The DRS is not for everyone.
You can use the DRS if:
- you have rights in a name or mark similar to the name;
- the registration or use of the domain name took unfair advantage of your rights - making it an 'abusive registration'; and
- there is no legal action going on.
You should not use the DRS if:
- you want to complain about Nominet (see our complaints system);
- you want to object to the content of an email sent using that domain name (see our sections on spam and fraud);
- you want to object to the content of a website hosted under that domain name, rather than the domain name itself (see our section on objecting to website content);
- the domain name does not end ".uk" but ends with a generic top level domain (anything with three letters or more, like .com, .net, .org, .info) in which case you should look at using ICANN's Uniform Dispute Resolution Procedure;
- the domain name does not end ".uk" but ends with a country code top level domain (two letters, like .fr, .de, .jp or .eu) - you should speak to the registry involved;
- the domain name does end ".uk" but it is one of the second level domains we do not control (e.g. .police.uk, .nhs.uk, .gov.uk, .ac.uk, .mod.uk) - speak to the organisation that runs that second level domain;
- the domain name ends ".nic.uk" or ".sch.uk", is registered to Nominet or is reserved under the rules - please speak to us directly about these as they are not subject to the DRS;
- there is ongoing court action (see why here);
- the domain name is in your name but you want to change registrar (or tag holder, or agent) - there is a separate process for that;
- it is one of the handful of .uk domains which the DRS does not apply to - basically these are second
Go to the
DRS overview.