California's high court could rule on whether a domain name can be considered property, as part of a long-running dispute over the Sex.com domain.
In an order issued earlier this month, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asked the California Supreme Court to rule on the question. The appellate court said it was asking the state's highest court to decide the matter because the case "raises a new and substantial issue of state law in an arena that will have broad application."
The case involves the hijacking of the Sex.com domain, registered by Gary Kremen in 1994. In 1995, defendant Stephen Cohen forged a letter to registrar Network Solutions and convinced that company to transfer the domain to him. In 1998, Kremen sued Cohen and Network Solutions, which is now owned by VeriSign, to get the domain back and asked for damages.
Earlier court rulings ordered Cohen to pay $65 million in damages but said Network Solutions was not liable, ruling that a domain name did not constitute "protected intangible property."
Kremen appealed that ruling to the Ninth Circuit, which has now asked California's highest court to decide the matter.
A representative for VeriSign said the company does not comment on ongoing litigation.
Join the conversation
Comment replyThe posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. Click here to review our Terms of Use.
Web giant is spending $120 million to beef up its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, according to filings with the city reviewed by the San Jose Mercury News.
The Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500 could make its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, according to a leaked promotional image.
MIT creates a simulation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spacewar. A relic of the early days of minicomputers, it was one of the first computer video games and set the stage for many others, including Asteroids.
Join the conversation