allows to expire? I would like to buy a certain website to use for my business. It is currently set to expire later this month. The current owner is a small non computer industry related company located on the pacific coast. The domain name is actually being used to host a website for an entirely different small business located in a state rather far away. That business is a local area business, and not a company that operates nationally or internationally. If for some reason the owner does not "auto renew" and the domain expires and I am able to purchase it through some company like Go Daddy, will I be able to use it myself, especially if the current user is not the same company that previously owned it? If they had a lease agreement with the original domain owner, would I be bound by that or could I immediately "repossess" the domain? Assuming I buy the domain name, and the current user is unaware of that, and their site still continues to be functional under whatever current hosting arrangement they have, would it be possible for me to take possession and have my own site put up and the domain transferred without going through any formal notification or legal process, and wait for them to contact me after the fact?

Is there an industry standard "grace period" in which a former owner can automatically reclaim an expired domain name, or would ICANN force me to give it back to them even if I have a legitimate business use for the name myself? In this case, the current USER may NOT be the same entity as the former OWNER, so would the former OWNER be the only one with standing who could bring such a claim?