iTunes 'cybersquatting' row threatens Nominet authority

The authority of the UK's domain name registrar has been called into question after the owner of the domain name iTunes.co.uk investigated what rights the registrar had to make him hand the URL to Apple.

Benjamin Cohen, who registered the iTunes.co.uk address three years before Apple launched its popular music store, was ordered to transfer rights to the URL to Apple by .uk registrar Nominet in March.

Nominet, Cohen contends, has no authority to make him transfer iTunes.co.uk - and he has a statement from the Department of Trade and Industry to prove it.

Cohen filed a Freedom of Information Request with the DTI regarding what Nominet's legal or official authority was to force him to transfer the rights to Apple. The DTI responded "we are not aware of any statutory recognition of Nominet".

Despite Nominet's claim on its website that it is "officially recognised as the .uk domain name registry by the internet industry, users and the UK government", the DTI said it does not officially recognise Nominet as the sole registrar of .uk domain names.

The DTI also told Cohen that the viewing of URLs as intellectual property is somewhat of a moveable feast and domain names are not necessarily subject to the same rights and restrictions as intellectual property.

"A domain name is a written representation of an internet electronic address and as such, like any other form of address e.g. a postal address, it should not be treated as intellectual property per se," it said but added various protective measures were in place to prevent abuses of intellectual property.

The DTI's response has thrown Cohen's legal challenge into limbo. Given that Nominet is not a public body, the iTunes.co.uk owner can't appeal the decision at the High Court as he intended. Cohen is, however, mounting a legal challenge, he said.