Reglikedomain industry desk

German Lottery Provider Gets NKL.com Back 3 Years Following Theft

Lottery wins domain name it states was stolen in 2006.

German state-owned lotto firm NKL Nordwestdeutsche Klassenlotterie has won the transfer of the NKL.com domain name, three years following the domain name was allegedly stolen. NKL won the domain name through a WIPO proceeding.

In a strange series of events, it appears the domain name may have been stolen in 2006 but NKL didn’t realize this until 2009. The domain name was set to expire on October 10, 2006. In August 2006, the whois information suddenly changed and the domain was renewed. The whois ownership information then changed a number of times in the next three years, but the nameservers continued to point the domain name to NKL’s web site. For three years, NKL had no idea the domain name wasn’t under its control.

It wasn’t until the domain name pointed to another web site in 2009 that NKL states it became aware of the alleged theft. NKL alleged the owner of the domain name listed it for sale on expired domain name site NameJet. A look at historical whois records shows that it was likely added to NameJet since it expired on October 10, 2009.

The owner of the domain name didn’t respond to the complaint and the panel awarded the domain to NKL.

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