My domain reseller is nearing bankruptcy. What to do?

Question

I have a personal domain registered with KalyHost, which is owned by Tibanne, Ltd., owner of Mt.Gox, that is in a bankruptcy protection. According to WHOIS, KalyHost is just a reseller, with the registrar being http://www.1api.net/ .

(For my rationale of registering it there: it was one of the few companies, that accepted bitcoins back in the day, and I thought that it's trustworthy, because it runs the biggest Bitcoin exchange. What a mistake.)

KalyHost, at the present moment, has fully working administration and I can change my DNS records, but I don't know for how much longer. Also, the bitcoin payments are apparently no longer working, and the support doesn't reply to any questions - and, according to people close to the company, the support is basically non-existent and right now, with depts in millions of dollars, the company have bigger problems than a domain name.

So, I have two questions.

1) What are the immediate dangers to me, if the reseller actually bankrupts? Will my domain continue to work?

2) How to solve it? Can I somehow move the domain somewhere else, even when the support is basically non-responsive?

Answer 1

You should submit a request to transfer your domain to another ICANN-Accredited Registrar as soon as possible.

Each accredited registrar, and reseller there-under, is bound by a Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) with ICANN, the organization that administrates the domain name system and accredited domain registrars.

Under that agreement, registrars must permit inter-registrar transfers to other registrars within a specific time-frame, with the exception of certain limited circumstances:

• Evidence of fraud
• Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) action Court order
• Reasonable dispute over the identity of the person authorizing the transfer
• Domain name is on hold due to payment owed for a previous registration period
• Express written objection from the domain name holder
• Domain name is in "Lock" status (Registrars must provide a readily accessible and reasonable means for name holders to remove the lock status. Contact your registrar for assistance.)
• Domain name is within 60 days of initial registration
• Domain name is within 60 days of a previous transfer

Domain registrants also have certain rights under the RAA. If a registrar either refuses or ignores your request to transfer your domain (and the above circumstances aren't applicable), or otherwise violates your Registrant Rights, you can file a Contractual Compliance Complaint with ICANN.

You may also seek damages through a legal suit filed in the locale specified in your registration agreement, or possibly local to yourself or business - consult with an attorney who specializes in Intellectual Property law in that case.

Lastly, you may want to consider trademarking your domain in your country, and each country in which you do business, to provide another layer of legal protection for your domain. It's advisable to use an attorney in that case too.

Answer 2

I would not take any chances and transfer the domain name and DNS service (if either applies) to a well known company. I use GoDaddy and have from the beginning including when I was a webhost. I can recommend them highly. You can call their tech support for help even without being a customer yet. They can help even if it is not the first person you talk to. They have some real experts on staff but generally, they are not the ones answering the phones, but will get on the call when needed.