A Douglas hospitality business says a potential gap in the island’s .im domain protection system may leave companies exposed.
It follows on from the business, Refuge Bistro & Bar losing access to its long‑standing refuge.im web address.
Refuge Bistro & Bar, operated by Robert McAleer, recently failed in a dispute resolution case over the domain.
Domain Deleted
New information shared by the Department for Enterprise and registrar Domicilium suggests the domain may have been deleted through the reseller chain rather than allowed to expire, a distinction that could remove the usual 30‑day protection period available to owners who miss a renewal.
Under current arrangements, expired domains benefit from a recovery window. But if a domain is deleted instead of expiring naturally, it may become immediately available for re‑registration, bypassing that safeguard entirely.
Chris Naylor of TechCentre Group, who is assisting the business voluntarily, said the issue raises wider questions about whether island firms are adequately protected. He said a business could “do everything expected of them” and still lose a domain if actions elsewhere in the chain result in deletion.
Under Appeal
Refuge Bistro & Bar says it never instructed anyone to surrender the domain and has now been forced to operate from refuge.co.im while seeking to recover its original address.
The matter is currently under appeal through the IM Dispute Resolution Procedure.
The case has prompted calls for clarity on whether protections should apply regardless of how a domain leaves the system, and whether safeguards are needed to prevent valuable business domains being immediately re‑registered following deletion.
