The creation of .EU domains by the European Commission in April 2006 has created bitterness amongst many business owners. The regulatory body EURid has revealed that up to 40% of the 1 million domains already registered could have gone to squatters, therefore denying legitimate companies access to their .EU names. These squatters apparently used the so-called ‘sunrise’ period to purchase the domains by providing inaccurate information to pass the eligibility criteria.
EURid, the non-profit Belgian company selected to regulate .EU has said that it will confiscate any domains acquired in that manner. Controversially however, EURid has said that an individual or company who makes a profit from selling on their domain can keep their profit, even if it was registered in contravention to the EURid guidelines, if the transaction occurs before the squatter is discovered.
Meanwhile the Czech Arbitration Court charged with hearing .EU disputes, has been ruling in favour of trade mark owners who have fallen victim to squatters. Most recently a company was stripped of its domain by the Court who then gave it to a UK firm. As the primary business of the squatter was in the US, it failed to meet the requirements of being an EU-based entity.
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