domain, or he attempted to renew the domain BEFORE it officially expired. Your motive for obtaining the domain is irrelevant to the case, more so if the domain does not contain any trademark or company name. I have lots of domains ready to buy the second they expire, its a fairly normal practise.

Personally, I would contact your lawyer again and take out whatever the spanish version of an injunction / restraining order is against this guy, citing that he has threatened to come to your home - and provide the evidence.

Make sure your lawyer follows this up with a letter that makes it very clear all correspondance is to go through the lawyer and not you, and that you are seriously considering filing charges for harrasment.

I bet your problem will go away pretty fast and you will feel even better about the whole thing.

 

If you would like to change the owner of a domain (as in company name, VAT number, personal data) , and the domain name is still registered with someone else and you want it as agent:

- you and your client need to mutually agree and you must start a "TRADE" procedure.
- you can let it expire and register it later on when it is free again.

 

I loved reading all of browntwn's stupid responses, he obviously knows nothing about domains, it was a fun read. He wants to appear knowledgable and a "big man" but it didn't work for him. I agree with the thread-starter, browntwn is rude with no actual constructive criticism. The real 15 year old is HIM. In fact, I bet that is your old customer.

It sounds like if this customer was a little nicer instead of a bag-of-cocks then he would have gotten his domain name.

Instead this guy wanted to be a tough-guy and now he is screwed. Good riddance. I bet he learned something...like don't screw with the people that own your stuff. haha

When you got serious questions, you should expect responses from people like browntwn. Unfortunately its a public forum where any fool can throw in his worthless 2 cents. Fools like me!

 

Just give it to him, no big deal.

 

It's a tough one, but I think the OP was in their rights not to give up the domain. It's been 3 years since the original domain purchaser paid for the domain. By not paying the original invoice for the renewal he indicated that he no longer wished to own the domain. Domains may go through a process before becoming freely available, but that can be by-passed by the person who owns the reseller account with the registrar. If the original domain owner didn't pay for the domain to be renewed then why should the OP wait until this process has taken place and potentially lose the ability to purchase the domain for himself. Why shouldn't he take advantage of the position he was in to put the domain in his own name once the original owner indicated they didn't want to renew it?

It's not as if he stole a domain from the original owner. The original owner didn't pay for renewal so clearly didn't want to renew the domain. If it was 2-3 weeks after the fact it would be more dubious. After 3 years of non-payment the original owner of the domain has forfeited all rights to claim the domain as his.

 

While I have every sympathy for the OP, having had clients similar to this in the dim and distant past, I would say that he's wasting his time, whatever the legal rights and wrongs of it. If it isn't making you money, kids, *don't do it*