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Epik.com Seizes Domain, Threatens to Transfer

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I previously transferred all of my domains to Epik.com because of @Rob Monster’s principled defense of free speech. But now, I’m questioning the wisdom of that decision.

An unnamed “complainant” claims to own one of my domains, and Epik.com is implicitly threatening to transfer the domain to them. (The complainant doesn’t own the domain; I do.)

Isn’t this a dispute for ICANN or the courts to resolve but not Epik.com?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
You are upset because you wanted to bounce the name around to different registrars just to spite this person and be difficult.

The one who is certainly being spiteful here is the "client" who paid at least $1500 to file a UDRP ($1500 is the minimum), without having paid any money to OP at all, even for domain renewals.

Even at GoDaddy, I've seen some domains before where the ownership info said "Reclaimed Domains"... and I read GoDaddy reps say that's because if a registrant's payment bounced back, then GoDaddy will take the domains back and sell them in the auctions.

In this case, the "client" never even paid anything to OP.

It really wasn't good for either party to arrange the site setup in a such an informal way, for the domain registration and site development. But it's also not reasonable for the client to pay $1500+ for a UDRP instead of paying anything at all to OP.
 
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Also, something to consider is that I think all UDRP case decisions become public later. And they have a lot of the details regarding the case, and dispute between the parties.

So you and the complainant may not want your "laundry" to be aired that way - publicly and online basically forever. So maybe tell the complainant about that aspect, to try to get them to settle the issue directly - by paying you some reasonable amount for the domain (and possibly site files if needed).

Or if they're so spiteful that they would want to air laundry to spite you even if it's negative for them: Then you could also look into "reverse domain name hijacking"... and if applicable, tell the complainant about the potential for you to file for that later, but that you would prefer to avoid it, and want to instead settle directly.

It wouldn't make logical sense to me for the UDRP system to be used to circumvent paying web designers / web hosts.
 
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If free speech is terrifying to you we can just tell you what to do. People have political agendas and perhaps you don't agree with that so should you forfeit your protest?
 
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Hello,

Whenever a complaint is received that states a domain was stolen, the domain in question is locked. We notify the Registrant of the lock and they can provide any information that is outside of Epik that would help us in our investigation. At the same time, the Complainant must provide us with documentation. Once everything has been received, which sometimes takes the Complainant some time but we give them a time frame of 10 days, the complaint is escalated to our CEO and VP of Operations, as well as our in-house lawyer for review. The review can take up to three weeks depending upon the number of documents sent to us and our team has to wait for an update.

In this scenario, you contacted our support team before I was able to get an email out to you, in which I explained why the domain was locked. The delay was on my end here and for that, I apologize. Because the documentation of receipts from your side are in your Epik account, we did not need those as I mentioned in a prior email. Although if you had other documentation, you were welcome to send that to us for review to prove that the domain wasn't stolen and is rightfully yours. We attempted to work out a sale of the domain between you and the Complainant in hopes of both parties avoiding legal action, which can be costly, but that didn't work out. Then we received a notification of a UDRP.

Rest assured there was no tactic done here to buy time for any person. The above procedure is how all reports of stolen domains are handled. It's a serious accusation that requires we review everything carefully and I apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

Thanks,
Sarah F.
Epik Support Team
Lead Abuse & Compliance
 
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