San Francisco - A federal appeals court ruled today that Internet domain names are personal property, so domain registry Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) can be held responsible for transferring the domain name Sex.com to an unauthorized party.
The decision agreed with a "friend-of-the-court" brief, filed last year by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), that asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to hold NSI responsible for mistakes the domain registry made while overseeing domain names.
"NSI and other domain name registries are a critical part of the architecture that keeps the Internet running," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "The court's Sex.com decision provides Internet domain registrants with protection from inappropriate domain name seizures."
The case arises from NSI's actions in taking the Sex.com domain name from appellant Gary Kremen and giving the domain to another Internet user who presented NSI with fraudulent information.
VeriSign Inc. acquired NSI after the legal case was filed.
Jason Schultz
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
jason@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x112
Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cindy@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x108 (office)
[starting Monday, July 28]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/
