The London Free Press

The London Free Press August 23, 2002

Renew Domain With Care

By: David Canton

This article written with the assistance of Ben Booker, student at law

Your domain-name registration has expired and it's time to renew . . . or is it?

A lawsuit filed in Toronto last month suggests many customers may have mistakenly renewed their domain name earlier than necessary with a domain registrar different than they intended.

When establishing a .ca or a .com Web site, the domain name is registered with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), respectively.

This is done through the services of certified, private, domain registration companies or their associated resellers.

Domain registrations last one or more years before lapsing. Once lapsed, the name becomes open for any other entity wishing to scoop it up.

Standard practice for registrars is to send the customer a renewal notice indicating the registration is soon to lapse and they need to renew.

Recently in the U.S., domain name customers said they were receiving notices from an unfamiliar registrar or reseller that looked confusingly similar to renewal notices.

It was alleged many customers renewed domain names through a new registrar believing the renewal notice had come from the registrar they had previously done business with.

A lawsuit filed in Toronto last month suggests the same practices, known in the industry as "slamming," have occurred in Canada. It has been alleged the changing of domain-name registrars, or slamming, by way of deceptive notices has occurred in the Internet industry.

According to the recent Canadian lawsuit, some registrars have accused others of improperly obtaining domain-name renewal information on a public database and sending out renewal notices by mail prior to their renewal date.

This means unsuspecting customers may have renewed their domain-name registrations earlier than necessary under terms and conditions different than they are used to.

Unbeknownst to the customers, they may have signed for a registration service they didn't want from a company they didn't choose to deal with.

In July 2001, the federal Competition Bureau issued a news release to indicate a registrar or reseller by the name of Internet Registry of Canada was soliciting business by direct mail.

According to the news release, this registrar was sending invoices for the registration or renewal of domain names giving the impression it was affiliated with the federal government. The Competition Bureau issued a warning that the Internet Registry of Canada was not associated with any government agency.

In light of these events, anyone owning Internet domain names should be wary of notices involving their registration or renewal.

- Be certain the company purporting to register your domain name is certified by CIRA or ICANN or a legitimate reseller. A list of CIRA-certified registrars can be found at www.cira.ca. ICANN-certified registrars are at www.internic.net.

- Anyone receiving a notice to renew a domain name should make sure the registration has in fact lapsed and they are dealing with the registrar used to register the domain.

- Any suspected misleading representations in the marketplace can be reported to the Competition Bureau at www.competition.ic.gc.ca.

You may download, save and/or print a copy of this article for your own use. You may not distribute, copy or use this article for any other purpose without the written consent of Harrison Pensa. Contact dcanton@harrisonpensa.com. For more information about Harrison Pensa and its High Tech and E-Business Practice Group, please visit www.harrisonpensa.com, or phone (519) 679-9660.