.co.at FAQ

Last Update 20 August 2012. With regard to registrations nic.at acts in good faith, relying on the legality of the claim. The applicant declares that he complies with the relevant legal regulations and, in particular, not to infringe other parties’ rights to signs and rights under the law of competition (right to a name, trade mark right, unfair competition, etc.). nic.at will not carry out an examination concerning the domain applied for, but reserves the right to deny applications in case of a blatant infringement of a right or in case of an unauthorized use of nic.at’s services. The applicant commits himself to indemnify and hold nic.at harmless from any claims of third parties whose rights have been infringed upon, if such an infringement results from the domain delegation applied for by the applicant.

The applicant is not entitled to delegation of a particular domain. He is merely entitled to delegation of a unique domain name, with the exception of the reasons for refusal specified in the General Terms and Conditions.

No additional rights may be inferred from the delegation of the domain by nic.at. No protective effects in favor of third parties shall be derived from the contractual relationship with nic.at.

Domain Disputes; Blocking the Change of Holder – Wait Status

In case of differences between parties concerning a domain, settlement has to be achieved between the parties. nic.at does not act as an arbitration board. The domain holder expressly agrees that in cases of disputes nic.at may forward his contact information and the registration date of his domain to persons whose rights have been infringed upon or who claim a right to the domain.

Wait Status 1, No Lawsuit Pending

In order to allow differences between the domain holder and third parties to be settled out of court, nic.at offers to set the status of the relevant domain to “wait”. Precondition is the third party’s attestation of the basis for the claim as well as his request to activate the wait status in writing or by telefax. As soon as the prima facie evidence has been examined, the domain status can be set to “wait” for one month. Wait status 1 allows the domain holder to either continue using the domain or to cancel the domain. However, the domain cannot be transferred to third parties that are not involved in the dispute. The cancellation of the wait status upon joint application by the parties in dispute is possible at any time.

Wait Status 1, Prolongation

At the request of either party in the dispute, the wait status 1 can be prolonged for the duration of one month. After the expiration or cancellation of wait status 1, wait status 1 cannot again be set in the same dispute.

Wait Status 2, Lawsuit Pending

If a lawsuit regarding the domain is already pending or assigned to the arbitration board and proof thereof has been supplied to nic.at by any of the parties in dispute, the transfer of the domain to third parties other than the parties in dispute shall, upon request of either party in the dispute or the arbitration board, be suspended for an indefinite period of time, but at least for as long as the lawsuit is pending. For the duration of the wait status the holder may continue to use the domain, unless he is prohibited by means of an enforceable court decision (e.g. legally effective preliminary injunctions).

If the dispute cannot be solved between the parties, you can always choose legal action at a court.

If you have rights to an already delegated name (e.g. trademark right, right to a name), please contact the nic.at legal department, which will inform you about the so-called Wait-status.

The Wait status prevents the transfer of a domain to another holder and can be requested in case of legal disputes. This guarantees that the holder remains the same for the duration of the dispute. Thus, the domain holder can not elude responsibility by transferring the domain to another person.

In Austria there is no special Dispute Resolution Policy. So if there are disputes between the domain holder and the third party, you have to use the normal Austrian jurisdiction system.

Application for Domain Registration

Applications can be submitted via electronic application form or, if not available to the applicant, via letter or fax to nic.at.

An application is not considered filed until nic.at receives it without any errors regarding form and content. nic.at cannot be held liable by third parties regarding the delegation of a domain made on the basis of an application containing errors.

Registration by Authorized Agent

The application for a domain registration or the modification of entries can be made directly by the applicant or by an agent authorized by him. If someone requests the delegation of a domain or the modification of entries in the name of someone else, he declares to have the proper authorization; otherwise he shall commit himself to indemnify and hold nic.at harmless (compensation for any subsequent disadvantage), especially including third-party claims which are enforced against nic.at because of the unauthorized entry.

Delegation

After a valid application has been filed and not been rejected by nic.at, nic.at shall delegate the domain and charge the registration fee. nic.at expressly reserves the right not to process the delegation until receipt of the registration fee.

Registration in the domain name servers of nic.at renders the delegation active and the domain is deemed „delegated”. Upon delegation of the domain, the applicant commits himself to check the correctness of cpr144449003101 the specified data without delay but not later than one month. Requests for correction which are received late shall be treated as modification requests and shall be processed according to the relevant conditions.

The domain holder must ensure that all specified name servers are constantly available.

Notice of Changes

All modifications of application-related data shall be promptly notified to nic.at and implemented by means of a new, fully completed electronic application. In case of modifications, nic.at may request a confirmation in writing or by telefax from the domain holder. The domain holder shall be liable for the correctness of the data submitted by him.

Notifications by nic.at, especially invoices and other information as well as relevant information concerning the contract, shall be deemed to be delivered as soon as they have been sent to the contact address which has been specified last.

Change of the Holder

When transferring the domain to another holder, a confirmation in writing or by telefax of the current and future domain holder or a legally effective decision of the court or the arbitration board for .at domains is necessary, in addition to the new, fully completed electronic application. Such a confirmation shall be drawn up using the forms supplied by nic.at. The domain shall be taken over by the new holder with all rights and obligations pertaining thereto, especially outstanding claims of the former domain holder.

Contract Period and Cancellation of a Domain

The contract shall be deemed to be placed with the acceptance by nic.at in the form of the domain delegation (§ 864 ABGB – Austrian Civil Code). The contract is placed for an indefinite time.

The domain can be cancelled at any time, but not later than four weeks before the beginning of the next service period (key date of the domain) on the domain holder’s request in writing or by telefax, using the forms supplied by nic.at. Outstanding claims that were due at the date of cancellation remain active.

There is no claim to reimbursement of unexhausted fees. If the delegation of the domain is a consumer transaction within the meaning of the Austrian Consumer Protection Act (KSchG), reimbursement of unexhausted fees may only be claimed if and when the contract is cancelled subject to a notice period of one month, with cancellation to take effect at the end of the first year or, subsequently, at the end of each six-month period (§15 para. 1 KSchG). If the contract has been concluded via electronic application and if more than 7 days have elapsed between the application and the delegation, the consumer is entitled to rescind the contract with nic.at within 7 workdays (excluding Saturday) as from delegation of the domain. The consumer is entitled to rescind the contract within 7 days as from receipt of the information according to §5 d of the Consumer Protection Act (KSchG); if he does not receive this information, he may exert such right of rescission within 3 months as from the delegation of the domain.

Revocation of the Delegation

The delegation of a domain can be revoked by nic.at in special cases, especially under the following conditions:

• in case of technical problems with this domain (e.g. nameservers are not operative), in spite of requests to remove this condition,
• non-payment of outstanding fees (including past service periods, even if the current service period has been paid) or other outstanding claims,
• because of insufficient data of the domain holder (see 1.3.),
• in case of a legally effective decision by a court or the arbitration board for .at-domains as well as upon official order.

Outstanding claims of nic.at, that have been due at the date of the revocation, remain active.

Registrar

nic.at offers the domain holder the possibility to delegate the application for the registration and administration of a domain to a registrar. The invoice recipient of this domain must always be the registrar, who has to inform nic.at about it.

Choice of Law and Jurisdiction

The contractual relationship between nic.at and the domain holder shall be governed by Austrian law.

All disputes arising from the contractual relationship shall be settled by the Commercial Court of Vienna or, in case of proceedings at district-court level, by the Vienna District Court for Commercial Matters and, if the relevant contractual relationship is a consumer transaction according to the Austrian Consumer Protection Act (KSchG), by the competent court having general jurisdiction over the consumer.