July 26, 2006 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – EURid (http://www.eurid.com), the organization managing the “.eu” top level domain name, has suspended 74,000 “.eu” domain names and sued 400 registrars for breach of contract. The actions come as a result of “abusive behavior from a syndicate of registrars who have systematically acquired domain names with the obvious intent of selling them”.
“In this 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,” explained Herman Sobrie, Legal Manager of EURid.
EURid is acting “firmly” against impropriety as the abuse of the extension has the potential to seriously damage its credibility as a viable extension, particularly as one that “conveys a European Identity on the Internet”. A number of “.eu” domain names have already been suspended because their registrants are not based in the European Union.
