74,000 .EU Domain Names Suspended

On July 24, 2006, EURid, the non profit organisation operating the Internet top level ".eu" domain, announced that it has suspended 74 000 .eu domain names and has sued 400 registrars for breach of contract. According to their press release, this move was prompted by abusive behavior from a syndicate of registrars who have systematically acquired domain names with the obvious intent of selling them. In the
domain name business this is called warehousing and is not permitted.

"Int his case we are convinced that the domain name holders of the 74 000 .eu names (Ovidio Ltd, Fausto Ltd and Gabino Ltd) are acting as a front for a number of registrars. The domain name holders and the registrars can be regarded as one and the same. Since registrars should only register domain names for existing customers and not 'warehouse' the names in order to resell them at a higher price, this is clearly in breach of the registrar contract," says Herman Sobrie, Legal Manager of EURid.

EURid says that it would like to make the names available for registration again once a court decision is rendedered.