The Office of Fair Trading has acted against a company that touted
its domain name registration business by cold-calling with warnings
that third parties were about to register domain names similar to
their business names.
The OFT announced yesterday that it has ordered Swansea-based
Internet Registrations Bureau Limited (IRBL), trading as Euro Web
Designs, to cease its practices after the company failed to show
that any third parties really existed.
IRBL's trick was to inform unsuspecting businesses that they had
to act quickly if they wanted to stop their business name being
registered as a domain name for a third party. According to
reports, they would charge around £100 for each domain name.
According to the OFT, the company and directors Paul Dilling and
Susan Ford have now given written assurances that they will not
claim to have been contacted by third parties interested in
registering domain names when no such interest has been expressed
to them.
John Vickers, OFT Chairman, said:
"We will continue to crack down on
advertisers who make misleading claims about their services.
Businesses should be wary of domain name registration companies
cold calling and putting pressure on them to purchase names in
haste."
The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations of 1988
give the OFT the power to stop misleading ads by means of a court
injunction, or to seek assurances or undertakings. Under the
Regulations, the OFT can act only when a complaint has been
received.
