EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European internet domain name authority, EURid, has suspended around 10,000 .eu domain names registered by a single owner, saying it has doubts over the owner's eligibility as an EU resident – a status required to be able to register a .eu domain name.

Brussels-based EUrid took legal action against the owner, a Chinese woman, on Friday (7 September) and then suspended all the .eu domains registered in her name until a court decision has been made.

According to an EU regulation from 2002, only persons living in the EU or a company with an office inside the EU can register for a .eu domain name.

The case is expected to last for about a year, but the owner in question has already responded by asking the courts to force EURid to lift the block on her names, according to Herman Sobrie from EUrid.

He explained that the woman had registered mainly generic names and numbers. "nobody is registering thousands of names just to have them, of course, so something else is going on there," Mr Sobrie told EUobserver.

He said the woman was cyber squatting – the term describing the fraudulent use of domain names for reselling at very high prices.

However, that is not illegal in itself and EUrid is therefore suing her on the "eligibility" of her being an EU resident – something Mr Sobrie said he seriously doubts.

Last year, EURid - a private European non-profit group responsible for the .eu registration - suspended 74,000 .eu domain names and took legal action against 400 registrars for registering the names with a view to re-selling them, in breach of the terms and conditions of the .eu domain name.