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.
