Sometimes it happens out of pure ignorance, but sometimes it is as simple as negligence. As time is supposedly pressing and possible consequences are therefore not considered properly. Instead, the desired domain is registered on the fly so that your website can go online quickly – and before someone else can snatch it from under your nose. Done, and nothing can go wrong now. Or can it?
Well, relying on this might be wishful thinking. Given that it is not uncommon at all for the domain of the local sports club not to be registered to the club itself. Instead, often enough it is registered to the club's chairman or even to the volunteer webmaster who has kindly always taken care of the club's digital affairs – because it is so convenient to have someone who knows their way around and takes care of the tedious formalities. Nor is it a matter of course that the domain of the up-and-coming start-up company will actually be registered to the business itself. Instead, it may be registered in the name of just one of several partners – or even in the name of the web agency commissioned to create the company's digital presence.
Observing rights – avoiding pitfalls
Of course you may feel things are not half so bad. Yet it all depends. Unfortunate if at some point there are disagreements between the parties involved – if the association clashes with its chairman, if the partners in the company fall out with each other. Or if a different service provider is to be commissioned with the organization's new website, but the previous one refuses to cooperate: Then the problems often start with regard to the domains concerned. Because then what counts is who can dispose of the domain.
From a legal point of view, the case is crystal clear with no mistake: “the person holding the substantive right to the domain” is whoever is listed as the holder in the domain register – and therefore is the domain registry‘s contractual partner.
As a consequence, it is even more important not to be too lax when registering a domain and to take a close look from the outset: issue clear written instructions to the person responsible for carrying out the registration as to who is to be registered as the domain holder and immediately check that the instructions have been carried out correctly. This is the only way to avoid the risk of a rude awakening at some later point.
Who should be the domain holder?
There are currently more than 17.7 million domains with a .de extension registered with DENIC, which are distributed among around 6.5 million holders. As far as can be ascertained, around 40 percent of these are held by organizations and around 60 percent by private individuals.
What proportion of these domains might be considered potentially difficult, i. e. difficult in a sense of domain holdership as described in this article? This cannot be validly assessed on the basis of our data. However, we are well aware from our day-to-day operations that such cases occur time and time again.
In order to avoid such predicament right from the start, a simple rule applies:
Who is registered as the holder should depend on whether a domain is registered for business or private use.
- When registering a domain for an organization (a company, association or partnership), it is important to ensure that the domain is registered in the name of the organization itself, thus indicating the full name of the legal entity including the designation of its legal form. In such case, it is extremely important NOT to register the domain in the name of a private individual such as an employee of the organization who is NOT the rights-holder. Otherwise, such registration might cause future dependency on an irrelevant party and thus create difficulties in the management and use of the domain.
- When registering a domain as a sole trader or self-employed person, however, the domain should be registered in the name of the business owner.
- And last but not least: When registering for personal use, the domain should be registered in the private individual's own name.
