Confused Scottish beaver lovers logged on to a campaign website to be confronted with a dubious Japanese adult dating service.
The web address mix-up left members of the Scottish Wild Beaver Group shocked as they were expecting to read about the conservation and protection of wild Eurasian beavers.
It appears the organisation’s original website, which existed without the ‘.uk’ suffix, was somehow taken over by the foreign business.
The Japanese website offers dating advice and access to other online services.
Members of the Scottish group were left clamouring to highlight their updated site which now includes the correct ‘.org.uk’ suffix.
The registered charity has been at the forefront of the campaign to re-introduce wild beavers to Scotland’s rivers.
They also lobby the Scottish Government to legislate against the shooting of beavers in the wild.
The group’s website, scottishwildbeavers.org.uk , allows nature enthusiasts the opportunity to keep up to date with news relating to their campaign.
Domain disputes are not uncommon, and problems like the ones facing the Scottish Wild Beaver Group are on the rise across not just the UK, but internationally.
In 2015, there were a total of 728 complaints made to domain registry organisation Nominet.
The company offer a domain resolution service, and has apparently saved companies over £7.7 million in legal costs in 2015.
Users in the UK had the highest number of complaints over the ‘.uk’ suffix, with 74% of the total cases coming from British companies.
Major brands like the Star Wars film franchise, Bank of Scotland, the Mango clothing company and the BBC have had issues with disputed domain names.
In 2015, Lucasfilm Ltd. – the company behind the billion dollar Star Wars franchise – successfully argued a British fancy dress company were using the film’s “pulling power” to sell items through a registered ‘.uk’ website.
The starwars.co.uk domain name and seven other similar ‘.uk’ websites with Star Wars in the title were handed over to the film giant after a court ruling ruled there was an “unadorned reproduction” of the Star Wars trade mark.
It is understood the Scottish Wild Beaver Group may have difficulty resolving any dispute over the name, given the ‘.org’ suffix is normally registered in the United States.
