Plaintiffs brought this conversion action following the transfer of the sex.com domain name from the plaintiff to the defendant. The transfer allegedly occurred after the defendant forged a written request to Network Soutions. The court dismissed the claim, ruling that domain names do not meet the definition of property as required under the law of conversion and as such can not be stolen. The judge noted that it is unclear whether property law applies to domains and the legislature must make the decision. The judge also granted a request by the plaintiff to amend the complaint by adding an unfair competition claim. Trial is expected to begin in Spring, 2001.
Article at http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,38398,00.html
Article at http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZAE8YZ2GC&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0&s=News&ExpIgnore=true&showsummary=0
Keywords: contract, cybersquatting, domain names
| 