Companies get bought and sold or changed in some way all the time. It’s completely normal. During the economic downturn a lot of companies were closed, but not all changes are bad news. Maybe a particular business venture simply isn’t working out and you decide to shut it down for a while, or you simply sell a company to another one.
There are many reasons why companies can cease trading or or get dissolved.
Many people focus on the traditional corporate assets, such as offices, buildings and physical equipment, but what about the digital ones?
A company’s domain name(s) can be a very valuable and important asset. If a company’s domain name stops working so does their email, website and many other products and services that are linked to them.
When you’re doing a corporate restructuring don’t forget to update the details, both public and private, of domain names and other digital assets.
If you don’t keep the details current then you could lose them! If the WHOIS details on a domain name are not correct and you don’t fix them quickly enough your registrar will be obliged to suspend the domain – and this applies to pretty much all domain name extensions. Bear in mind that most communications about domain names, website and email hosting and other digital assets are via email. And providers, such as ourselves, rely on the contact details you provide and maintain with us so you need to make sure they’re current or you could miss an important notice.
In the case of .ie domain names and some other country code names, there’s an extra little quirk. If a company has ceased trading, been dissolved or struck off the company register then its assets, including domain names, are no longer its property, so the registry can delete the domains entirely.
We often get enquiries from the IEDR about the status of domain names, as the data in the domain registry is stale. And while updating the details is relatively easy it still requires a bit of work.
Spending a few minutes keeping the details current can save headaches or embarrassment in the future. If you need assistance with updating your company’s digital assets we’d be more than happy to help.
About the Author: Michele Neylon
