Foreign profiteers try to extract money from Finnish companies by reserving their domain names

Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority has received dozens of inquiries regarding domain name offers

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Dozens of Finnish companies, communities, and local authorities have been contacted by foreign companies who have offered to sell them domain names for a premium.
      The first offers appeared in April. A Swedish Internet firm contacted Finnish companies informing them that another client of theirs was about to register a .fi domain name containing the Finnish company's name. For a EUR 200 registration fee, the Finnish company could purchase the domain name for itself.
      In some cases the Swedish firm had already registered the domain name for the Finnish company's use without prior consultation.
     
According to the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, FICORA, in some cases when a Finnish company had declined to pay the premium, despite the threats, the domain name had not been sold to anyone else either.
      Recently, a domain name purchase offer was also received by Kuluttajat-Konsumenterna ry, a Finnish consumers' organisation. The offer was sent by yet another Internet firm.
      Through a fax sent to the Kuluttajat-Konsumenterna ry office, the Internet firm presents the organisation with a .com domain name offer referring to the fact that "domain name hijackers have increased their activity in the Finnish market".
      The firm is "making an enquiry among existing organisations to find out if any domain name violations have occurred". The company also promises to take care of the domain name registration on the organisation's behalf for a fee of EUR 34. According to FICORA, however, additional fees have usually been collected later.
      Consumer Secretary Kaisa Pannimaa-Pätsiof Kuluttajat-Konsumenterna ry hopes consumers will understand that a domain name can be purchased directly from the service provider and all it takes is one phone call. "I am afraid many people have fallen for this swindle."
      FICORA lawyer Hannu Gyldén confirms that reports of firms selling .com domain names are received on a daily basis.
      "Dozens of companies, communities, and municipalities have contacted us on the matter, even though .com domain names are not under our jurisdiction. We only deal with registration and supervision of domain names ending .fi."
     
In the spring, another Swedish company called Sellnet approached Finnish businesses. Because it was selling .fi domain names, FICORA published a warning on its Internet site against the Swedish company's activities. Telephone offers from the company soon dried up.
      During the summer, a firm called Europaweb International has approached Finnish organisations through faxes. FICORA has no exact figures of how many companies have paid the firm for a domain name.
      The National Bureau of Investigation, Finland's central criminal police, has recently received a request to investigate the matter.
     
The .fi domain names fall under FICORA's jurisdiction. The price of a domain name for three years is EUR 55.
      Domain names are usually purchased from the service provider. They can also be applied for directly from FICORA.
      Finnish law prohibits the setting up of domain names that are based on someone else's protected business name. The so-called domain name law also forbids the purchasing of .fi domain names for resale purposes.


Links:
  FICORA

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