Sex.com Settles Case Against VeriSign

netcentr writes "A press release on CircleID has announced that the owner of the Sex.com domain name today has got 'a final settlement with VeriSign (formerly Network Solutions, Inc.), concluding a six-year legal fight that set several important precedents for the future of the Internet. After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted Sex.Com a sweeping victory that held VeriSign/Network Solutions, Inc. (collectively "VeriSign") strictly responsible for mishandling the famous domain name, Sex.Com and VeriSign have settled Sex.Com's lawsuit against VeriSign.' Gary Kremen was awarded a $65 million judgment against Cohen for stealing the domain name, which the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn on June 12, 2003."

Comments

Why so much

[Teclis]

$65 Million? Are you telling me that's the amount of profit lost? Or that's the amount it cost to run the case through the courts..

I bet all the lawyers involved are smiling, You do know they aren't that stupid. The case could have been settled 5 years ago, but then how could lawyers make any money?

Good to see the U.S. Justice system at work.

Re:Why so much

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't doubt that the amount lost during the years that Kremen was denied use of the domain name reached into the millions. After all, this was 1995, the start of the web boom. I don't remember how many years Cohen ran that site, but I can just imagine the $$$ rolling in.

And as a side note, since Cohen fled the country, Kremen will not see a dime from Cohen anyway.

Re:Blank Page?

[DaHat]

You're not the only one... it acts like a page is being Dled, and a view source reveals page code... just no text is being displayed in IE, Firefox seems to work, shame I'm still an IE person.

I interviewed there.

[Kenja]

I interviewed at sex.com or as they like to be known "deerfield communications". Place was run out of the basment of an abandoned building. Not realy what I was looking for in a job.

Re:Good

[DAldredge]

I see you have never had to deal with the goverment.

Just wait.

They make vs cs look perfect.

A phone call? I wonder

[burgburgburg]

My favorite part of all this is that "at a time when the queue for domain names was over four weeks", all it took to commit this crime was "Cohen simply picked up the phone, asked for and was granted the Sex.Com domain name immediately".

Am I the only one who suspects that there was a lot more than just a phone call behind this? That people high up in Verisign must have been conspiring with Cohen? Why else go through so much to keep obviously stolen property from it's rightful owner? Why lie to the courts about a supposedly forged letter if you weren't covering for something much worse?

Re:A phone call? I wonder

[SnappleMaster]

Yes, it must be a conspiracy.

Remember, if they're really out to get you, you aren't paranoid.

As to why they didn't fess up, I read an interesting post above. Basically registrars were not fixing mistakes/thefts to avoid admitting legal responsibility. Sounds more plausible than a conspiracy to me.

Re:State Action + Converstion = takings

[poot_rootbeer]

Well, all of those annoying parts of the constitution that apply to governments, but not to private parties... might apply to them (little things... like... due process maybe?).

If the FCC (a state actor if there ever was one) can still arbitrary levy fines on Howard and Bono (and the companies that give them airtime) for incidents that may have occurred several years ago without due process, what hope do we have that Verisign will ever be held to the proper standards?

Re:maybe I'm missing something...

[Anita Coney]

Because most companies do not have 65 million dollars in cash laying around. Rather than the plaintiff spending years garnisheeing and collecting on a bunch of properties, it's much easier to reach a figure with the loser and take it. A very large percentage of cases settle post-judgment.

I met the thief

[gbulmash]

Oddly enough, when I was a salesperson at the Circuit City in Huntington Beach, CA, I sold a VCR to Steve Cohen, the guy who stole sex.com.

This was within a couple of months of him getting the domain. He was bragging about how he owned it and how he'd already been offered a million dollars to sell it, but he was going to hold on to it because he thought it was worth a lot more.

Guess it was.

- Greg

How The Grinch Stole sex.com flash cartoon

[adzoox]

How The Grinch Stole Sex.com - a very funny flash cartoon with a little background on the story and the legal matter.