Gary Kremen's battle to reclaim Sex.com from the man he says stole it by a phony transfer letter to domain registrar Network Solutions was given a serious setback May 5 - a federal judge ruled in favor of Network Solutions, in part on the basis that Net domains aren't subject to property laws.
Former convict Stephen Cohen runs Sex.com and claims it's the Web's highest grossing porn site, but Kremen - whose separate suit against Cohen remains pending - claimed Cohen stole the name from him by forging the transfer letter.
Federal judge James Ware ruled it was up to lawmakers to "fashion an appropriate statutory scheme to protect dormant domain names unprotected by trademark law."
Network Solutions had argued the question was something like a telephone company issue, with domain names being comparable to telephone numbers. Network Solutions attorney Phil Sbarbaro told Wired people don't buy and sell domain names so much as they authorize companies like Network Solutions to transfer services to new customers.
But the crux of the question involving Sex.com, analysts say, is Kremen being able to prove Cohen's alleged forgery. If he does that, they continue, he could reap millions in damages, but Network Solutions isn't at fault in the case. If he proves a forgery, Network Solutions would only be forced to transfer Sex.com's name back to him. Kramen's suit against Cohen goes to trial in March 2001.
"The court recognizes that the present action invites abandoning the traditional strictures of conversion to encompass forms of intangible property," Ware ruled. "However, this court heeds the California Supreme Court's admonitions to exercise restraint in imposing (new tort duties) when to do so would involve complex policy decisions ... the court is reluctant to construct the proverbial slippery slope."
