A media firm has warned cyber-squatters to beware after winning a fight over a domain name.

Brighton-based Wired Sussex Ltd receives 250,000 hits a month on its web site www.wiredsussex.com, which offers a business directory, job vacancies and a free Press release service.

Despite building up a reputation since 1997, managers became concerned last year after discovering someone had registered the similarly-named wiredsussex.co.uk and wired-sussex.co.uk.

These were directing web surfers and potential customers to an alternative site.

Wired Sussex claimed it paid £130 to David Abbott, from Eastbourne, who held the registrations, but after cashing the cheque he had offered to sell them to someone else.

Mr Abbott said he had sent a transfer document to Wired Sussex but they failed to fill it in.

He said months passed without any response so when a third party offered to buy the domains, he thought Wired Sussex had lost interest.

Mr Abbott said: "I hold my hands up.

"I should have said 'What do you want me to do with the money?' because they didn't seem to want the domains anymore.

"Perhaps with hindsight, I should have contacted Wired Sussex and asked why they didn't fill in the document - because the site was theirs."

Wired Sussex's web development manager Ian Daniels said: "A few years ago somebody would register Madonna or Britney.com in the hope someone would offer them £2 million for the domain name.

"But I don't think it was that easy and that was not the case here - we do have a slightly lower profile."

Wednesday February 04, 2004