TALLINN - Speculators have begun to register eu-ending domain names and offer them to well established companies for cash. If a company that has registered a domain name comes to terms with a company to which it offers the service, this is regarded as ordinary trade and handing over a right from one person to other, said Jaanus Putting, client service head with Zone Media, a company that maintains the official register of eu-ending domain names in Estonia.
But if a company sees such action as restriction of its rights and interprets it as blackmail, it is possible to protest registry of the domain name with EURid, the main administrator of the .eu domain zone.
Putting said the problematic period began on April 7 when registry of eu-ending domains was opened to private persons.
"Anyone can now register as many free domains as he or she can pay for. Unfortunately, such activity promotes speculation, but it has been the same with all domain zones since the beginning of the Internet. It is inevitable and there is no cure against it," Putting said.
Putting said more such cases would be growing in number. "Speculators will begin taking contact with companies, and further action will depend on the position of the company to buy or not to buy," Putting said.