Registrant name will need to be updated after Serlin departs.
About 35,000 domain names at MarkMonitor use the company’s version of Whois Proxy. They are all registered in the name of Matt Serlin, DNStination Inc.
Names registered in this name belong to companies such as Facebook and Google.
The ownership records for these domain names will need to be updated soon.
Serlin recently posted on LinkedIn that he will be leaving MarkMonitor after 15 years with the company.
I’ve always found it amusing that MarkMonitor uses an actual person’s names on its customers proxy registrations. Who will be the next lucky employee at MarkMonitor to be affiliated with 35,000 domains?
JohnUK says
Funny you should mention this as it was in my mind about the layout of some Registrars forms and how those details enter into the WHOIS. In some the personal name shows as the contact, yet on others it seems to show up as that contact being the actual Registrant. The question then is , IS the contact the name the Registrant OR does the company name trump that ?.
JohnUK says
I did not explain that clearly. If the whois says “Matt Serlin , DNStination Inc which one is the actual legal owner according to ICANN rules ?. What if someone issues a UDRP ,does Matt Serlin or whoever have to defend that domain as his own ?.
John Berryhill says
…and then they all have to be locked for 60 days.
Kyle Giarratano says
If David Brown and the clowns at web. com were running Mark Monitor they would be out of business. David Brown and the dunces at web. com should read Bob Parsons 16 Rules for Success in Business. Maybe those clowns will learn something.
James says
And given the new Change of Registrant process, what happens if Matt doesn’t consent? Muhahahah…
John Berryhill says
…or Taylor Swift
Andrew Allemann says
He’s going to be clicking on a lot of confirmation emails!
Richard Funden says
Nonsense.Bulk updates are possible. If they do this intelligently, this will be two confirmations.
Andrew Allemann says
I realize that. They can even be the authorized agent and not have to do it at all.
michael berkens says
Also Mark Monitor owns hundreds of new gTLD’s with the word Matt to the left of the dot such as matt.condos; matt.maison & matt.properties
Andrew Allemann says
These are all for Matt Mullenweg, WordPress creator
Domainer says
Realistically, the email address controls ownership (except in court).
JohnUK says
“Controls” but does not necessarily “Own”. I am just interested in the strict legal position as to how a Registrant would be determined, i.e. by the Contact Name OR the Organisation/Company Name ?. i.e. if the WHOIS shows “Matt Serlin, Destn.com INC ” who is considered the Legal Owner for UDRP or Court proceedings ?. Perhaps John Berryhill might be kind enough to have input ?.
John Berryhill says
So, let’s see… they threw Fred Felman and Elisa Cooper overboard a while back after the acquisition, and Margie had bailed prior to then. Who has ICANN in the pool on where he ends up?
Eric Lyon says
Looks a bit high risk to me. I’m sure he had a written agreement notarized to protect him in the event anything happened with the domains his name was associated with. I would like to think so anyways.
Magdalena Hesse says
It’s all protected by SLA. MarkMonitor is very professional in this aspect. Clients are in safe hands. This is not the only update MarkMonitor needs to deal with. I’m sure it will run smoothly.