The domain name Myspace.co.uk has been wrestled from the grasp of the social networking site after an independent appeals panel overturned a previous decision to award it to the Rupert Murdoch-owned company.
In January Nominet, the official registry of domain names in the UK, ruled in favour of Fox Interactive Media, despite the fact UK company TWS had registered the domain six years previously.
TWS originally registered myspace.co.uk in August 1997 to provide its clients with a cheap and easy-to-use homepage and email address. Some 18 TWS customers still use @myspace.co.uk email addresses.
The domain has been effectively parked around 2004 with Sedo, a company that targets advertising links on unused domains, according to The Register. In 2005, the Sedo algorithm began serving TWS’s domain with ads for services such as ‘MySpace Friend Adder’.
The latest Nominet judgment follows an appeal and passes control of the domain back to TWS.
By Niall Byrne
