Dispute with Registrar

I'm currently in a dispute with my Registrar (Colorteckdomains.com). I feel because their ineptitude, I have lost my domain name.

I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

I'll start from the beginning...
Two years and two months ago (4/2007), I bought a package from Colorteck, which included hosting and a domain. While I outgrew the hosting (I needed a little more than the $6/m), last year I needed to keep the domain name.

I sent in a support ticket about renewing the domain; I quickly received an invoice and paid the $10 via Paypal. Apparently, this domain was not attached to my old Colorteck account, but simply floating, actually registered in the whois to sales@colorteck.com.
A few months later, I registered another domain through Colorteck, creating a new account.

The domain is actually used for a game. When I redesigned and recoded it last November, I changed the name and put it on a new domain (which thankfully wasn't registered via Colorteck). The point of this part of the story is that I could probably sell the old site (Game, images, name, and domain) for a few grand.

At the end of March of this year, I tried to renew the original domain. While I really wanted it moved to my Colorteck account, my main priority was to keep it online (Even though it was no longer in use, it was linked to my new site, which apparently helped the page rank). This failed; Colorteck took awhile to respond, then we went back and forth for a week or two, then they told me to contact Sales, then sales ignored me, then I contacted sales again, who ignored me again. The domain stayed parked at Colorteck, who it was apparently registered to until 2009.

Here we are two months later and a third party just registered my domain.
My first question was if someone else had the ability to register the domain, why didn't Colorteck just TELL ME that I could do that?

I have contacted the new owner, and they have agreed to sell it back for $75. While I think it would be worth it, why should I spend $75 when the loss of the domain was clearly not my fault?

I have called Colorteck support a few times, I finally found out via talking to a supervisor that it is a third party support company (Big surprise, based on the support they gave) and that I would have to contact SplashPress Media. I called their number and was told no one was there (At 2:00pm EDT on a Wednesday? Somehow, I don't buy that), and left a "detailed" message.

A few fun ***s include how the invoice number I have a record of via email for the domain renewal in 2007 simply does not exist in their system. I was also given an email address for their legal department. Which didn't work.

My questions include:
Who's fault was it that I lost my domain?

Even though the domain was registered to Colorteck, I paid for the year (And have paypal and email records to prove it). Does this mean I legally owned the domain from March 2007 - March 2008, or did they?

If I took this to court, with a decent attorney and all my records, could I win, and would I be able to sue enough to compensate me for the lost domain, time, and attorney fees?

Thank you for taking time to read/reply, as I do not have much experience in the Legal field.


Bruce

[EnZo]

My answers:
1st question: It's definitely their fault. If what u said it's true, they practically ripped you off.

2nd question:If you paid for it, then officially you're the owner of the domain. If they scammed you, that's a fraud, which is illegal. If u can prove it you'll most probably win the cause.

3rd question: I'm afraid that I can't answer this question; my knowledges about cases like these is minimal. You could try, if u say that u have proof.

Originally Posted by bearruler

If I took this to court, with a decent attorney and all my records, could I win, and would I be able to sue enough to compensate me for the lost domain, time, and attorney fees?

You can definitely sue. Whether you'll win or not is an entirely different story.

You can sue them I really think that you will win. The problem is that I don't know exactly how much you will earn from this. You should talk to an attorney and discus how much will he charge and how much can he guarantee.

[kevinpaquet]

That domain name must be very important to you to bring up a attorney.
With the paypal records in hand, they ain't stand your way, go for it.
But it may be a bit costly.

[fishfin]

Suing is pretty expensive. You may be better off if you just threaten to sue...

You could also report them to the Better Business Bureau (Untitled), the ICPEN (ICPEN/RICPC), and the ICANN (ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)

What is the domain name anyways?

I'd go with fishfin, better off just threatening and reporting. If you still don't get the domain, just pay the $75. If you won, you probably wouldn't get "that" much, plus you'd have to waste more time on the court.