And I'd migrated almost all my domains from Network Solutions to Gandi, after NS was bought by those guys in Florida. Who's left that's good?
An appeal of Gandi is that they do not take the position that they own domains, and the registrant just rents them. Gandi used to be clearer on this. 2004 terms: "The Client owns the Domain Name registered. Gandi simply acts on the Client's behalf."[1]
That page disappeared some time prior to 2008.
Here are the terms from 2015. "You are the owner of the domain name, meaning that You are the
person or the legal representative of a legal entity that has been
declared as the owner of a domain name upon its registration, and
visible in the public Whois database,...)."[2]
Wordier, but not too bad.
In the current version, that explicit ownership language has disappeared. There's a definition of terms that says: "Contact Owner: refers to the natural or legal person identified by the Registry as the owner of the domain name."[3] But no explicit statement of ownership. The termination clause allows Gandi to terminate only for breach of contract, not at will.
Compare Network Solutions, which is part of "Web.com":
"Registrant acknowledges and agrees that Web.com has the
absolute right and power, in its sole discretion and without any liability to Registrant
whatsoever, to suspend the Services, close Registrant's account, terminate provisioning
of the Services, list Registrant's personal information in the WHOIS output or unmask or
otherwise provide the Registrant's personal information to a claimant or other party to
resolve any and all third party claims, whether threatened or made, arising out of
Registrant's use of the Domain Name or the Services, or to take any other action which
Web.com deems necessary, in the event that (i) the Domain Name is alleged to violate or
infringe a third party's trademark, trade name, copyright interests or other legal rights of
third parties; (ii) Registrant breaches any provision of this Agreement; (iii) Registrant
breaches any provision of the Registrar Terms; (d) if necessary to protect the integrity
and stability of the applicable Domain Name registry; (e) if necessary to comply with any
applicable laws, government rules or requirements, subpoenas, court orders or requests
of law enforcement; (f) if Web.com is named as a defendant in, or investigated in
anticipation of, any legal or administrative proceeding arising out of Registrant's use of
the Services or Domain Name; (g) if necessary to comply with ICANN's Dispute Resolution
Policy or other policies promulgated by ICANN (including policies which may preclude
using a service such as Private Domain Registration); (h) if necessary to avoid any
financial loss or legal liability (civil or criminal) on the part of Web.com, its parent
companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, shareholders, agents, officers, directors and
employees; or (i) any violation of the Web.com Acceptable Use Policy."[4]
Um.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20041206084659/http://gandi.net/...
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20141203012738/http://www.gandi....
[3] https://contract.gandi.net/v5/contracts/53904/DomainNameCond...
[4] https://assets.web.com/legal/English/DomainNameRegistrationS...