Ownership of Domain Names
A domain name is a web address, such as stempixel.com. Many businesses may be shocked to discover that they may not have the legal rights over the domain name of their own website.
How you can be taken advantage of
Often, company X is hired to design a website for company Y and will register a domain name on behalf of Y. In actual fact, X registers the website in the name of X and just 'points' the domain name to Y's shiny new site, causing Y to assume they are the owner. When it comes to a dispute later on, X in fact can charge Y whatever they like to hand over the domain name.
With your domain name now printed on your shop front, vehicle livery, staff uniform and letter heads. Depending on the laws of your country - company X may well have your business literally for ransom.
Our business practice
Stem Pixel regularly registers domain names on behalf of its clients. However, we always attribute the 'ownership' of the domain name to the client, registering ourselves only as the technical contact.
Should a client wish to take their business elsewhere in the future, we guarantee to levy no charge in handing the domain name over. We view the domain name as the property of the client at all times.
Public records
Information about the ownership of a given domain name is actually available on public records for you to look up. The following websites allow you to view information of domain names to see who is the legal owner:
- For .co.uk domain names visit www.nominet.org.uk
- For all other domain names visit www.whois.net
Be sure that when you ask someone to register a domain name on your behalf, that YOU are the legal owner.
