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