Next week’s NFL Draft brings to mind a cautionary tale…

It could happen to any of us, and it almost happened to the Dallas Cowboys at a crucial time.  In the middle of the 2010 NFL season, buzz surrounding whether Cowboys’ head coach Wade Phillips was going to be fired (which was ultimately the case) was at an all-time high.  No doubt, fans, rivals and press were all scouring the internet for updates on the situation, and the Cowboys’ website was probably the prime online destination of the day. Unfortunately, the team forgot to renew the dallascowboys.com domain, and many would-be site visitors got error screens instead of highlights and instant replays. Talk about a game-changing fumble! See related article here.

It’s worth noting that the dallascowboys.com domain name was originally purchased in 1995 and probably was reserved for the longest possible time allowed.  Although most domain name registrars timely send email renewal reminders to domain name owners, it’s likely that whomever was initially responsible for the domain name was long gone and the renewal information didn’t get forwarded to the proper person (and, although auto-renew is available, the credit card info on file with the domain name registrar was probably no longer valid as well). It’s lucky that the ‘Boys became aware of the problem (which you might call an incomplete pass) and quickly renewed the domain before someone else (perhaps a disgruntled, recently fired coach) grabbed it and tried to hold it hostage.

At least Dallas Cowboys Football Club, Ltd. was listed as the domain name owner.  Many times, the person who originally registers the domain name (whether an employee of the organization or someone with the company hired to design the website) is listed as the owner of the domain name and the domain name is never officially transferred to the organization and/or the information doesn’t get updated…which can cause a host of problems for the organization utilizing the domain name (especially if the employee is terminated or if the development company relationship dissolves).

Although the Cowboys had a close call and almost wound up on the disabled list, this is a great example of how easy it can be for an organization to neglect (and almost lose) one of its most important intellectual property assets. We all know how valuable your website is to your business, so here’s what you should do to prepare your domain name offensive strategy…

If you have a website: 

(1)   Determine who is listed as the owner of your domain name.

To find out who owns your domain name and when the registration expires, type in the domain name (e.g., dallascowboys.com) in a WHOIS search database, such as InterNIC, Network Solutions, or GoDaddy.

(2)   Check to ensure that this information is correct. 

If the Administrative and/or Technical Contact information is not in your company’s name, you’ll want to update this information as quickly as possible.

You may need a Domain Name Transfer Agreement to perfect the chain of title for the domain name ownership.  (While you’re at it, you may also want to make sure you have a Website Development Agreement in place with any third-party web developer for the website associated with the domain name so you own/have rights to your web content and design.)

If the domain name is registered to one of your company’s employees or officers, add this to your employee exit checklist to ensure that this information is updated should the employee/officer leave the company.

A disgruntled/terminated employee or website developer with sole control of a company domain name can easily redirect internet, e-mail and intranet traffic within a matter of moments and bring business to a standstill.

(3)   Calendar a reminder for the domain name renewal date.  

The expiration date for the domain name registration is listed in the WHOIS information (see #1 above).