I had done some casual computer work for a local business and was owed about $400. The owner had also asked me to purchase a domain name, as they had plans for a web site. The owner paid for this domain name with his credit card, but I was registered as the administrative and technical contact.
At that time the store wasn't doing very well, and was having trouble paying its staff. I suspected they were nearly bankrupt, as some cheques had already bounced. The manager told me he wouldn't be able to pay for my $400 of labor since they weren't doing well. The owner of this store had moved to another town to open a second store under the same name.
A few weeks later I received an email from someone wanting to buy the domain name. Seeing as how I was still owed $400, I didn't hesitate to sell the domain name for the original purchase price ($200). A few weeks after that, I got a call from the owner. They were starting to set up a website and needed the passwords for the domain name. When I gave him the passwords and was told they didn't work (the new domain name owner changed them as expected), I acted as if I didn't know what had happened. I felt guilty and purchased another similar domain name (same name but different extension) for $30 and gave the store owner the password for that, but never told him of what I had really done. The owner didn't know anything about domain names so this wasn't odd to him.
Was I within my rights to sell the domain name? Was what I did illegal?
At that time the store wasn't doing very well, and was having trouble paying its staff. I suspected they were nearly bankrupt, as some cheques had already bounced. The manager told me he wouldn't be able to pay for my $400 of labor since they weren't doing well. The owner of this store had moved to another town to open a second store under the same name.
A few weeks later I received an email from someone wanting to buy the domain name. Seeing as how I was still owed $400, I didn't hesitate to sell the domain name for the original purchase price ($200). A few weeks after that, I got a call from the owner. They were starting to set up a website and needed the passwords for the domain name. When I gave him the passwords and was told they didn't work (the new domain name owner changed them as expected), I acted as if I didn't know what had happened. I felt guilty and purchased another similar domain name (same name but different extension) for $30 and gave the store owner the password for that, but never told him of what I had really done. The owner didn't know anything about domain names so this wasn't odd to him.
Was I within my rights to sell the domain name? Was what I did illegal?
