Domain Name Theft

Domain names can be stolen, just like other types of personal property. It pays to have a domain hijacking expert in your corner.

Domain names, once registered, are the private property of the registrant. In other words, domain name registrants are owners of domain name property, and this property can be stolen or misappropriated just like any other type of property.

We can take rapid legal action to recover your stolen or hijacked domain names.

Kronenberger Rosenfeld has represented parties in multiple types of domain theft and domain hijacking cases, and we have taken legal action both against domain name thieves and against registrars that were either complicit or negligent. We have also litigated various types of partnership disputes involving domain names.

Feel free to submit your domain hijacking or misappropriation matter to our firm using our online case submission form or call us at 415-955-1155, ext. 120.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

• Represented online travel agent against a web development company who hijacked the travel agent’s domain names and diverted the agent’s online revenue. Obtained a six-figure judgment in favor of the client. The firm enforced the judgment by seizing multiple domain names that had been monetized by the web development company through the appointment of a post-judgment receiver.
• Represented the true owner of a domain name against an anonymous party who hacked into our client’s domain registry account and stole a valuable domain name. Our firm prevailed on our claim for conversion of the domain name and obtained a court order requiring the registrar to transfer the domain name back to our client. The court’s decision reinforced the jurisprudence that domain names constitute property subject to common law conversion.
• Represented one business partner in a partnership to monetize a premier, million-dollar generic domain name, where one partner, without any legal basis, seized exclusive control of the domain name and its profits.