Especially companies should pay attention to correct entries in the domain registration database

For many users the personal domain name is as integral a part of their Internet experience as their email address. Declining costs have led to a veritable boom in domain registrations during the last few months. Meanwhile more than 3.3 million domain names have been registered in Germany alone. But a few points should be considered, so that the initial joy of having a personal domain name will not fade over time.

All mandators of a domain registration should make sure that they are listed as the domain owner. The owner of a domain can be researched in the Internet on the website of DENIC eG, the central registry for domain names with the country code ".de". In addition to that it is important who DENIC lists as administrative contact (short: admin-c) of a domain. The admin-c is a duly authorized person, who manages the domain for the owner. He can, for example, mandate the deletion of the domain or transfer it to someone else. Therefore the role of admin-c should only be filled by someone enjoying the unconditional trust of the domain owner. Because it is often misrepresented: not the admin-c is the legal and material beneficiary of the domain, but the person or entity listed as domain owner in the DENIC database.

Especially companies must be careful with their domain entries. The owner should be the company itself and not a manager or other executive, because, if disputes arise later, this can have unfortunate consequences: if not the company, but an executive, is owner of the domain, then this person can take the domain with him, if he leaves the company.

More information is available on the DENIC website, especially note the terms and conditions governing the registration of a domain name.