EURid, the EU registry, suspends 74,000 domain registrations and sues ‘phantom’ registrars.

EURid, the non profit organisation operating the Internet top level domain .eu, has suspended 74 000 .eu domain names and has sued 400 registrars for breach of contract. 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.

“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,” says Herman Sobrie, Legal Manager of EURid.

There had been complaints about these three entities maintaining a total of 400 accreditations. This also brings .EU back down under the 2 Million Domain mark.

[via EURid News, The Register]