.Eu registry Eurid said it suspended 74,000 .eu domain names and ...

Ltd., that were acting only as a front for the registrars who wanted to sell the names afterwards, said Eurid. “The domain name holders and the registrars can be regarded as one and the same. Since registrars should only register domain names for existing customers and not ‘warehouse’ the names in order to resell them at a higher price, this is clearly in breach of the registrar contract,” said Herman Sobrie, legal mgr. of Eurid, in a press release. There’s been much debate since the start of the .eu-Registry in April about cybersquatters and also the “cloning” of registrar companies. By setting up several “clone” companies, registrars increased their chances to get most- wanted domains during the land rush for domains. Despite complaints by other registrars about several hundred registrar clones with N.Y. addresses, Eurid hadn’t acted against the practice. But as European registrars threatened to write letters to the EC asking it to take Eurid to task for massive registrations for companies like Ovidio, Eurid started to investigate the issue. Most of the 400 registrars that face breach of contract complaints before a Brussels Court are based in the U.S., said Eurid spokesman Patrik Linden. Eurid also cancelled some 1,000 .eu-address registrations of non-EU citizens and companies, as they're not eligible to register the names. The registry was “constantly monitoring the registrations of .eu domain names in order to make sure all holders of .eu domain names are based in the EU zone, as required by to the Public Policy Rules for .eu,” said. The registry also was verifying that all accredited registrars are acting in the best interest of the end user, wrote Eurid.