Disputes over domain name ownership registered with web hosting firm Fasthosts have reportedly increased by 30 per cent in the past 12 months.
Companies typically found their claims of ownership were harder to prove or defend if they had registered a domain in an employee or advisorâs name.
Business owners were advised to check whether the company domain name was in their name, and transfer it across to themselves if not.
âIn 2008, companies should view their domain name as intellectual property,â Steve Holford of Fasthosts told the Mail on Sunday, which reported on the study yesterday.
âBusiness owners can save themselves from potential losses and disruption by ensuring that every domain is registered continually in the proprietorâs own name.â
His comments come just days after Nominet reported its seven millionth .uk domain name, representing âsignificant growthâ (1m) in addresses since July last year.
The non-profit firm said: âThe increase in .uk registrations is further evidence that British Internet users recognise the value of having a .co.uk address.â
It pointed to a survey of 2,352 net users by pollster Opinion Matters, which recently found that 72% were more likely to choose .uk than .com when searching for information online.
Original article : http://uk.webhostdir.com/news/showNews.aspx?ID=27444
My opinion :
If you are searching for your product in the UK, the co.uk domain will always remain the default extension to localise your business. Even for SEO google will index this and make it a more relevent site. Every ccTLD plays its importance and due to the long existance of the .co.uk it plays just as much as importance as other successful domain names such as the .DE.