A Douglas business has called for a review of the Isle of Man's .im domain name system after losing control of its long-standing website address.

Refuge Bistro & Bar says it has been forced to move to a new web address after losing ownership of refuge.im - despite believing it had paid to renew the domain.

The business is now operating from refuge.co.im while it attempts to recover its original website address.

Owner Robert McAleer said the situation had caused confusion for customers and raised questions about the protection available to local businesses.

According to a published decision under the .im Domain Dispute Resolution Procedure, Mr McAleer sought to have the domain transferred back to the business after it was registered by another party.

The decision records that Refuge Bistro & Bar had been paying for website and domain-related services since 2021 and that an invoice relating to the domain's renewal had been paid.

However, it also states the payment was received after the renewal deadline and that the domain had already been registered by another party after becoming available.

No response was received from the current registrant during the dispute process.

The independent adjudicator concluded there was insufficient evidence that the domain had been registered or used in breach of the .im dispute rules, meaning ownership remained with the current registrant.

Mr McAleer said: 'This is deeply frustrating. We paid for the domain to be managed and renewed, we had clear evidence of our use of the Refuge name, and we still lost the domain.

'We are a local business, not domain experts. We relied on the people managing the domain and now we are left trying to explain to customers why our established web address no longer belongs to us.'

Responding to the case, the Department for Enterprise said the .im domain system includes a 30-day protection period where a domain has accidentally expired, allowing the owner time to renew it before it can be registered by someone else.

However, the department said there is an important distinction between a domain simply expiring and one being explicitly deleted.

It said that, based on the information available, this case appeared to involve a domain managed through a reseller that had been explicitly deleted rather than allowed to expire.

The department said such action could occur for a number of reasons, including non-payment, customer instruction, contractual issues or other account-related matters, meaning the case appeared to fall outside the normal protection mechanism.

It added that disputes over .im domains are considered independently under the NIC.IM Dispute Resolution Procedure and that any party affected by a decision has the right to appeal.

A Department for Enterprise spokesperson said: 'The Department recognises the importance of domain names to local businesses, and the disruption that can be caused where access to a domain is lost.

'We would encourage all businesses to ensure their domain ownership, renewal and account arrangements are kept up to date, particularly where they use third-party resellers.'

Mr McAleer is now calling for a review of the .im domain system, saying he believes greater protection is needed for businesses that rely on their website addresses to trade.