Competitor's Domain Names

[leelive]

Would you buy the domain name ending in .com of a competitor that owned the .co.uk?
I had and redirected the .com to my website.
The owner of the .co.uk wasn't too happy about it... so I now transfer the .com to his website.
Was I a total rotter?
Lee

[DJ Jules]

Yup. I'd personally consider that fairly unethical behaviour. Fair play for pointing the domain back to his website (though I'd have been inclined to sell him the domain instead )

It used to be the case that if you didn't buy up the common .co.uk/.com/.org/.net variants of your domain name then you were considered fair game, but now with .info, .org.uk and a whole host of other TLDs (Top Level Domains) it's impossible to buy up and maintain every relevant variant unless you have a ton of cash in the bank.

Julian

[funkymook]

Personally I think that's despicable behaviour...

[Marc J]

What you did isn't unusual. And for a .com there's nothing wrong with it....however if it was the other way around and you'd registered the .co.uk version of his, I'm pretty sure Nominet would almost certainly have sided with him in any dispute, as it's clear you'd have registered the domain to either trick visitors who thought they were going to his site to yours, or to offer the domain to him at an inflated price (i.e. cybersquatting).

There's no such rule with .coms, it's first come first served. My general advise to clients for domains is "If it would you off if a competitor registered it, then you should register it yourself.".

IMHO perhaps redirecting the .com to your own website was a little OTT, but business is business and it's up to you what you do with your own domain(s) . I'd perhaps have put it on a "domain for sale" page, or offered it to him either outright or forwarded to his site on an annual basis, for what he figured it was worth...

I guess it also depends on what relationship (if any) you have with him. What favours is he doing for you?

It used to be the case that if you didn't buy up the common .co.uk/.com/.org/.net variants of your domain name then you were considered fair game, but now with .info, .org.uk and a whole host of other TLDs (Top Level Domains) it's impossible to buy up and maintain every relevant variant unless you have a ton of cash in the bank.

You should still register any that meet my rule above, though. Just because there are more available doesn't change that, it just means the value of them is less, but if you only value .co.uk / .com / .net for example, then you should make sure you have them. And just to be pedantic because I am - .co.uk and .org.uk aren't top level domains

[DazzyD]

Hmm. The old, highly-unethical practise of "Cyber Squatting" raises it's ugly head again!

You've got to be very careful doing things like this. If your competitor had trademarked his business name and you'd used that in your version of the domain name, then you could be in serious trouble indeed. A lot of Cyber Squatters had bought other domain names for big brands, with the intention of selling them back at inflated prices, only to be hit with legal cases for trademark infringement! This is one of the reasons why the whole practise has almost died out altogether. In the early days, a lot of money was made by doing this but not anymore.

Do I think you're "a total rotter"? Well, I've heard other phrases used to describe the Cyber Squatters!!

To be fair, whilst some people would say "all's fair in love and business" I can't help but compare this practise to those cyber criminals who distribute "ransonware" whereby they hijack your computer and demand a fee to unlock it. The difference is the victims in ransomware own their computers in the first place but the businesses, or webmasters, didn't own the domain name (although it could be said they own the company name). But I still see it as wrong.

[yourdj]

Yes. Dont really see the point in that.
Just work on your own business and make that better rather than pinching other peoples credit.
Having said that if you do move to bournemouth you will fit in well there.