Customers claim refunds over dot-biz domains

Almost 9,000 UK web users who signed up for a dot-biz domain name are to receive a refund after the original allocation process was deemed to be improper.

When the domains were allocated any clash of interests was resolved through random selection - meaning two businesses with a claim on the same domain were effectively being entered into a lottery - a process which the Los Angeles Supreme Court last month adjudged to be illegal.

Now, UK customers who registered their domain name with Slough-based firm 1&1 Internet are having their £10 fee returned and are being re-entered into the allocation process.

Worlwide, 40,000 domain names were affected by the ruling, and top level domain name registrar NeuLevel, which handled the registration process centrally, will be re-opening the application process again until 4 March.