Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 09:44:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: David P. Dillard <jwne@temple.edu>
Reply-To: NetGold@yahoogroups.com
To: NetGold <NetGold@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [NetGold] INTERNET: LAW LEGAL POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ISSUES :
ARTICLE: Is It Developing to be That ICANN Cannot?
INTERNET: LAW LEGAL POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ISSUES : ARTICLE: Is It
Developing to be That ICANN Cannot?
Sunday May 16, 2004
Web Posted Sunday, May 16, 2004
VeriSign Lawsuit is Latest Challenge to Oversight Group
The Holland Sentinal Business AP
<http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/051604/bus_051604072.shtml>
NEW YORK (AP) -- When the company under contract to run much of the
Internet's core decided last fall to launch a new online search service,
it saw an opportunity to help lost Web surfers find their way.
But critics saw it as a bald grab for dollars and worried that the Site
Finder search system could cause Internet instability. The Internet's key
oversight agency responded by pressuring the company, VeriSign Inc., to
pull it.
That dispute has turned into a key test of whether financial or public
interest ultimately drives decisions on how Internet users worldwide visit
Web sites and send e-mail. A federal lawsuit that grew partly from that
dispute has a hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit, filed by VeriSign, is the latest threat to the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which was selected by the U.S.
Commerce Department in 1998 to oversee key aspects of cyberspace.
"If VeriSign prevails, ICANN really is going to be legally prohibited from
doing all sorts of stuff that it sees as a key part of its mandate," said
Jonathan Weinberg, a Wayne State University law professor who has examined
ICANN's contracts with VeriSign.
In addition to the complaints by VeriSign, some developing countries are
trying to shift ICANN's authority to an international body, perhaps under
the United Nations.
Both challenges grow out of frustrations over ICANN's scope and
procedures.
---------------------------------------------------
DATE: 21/04/2004
ICANN Slaps VeriSign with SLAPP Claim
Computer Business Review Online
<http://www.cbronline.com/currentnews/31245c50672e109d80256e7d0032e042>
Of particular concern to VeriSign was an incident in October, when ICANN
said VeriSign should turn off its controversial Site Finder service. This
was interpreted by many as a direct order, although it may not have been
phrased that way.
ICANN's filing yesterday says VeriSign's suit has six claims "seek to
impose liability for simply stating a position". As with previous filings,
ICANN does not attempt to dismiss a seventh claim, which is at its heart a
contract dispute.
---------------------------------------------------
Informedia Domain Names May Come Back To Haunt Realtors
by Blanche Evans
Realty Times
<http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20040430_informedia.htm>
The chance is faint, but Informedia founder Alan Isabelle could come back
and demand that the domain names that MelbourneIT releases to Realtors
still belong to him. Never mind that he registered agents' domain names to
his company without their knowledge.
Sources say Isabelle is hiding underground, but that doesn't mean he won't
resurface to file lawsuits to get back what he took from agents.
Domain names are property, and are already viewed by the courts as such.
If a person has registered a domain and listed himself as the owner, then
he owns the domain name. It's for a court to decide whether or not that
person had the rights to the domain; the catch-22 is that the registration
of the rights establishes ownership.
Consider the lawsuit filed by Gary Kremen, who registered the domain name
Sex.com in 1994. Network Solutions, then owned by VeriSign, transferred
ownership to Stephen Cohen who made millions with the dot-com. Cohen
persuaded Network Solutions to transfer the domain name to him and failed
to notify Kremen of the contest for the domain name. Kremen sued both
Network Solutions and Cohen, who transferred his assets overseas and fled
the country. A lower court ruled against Kremen with the decision that
domain names weren't real property. The U.S. Appeals Court disagreed and
ruled against Network Solutions saying it should be held responsible for
giving the domain name to another party.
This court case raises some interesting questions for the real estate
agents who were cheated out of their domain names by Alan Isabelle, who
registered their domain names to his company instead of to the rightful
owners.
---------------------------------------------------
The full articles may be read at the URLs above.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@astro.temple.edu
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetGold/>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
<http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html>
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