California's Supreme Court has told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals "Don't drag us into their little squabble" regarding Sex.com owner Gary Kremen's continuing battle to make the former Network Solutions Inc. own up to liability over the domain's hijacking a few years ago. The court’s refusal is hailed as a major win for Kremen.
"Now the 9th Circuit Court can make the law consistent with the reasonable expectations of millions of domain name owners throughout the world, and clarify that domain names are indeed property," said Kremen's San Francisco-based attorney, Jim Wagstaffe, in a formal statement.
Kremen could win as much as $100 million if he ultimately wins the case against VeriSign, formerly NSI. VeriSign wanted the state's highest court to decide the property question - hoping the Supremes were more likely to agree with it that domains are not property.
Kremen wanted anything except for the California Supremes to join the happening on this one. He's suing VeriSign for improperly verifying Webjacker Stephen Cohen's letter claiming Sex.com ownership. Kremen already downed Cohen in the case: He sued and won, and Cohen became a fugitive after the court levied a $65 million judgment against him in April 2001.
The California Supremes ruled late Feb. 25 that it's the 9th Circuit Court's job to decide the legal question of whether a domain name can be deemed property under the law. Had the Supremes taken the case, it could have meant four more years before the question got answered - and four more years of financial aggravation for Kremen, according to published reports.
