Do you think it should be illegal to own a domain name and not have any significant content provided by it?
Significant content could be defined as simply as an about us page or a coming soon page.
Does it make it harder to do general population business without a .com TLD?
Should there be a time limit on owning a domain name without significant content (as defined above?)
Would life be easier if domain names needed to be tied directly to a business? DBA, LLC, S-Corp, etc... ?In the USA, setting up a Doing Business As is a pretty simple thing to do requiring just an hour or 2 at a bank / city hall.
The reason for asking this question happened just this weekend.
We want to build a website similar to an existing one we own. The domain name in question has been owned since 2008. Has no content at it, at all.
It was set to expire yesterday at 1pm and (news to me) registrars have a grace period of 2-4 weeks to renew. Weeks ago, I had setup a backorder at godaddy and this morning, I get a notification that the domain name was renewed for another year.
It's not being used; we have a need for it that's in direct alignment with our business.
IMO, hordeing domain names hurts new businesses.
I love all of those ideas. I think the fundamental problem is that the renewal rates are far too low for domainers. For example, if you are selling a prime piece of land, the taxes are equivalent to the value of the land. Thus, encouraging the owner to either sell it or use it. A domainer selling a domain for $50,000 is basically paying the same renewal rate as person selling a $10 domain. This encourages them to hoard domains and wait years and years for some idiot to overpay for their domain.
It's hard to say by just that if it isn't being used. It can be used in ways where you won't be able to see it. Besides that I agree that it's not fair to buy domains just to sell them overpriced. Fortunately for danish .dk domains this is illegal and if one can prove they have better reasons to own the domain and the owner can't prove he is using it, then the domain can be handed over to the new registrant. Unfortunately this isn't the case for other domains. However it is hard to manage, but clearly there's a need for legislation in this area.
I feel your pain. There have been several names that I've wanted but couldn't get because of domain squatting or cyber squatting services like Go-Daddy. A company with shady business practises anyway. Many people / companies see the bulk acquisition of domains as investments with resell value which is a legit business. That being said, @lela_mackeever_rain has a very valid point by comparing it to physical property. I tell clients all the time, their domain name is just as valuable as the property they own. If you have the chance to grab waterfront property on a wooded lot with a view, do it!
I own several domains that I have not built out just yet. However, there is a logo and a copyright date on those "empty" sites at the moment.
You do have the option to sue for the name if you feel that it's a violation of your IP, legally trademarked / registered name or brand. That's how larger corps protect themselves against cyber squatters.
My advice to you is (and I'm not assuming you're not thinking this through) get creative with your domain name. Think outside the box and look for alternative TLD extensions that can work with your name / brand / product. For instance, no plug, I've owned www.variousmedia.com since early 2000's. I just recently purchased www.various.media to use as the parent domain name instead of the .com because now the brand name is the URL. And if financially possible, purchase the main TLD extensions to protect your brand. I have gone as far as to purchase the correct spelling of the name and the incorrect spelling of the name because it's possible to mistype the name.
Good luck with your project.