The following story appeared on OUT-LAW

The following story appeared on OUT-LAW.COM, the new media and e-commerce service of international law firm Masons. It is reproduced here with permission from Masons

News Financial Services Authority wins domain name from legitimate owner

25/09/2001

A family run UK software firm, Findlay Steele Associates, has been confronted and overpowered by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in a dispute over the domain name fsa.co.uk which was heard by Nominet, the national registry for all domain names ending in .UK.

Nominet's terms and conditions for registration stipulate that care must be taken to avoid infringing the rights that a third party may have in the name, intentionally or otherwise. Where such domain name wrangles do occur, Nominet offers a dispute resolution service and this week ruled against Findlay Steele who registered the name fsa.co.uk in good faith some six months before the FSA, holder of the domain name fsa.gov.uk, came into existence.

The reasoning behind the decision centered on the fact that some confusion had occurred between the two names. Findlay Steele had received confidential business correspondence intended for the FSA as a result of a spelling error made by the sender, a firm of solicitors.

However, the mediation service offered by Nominet does not take the place of the courts and the domain has been put on hold for a month pending an appeal by Findlay Steele. If both parties fail to meet an agreement by 5th October then the domain will be up for grabs again on a first come, first served basis.

The power exerted by the FSA has been described as an instance of "domain name hijacking," in other words, an attempt to deprive a legitimate domain name holder from the address they acquired in good faith.