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ARTICLE · 12 OCTOBER 2018

What Has Happened To Domain WHOIS Information?

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Historically, anyone searching for a domain could use this free database to reveal the person or company behind a domain registration, including their name and address.

United KingdomMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Stuart Lester
Stuart Lester

WHOIS, the domain lookup service, has gone into black-out......

Historically, anyone searching for a domain could use this free database to reveal the person or company behind a domain registration, including their name and address.

This information was useful from a due diligence perspective in corporate transactions, providing some comfort that the domains you were buying were in the name of the correct seller.

Perhaps even more importantly however, the WHOIS database was crucial for trade mark owners and their legal representatives to help reveal the identity and contact details of cybersquatters. As well as this it was helpful in tackling other IP infringements online.

However after May 25th 2018, when the GDPR was officially introduced, personal data was no longer available on WHOIS searches.

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