The legitimacy of Nominet, the registry of .uk web domain names, was called into question today after it was revealed that the Government has provided no statutory authority for the company to make judgments about web addresses in the UK.

The claim is made by Benjamin Cohen, who was the owner of the itunes.co.uk domain name until he was ordered to hand over the web address to technology giant Apple.

Mr Cohen made the discovery after he made an application to the Department of Trade & Industry under the Freedom of Information Act to ascertain whether the Nominet’s decisions are binding.

Nominet claims on its website to be "officially recognised as the .uk domain name registry by the internet industry, users and the UK Government". But the DTI's statement obtained by Mr Cohen says that at no point has there ever been a statutory or official recognition of Nominet's position as a the sole issuer of .uk domain names to the public.

Mr Cohen says the status of Nominet is important because its dispute resolution service acts in a quasi-judicial manner when deciding who should lay claim to a domain name.

Mr Cohen has always claimed that when he registered the itunes.co.uk web address on November 7, 2000, he did so entirely legitimately and in good faith, unaware that Apple had applied for a trademark for "iTunes" just days earlier on October 27.

Mr Cohen says the name was automatically suggested by a domain-registering website as an alternative after he had made a failed attempt to buy tunes.co.uk.

"The details of the application were strictly confidential and only known to Apple, their filing agents and HM Patent Office. It was not until December 6, 2000, that their application was published in Trade Marks Journal, four weeks after we began using the domain name," Mr Cohen said.

But in March this year, Nominet found that Mr Cohen had made an "abusive registration" and ruled that the domain name should be transferred to Apple.

Nominet's rules state that they can rule in the complainant's favour if "the respondent is using the domain name in a way which has confused people or businesses into believing that the domain name is registered to, operated or authorised by, or otherwise connected with the complainant".

Nominet has used these provisions in the past to "evict" cyber squatters - people who deliberately register domain names that may be similar to existing commercial sites, in the hope of being "bought out". As a result, the majority of Nominet's rulings in such cases have tended to side with large corporations bringing the complaint.

Mr Cohen claims the decision in his case was unfair and unreasonable. He wants to take his case to the High Court for Judicial Review. But Nominet argues that this is invalid because the court can only review decisions made by public bodies, which they are not.

Mr Cohen claims that if Nominet have no official recognition, then all domain names issued by them are placed in jeopardy.

"If Nominet are a true private company and are the monopoly supplier of .uk domain names without Government recognition, then it is quite feasible to begin a complaint of an unfair trade practice and a monopoly with the Office of Fair Trading and the European Commission."

Nominet said it would not comment on individual cases.

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