I am located in Ontario, Canada, and I do the marketing and graphics
design work for a real estate company. There is a team of agents I am
doing work for in the office who saw a cheap method of marketing their
services on the internet via a low-budget web designer. This site
needs to be updated regularily with new listings info and more, which
i am capable of doing. The problem is, the web designer took off. He
does work for more around 50 real estate agents from different offices
in Canada. We have attempted to track down the designer, and have
learned that he is 2 months overdue on his apartment rent and is
staying in hotels in the area, and that if things dont change, his
belongings will be sold, including the computer. Nobody has had
contact with him for more than a month.
I need to get the domain login information so I can host the site on
my server so i can make changes to the site. We did a whois lookup and
learned that the AWOL web designer has registered the site in his own
name, and not the agents'. We called the domain registrar that was
listed on the whois, and he told us what i had expected - the domain
login cannot be released or deleted without permission from the owner
of the domain. Obviously, the site has the agents' names and photos
all over it, but that is irrelevant because the designer registered it
under his own name. I can provide specific details about the site and
the info in the domain if required (although not publically on this
post). What should be our next course of action? Is there legally
anything we can do other than wait for the expiry of the domain? It is
on all of the business cards, mailouts and flyers, so we cant afford
to have that old site sitting there. Even if we have to think of a new
domain name to register, we cant have people going to the old site...
Thanks for any advice anyone can give us, and please keep in mind that
we are in Canada so the laws are probably different than in the US.

Get a Court Order.

That should get the attention of the host.

(I'm in the UK but that's what I'd do.)

that makes sense. But would we have a case, and how approximately much
lawyers work (and therefore money) does that take?

Too true you would have a case.

How much would it cost?

I've no idea and, from what you say, you would have precious little
chance of recovering any costs from this crook.

It's worth asking around.

Maybe you wouldn't need a lawyer.

But can you afford not to recover the use of your domain name?

I guess that it would be easy enough to replicate the site.

Good luck!

Did the web designer pay for the registration himself? If he
registered the domain under his name but used the company's finances,
you should be able to get the registrar to give you the login
information based on the billing/financial info or you can try dispute
the charges through your credit card company.
You could also hire a private investigator to find out where he is and
then show up with the 50 real estate agents. =)
Also, check the epiration date of the domain and if it's 2 months or
less then you might want to wait because that's how long the dispute
process could take.

If those aren't options then you should file a complaint with ICANN
(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is the
global organization that manages the DNS (Domain Name System).
http://www.icann.org
There is a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy that was
created to handle disputes over internet domain name registrations.
http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/policy.htm
http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/uniform-rules.htm

Make sure you go through all the documention in the links I have
provided as they will give more detailed information about costs,
forms, contacts, and time schedules. Also, even though I have quite a
bit of IT experience this is all new to me too.

Basically you would have to choose one of the four ICANN approved
dispute-resolution service providers and file a dispute. (Each having
slightly different time tables and costs)
http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/approved-providers.htm
Each provider also has their own little set of rules to follow too.
After you have submitted the appropriate information and paid the
necessary fees ($1300-$2000+ for one domain) the provider will then
make a ruling on your case and notify ICANN of their decision. ICANN
would then transfer the domain to your company.

Just remember though, the dispute process could take up to two months
or so depending on the service provider because they need to give the
defendant time to respond too.

Hope this helps and sorry I don't have time to read through all the
rest of the material at the moment, but hopefully this will get you
started...

thanks for all your help. The only reason we are married to the domain
name is because it is all over the agents' marketing materials that
have already been distributed. We will probably try the less drastic
approaches to get access to this domain(not quite a private
investigator, im afraid!) and hope for the best. Ps. is mild hacking
possible or is that out of the question? Because we dont really need a
lawsuit from the domain registrar! ;)

Joel_R,

The domain registrar and the host are not necessarily the same outfit.
Do you know where your site is actually hosted? If you can prove your
situation to them, they may give you access. Especially if you pay the
hosting fee.

- Hammer

Hammer,
Im not sure if they do the hosting as well as domain registration. I
cant really find that out using the Whois search, can I? Do I have any
other way?
Thanks,
Joel

Joel_R,

Go to www.dnsstuff.com.

Type your domain name into the tool marked Domain Info. It should be
the 5th one down in the first column.

Look at the Server Info section and see if the information helps.

- Hammer

If you're still not sure who the host is, try www.dnstools.com.
Check the "do it all" box, and enter the domain name.

Usually, the registrar's info should be at the top, along with the
registrant's information.

Scroll down and look at the "IP Whois Results:"
That may contain the contact information for the hosting account. If
it's different from the registrar's info, you can try calling them to
see if they can help you out.

You can also check under the first section, at the bottom of "Domain
Whois Results:" under the registrant's info. There should be a list of
DNS servers, which should be the DNS of the hosting servers. Try
entering those back into the dnstools.com search and see what comes
up.

It sounds like the best option that you have is track him down and
offer him a couple of hundred dollars to terminate the relationship.

In exchange for a couple of hundred dollars, the guy will transfer the
domain name to the agency, and give you the keys to the host.

This would be much cheaper then a lawyer, and it sounds like he needs
the money now.

Good luck,

Thanks for all the help guys. Will keep you posted when more developes. Cheers

I agree with answerman45243. Call around the hotels/motels in the area
you think he is staying, find him, pay him a NICE CORDIAL visit, with
CASH, however, don't give it up until he "transfers the domain name to
the agency, and gives you the keys to the host."

If he's in need of money, he'll immediately go to ANY computer and be
able to complete all this in about an hour.