Email "ownership" when buying business

Mark M · 3 May 2006 at 14:30

This is a bit of a funny situation and I could do with some confirmation if possible.

Ok, company X is an established business but the owner wants to semi-retire so has sold the majority of the business to one of the senior managers who has called the company X+1. I now work for the new company.

In the contract it was detailed that the domain would be sold as part of the agreement. Company X+1 has informed company X that they must get a new domain and EMAILS sorted. The guy retiring has said that he wants to keep his email address, they only use one, [email protected]. The new company has said that they dont want the old company to use this email as it may lead to confusion between which company is sending the email.

I think half the problem is that the guy who wants to keep the email is an old fella and doesnt have a clue about computers etc.

Im sure that the new company can just say that the old company cant still use the email? Any more advice would be great.

Thanks, Mark

derfderfley · 3 May 2006 at 14:56

You need to talk to a solicitor about this!

I would assume that the sale of the company would include all of it's assets and the domain name could certainly be classified as a company asset.

Mark M · 3 May 2006 at 15:04

The domain was definately included in the sale as it was detailed in the contract. I was just wondering if anyone knew of any reason that would allow use of the email adresses by the old company. I cant think of any but then again Im not an expert. My boss doesnt really want to go down the route of a solicitor quite yet.

Mr Man · 3 May 2006 at 16:30

Why not have companyX+1 set it's mail server to forward all mail for [email protected] to another email address that the old owner could use, when he replied the mail would come from his new address, so any replies would go direct to him. He could also add a footer to his emails saying he has a new address and to use that instead.

Beansprout · 3 May 2006 at 16:33

Why doesn't the old dude buy a personal domain and be shot of the business which, afterall, he sold? How petty....good luck sorting him out. If he sold the domain, tough titty. E-mail addresses are a perk of owning that domain name.

oddjob62 · 3 May 2006 at 16:44

If he sold companyx.com to company x+1 then he can't say they can't use ti for email. He no longer owns the domain. It's like me selling a house but saying the new owners can't use the bathroom