Stephen Cohen, an ex-convict and former owner of the domain name
sex.com, has come out of obscurity to argue before a US court that
an award against him of $65 million in damages payable to the
name's current owner, amounts to slavery, in violation of his
constitutional rights.
The history of the six-year dispute over one of the internet's
most valuable domain names is unusual.
Sex.com was originally registered by Gary Kremen of San
Francisco in 1994. The following year, Cohen 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. Cohen failed to appear in court, was
held in contempt and, to date, has paid nothing. Kremen offered a
reward for anyone able to find Cohen.
This week, Cohen filed a motion in the court which argues that
the judge was wrong to hold him in contempt. He reasons that he
could not attend because he was under arrest in Mexico. According
to Wired News, Cohen also argues that the judge failed to conduct a
proper hearing to determine his wealth.
Cohen pleads in his motion that the judgment places him "in the
status of slavery," in violation of the 13th Amendment of the US
Constitution, which abolished slavery. He continued, "Just how is
the defendant expected to live? How is the defendant expected to
purchase the necessities of life, such as toilet paper, food,
clothes and etc.?"
Kremen is currently suing Network Solutions, arguing that it is
responsible for mismanaging the domain name dispute.
