What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
Subject: Internet Domain Name Ownership
I registered a domain name for a business that I intended to start, but never found the time. So I contracted with a local programmer to write some software for me in exchange for the ownership of the domain names and the business model that I had fully built. The contract provided that the contract would be null and void if he did not deliver the software as promised, and that he would transfer the domains back to me. He never wrote the first line of software code, and agreed that the contract would be null and void, but he expressed that he was still interested in starting the business. I verbally agreed that he could, so long as if he changed his mind that he still transfer the domain names back to me.
So he never started the business, and I now have the time to do it myself, so I contacted him to transfer the domains back to me. It turns out that he let them lapse and that they were registered by a domain sales site through legal channels, who is selling the domain name for over $2500. I really would like these domains back, and feel that they are rightfully mine - but I don't know the law on this. Who is responsible for this?
Does the domain sale site legally have to return the domain names to me? I may even be willing to cover their current, incurred costs for the name. Is the programmer who failed to deliver his contract liable? Where do I need to pursue getting made whole?
Thanks,
Tom
Subject: Internet Domain Name Ownership
I registered a domain name for a business that I intended to start, but never found the time. So I contracted with a local programmer to write some software for me in exchange for the ownership of the domain names and the business model that I had fully built. The contract provided that the contract would be null and void if he did not deliver the software as promised, and that he would transfer the domains back to me. He never wrote the first line of software code, and agreed that the contract would be null and void, but he expressed that he was still interested in starting the business. I verbally agreed that he could, so long as if he changed his mind that he still transfer the domain names back to me.
So he never started the business, and I now have the time to do it myself, so I contacted him to transfer the domains back to me. It turns out that he let them lapse and that they were registered by a domain sales site through legal channels, who is selling the domain name for over $2500. I really would like these domains back, and feel that they are rightfully mine - but I don't know the law on this. Who is responsible for this?
Does the domain sale site legally have to return the domain names to me? I may even be willing to cover their current, incurred costs for the name. Is the programmer who failed to deliver his contract liable? Where do I need to pursue getting made whole?
Thanks,
Tom
