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The Neverending Sex.com Story

Posted by michael on from the wheels-of-justice dept.

fwc writes "This has to be the story which will never end. Back in 1996, Steven Cohen "stole" sex.com from its original owner (Gary Kremen) by forging a letter to Network Solutions asking for the domain to be transferred to him. Subsequently Kremen sued to get the domain name returned. Through what seemed to be a neverending parade of lawsuits and judgements (Documented on slashdot here, here, here and here, and also in several other places), Kremen finally got his domain back and Cohen was ordered to pay $65 million in damages. In the latest twist, Cohen is asking the US Supreme Court to overturn the verdict of the lower courts by claiming that he owned the sex.com trademark prior to Kremen registering the domain. This should prove interesting since it looks like the filing at the USPTO occured two years after the domain was originally registered."

5 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. What a waste of court time! by rkz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All this suing countersuing and appealing just makes lawers richers and everyone else more pissed off! Network solutions should have been able to handle this on their own and stopped this whole mess.

    --
    There is no god
  2. Re:Why want? by hughk · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I hope you are only blocking the word, not the string.

    In the UK, there are the counties of Essex, Middlesex and Sussex. There is also the region of Wessex. There are a number of organisations that have *sex in their domain name, including, I would guess, the police force.

    --
    See my journal, I write things there
  3. dot com bubble burst? by Hadlock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    i thought the dot com bubble already burst? didn't we figure out that a specific generic name does not = lots of visitors? are these guys arguing over who owns it for their ego's sake? what a waste of time.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  4. just remember by Connie_Lingus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That there is no such thing as "bad" publicity, esp. in the adult industry...this is nothing more than a bunch of white noise to generate free advertisement for the guy.

    Wise up, /.!

    --
    never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
  5. yes by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why yes, yes it is still breaking the law. Besides the fact that he applied for the trademark 2 years after the original registration of the domain, forging a signature is a serious offense. I say throw the bastard in the slammer for a few months.

    I wish /. had a full-time lawyer to read over this stuff and offer her opinion, that would be cool.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden