The sex.com case is one of the internet's longest running and
most bizarre domain name disputes. For obvious reasons, the domain
name is one of the most valuable addresses on the web.
Sex.com was originally registered by Gary Kremen of San
Francisco in 1994. The following year, Stephen Cohen, an
ex-convict, took the name from Kremen by sending a forged letter of
transfer to Network Solutions. Cohen then ran a highly profitable
porn portal until November 2000 when a court awarded Kremen the
return of the domain name having found that the forged signature on
the letter to Network Solutions misspelled Kremen's name.
A Californian district court ordered Cohen to pay the sum of $65
million in damages to Kremen. However, Cohen has to date paid
nothing. He was last seen in Tijuana, Mexico and his assets are
thought to be tied up in offshore bank accounts. Accordingly,
Kremen is instead seeking redress from Network Solutions.
In 2000, a lower court ruled that NSI, which is the sole domain
name registry for .com domain names, is immune from civil suit in
cases where it negligently handled a domain name. Kremen's company,
Sex.com, which owns the name, then appealed to the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals. Civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier
Foundation has filed a brief in the case in support of the action
against the registry.
"A court has ruled that NSI can screw up its monopoly on dot.com
domain name management and face no consequence for its actions,"
said the Foundation's intellectual property lawyer Robin Gross. "We
hope the appellate court will recognise the danger in eliminating
all accountability for this key component of internet
governance."
Kremen added, "Everyone reasonably assumes the registrar will
prevent poaching of domain names. It's time the law backed that
up."
