Lost a domain name. Is it legal?

A client of mine did not keep an eye on his domain name. It expired and within a couple days, some entity snapped it up. He's a musician (not a big name, but trying) and needs it, and the domain was his name, so it's not like this company can use it. They grabbed it so they could be there when he needed it back. I've heard of this happening...is it legal? I'm afraid his options are limited.

It is legal, but definitely not ethical. There have been many articles written about it on blogs. He can reregister with a different extension. I have been thinking about getting the .us to replace the .com on my site.

Well... from experience, I've let a domain I no longer wanted expire and I'm still getting annoying messages from Network Solutions asking for verification that I truly don't want the domain. They send messages for at least 3 months prior to expiration. They also have a 35 day grace period after the expiration.

They also have autorenew so you can forget about your domain name being lost.

Your client might want to check them out for a new domain.

Well if it expired and they bought it I'm presuming legally he has no right to the domain name anymore, he'd either have to buy it off them (most probably for a high fee) or register a different domain name; and try to keep this one.

Its not illegal. For you need to really protect your domain you need to register it to your name through ordinary State Registrars. The you can go legally if someone steals it.

HuUhH???

What a bunch of bs. Call the server.