In an article published today in the New York Times, it was reviled that Enom.com shut down around 80 domains owned by a non-US citizen and resident, Steve Marshall.
It is important to note that, Mr. Marshall is a British national, lives in Spain where he operates a travel agency selling trips to Europeans who want to travel to Cuba and his servers are located in the Bahamas.
The only tie he had to the U.S. is that his domains were registered at a U.S. based registrar, Enom.com
According to the Times, the sites, which had been online since 1998, had been put on a Treasury Department blacklist and, Enom.com being an American domain name registrar, disabled them.
Enom.com took the action with NO notice to Mr. Marshall and apparently will not let Mr. Marshall transfer the domains to a non-US based registrar.
In the article Mr. Marshall was quoted as saying he did not understand “how Web sites owned by a British national operating via a Spanish travel agency can be affected by U.S. law.
When we first discussed the new Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008, sponsored by Senator Snowe, we took the position that the bill would not effect non-US citizens or residents.
However it appears that this may not be the case.
If the domain is registered with a US based Registrar, it seems the domain certainly may be subject to the bill.
Moreover some domain cases have held that since the main registry is located in Virginia, (VeriSign), then all domains, even if registered with a non-US based registrar maybe subject to the law.
In the case of cnn vs. cnnnews.com , the owners of the U.S. registered trade-mark CNN sued the domain namecnnnews.com which had been registered by a Chinese entity through a Chinese registrar.
The registrant argued that it did not have sufficient minimum contacts with the U.S. to subject it to U.S. jurisdiction, given that it conducted its business exclusively in China through its Chinese language web site and had registered the name through a Chinese registrar.
The Court in CNN the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia held that in rem jurisdiction was proper because the domain name itself was located within the jurisdiction by virtue of the presence of the .com registry (VeriSign) in Virginia.
This case along with the actions of Enom.com today indicate that no one, regardless of where you live, or where your domain is registered, may be immune from the effect’s of this Proposed Bill.
Once again is crucial for everyone to join the ICA immediately and give money for them to fight.
It is not someone else’s problem .
It is your problem
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14 responses so far ↓
1 DNTV About The Internet Commerce Association (And More..) at Conceptualist.com, By Sahar Sarid // Mar 5, 2008 at 12:31 am
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4 Domain Pimp » Blog Archive » Enom takes away “Cuba” domain names: What it Means to You in light … // Mar 5, 2008 at 11:45 am
[…] unknown […]
5 Domaining - Information on Domains and Domaining » Enom takes away “Cuba” domain names: What it Means to You in light … // Mar 5, 2008 at 6:03 pm
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6 Dave Zan // Mar 5, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Some insights on the subject:
http://www.circleid.com/posts/83420_controversial_domain_names/
7 The Great American Snowe Job // Mar 5, 2008 at 11:49 pm
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8 DNTV about the Internet Commerce Association : Resources for Webmasters // Mar 18, 2008 at 10:46 pm
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10 JohnnyNight // Mar 19, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Can someone tell me, that even though the Verisign company is headquartered in California, is Virginia still considered the federal district to file “in rem actions”, instead of California.
Thanks
11 admin // Mar 19, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Johnny
Network Solutions are headquartered in VA and the root name servers are located in VA.
12 JohnnyNight // Mar 19, 2008 at 7:56 pm
admin
Thanks for the info.
The reason I ask is that I am involved in a court case where the opposing side claims California is proper jurisdiction, because Verisign is located in California, and Verisign controls the registry.
They did not make it clear though that the registry is actually in Virginia, but have left the impression with the court and myself, until today when I have found out the registry is actually in Virginia.
So I am wondering if this will actually help me
13 JohnnyNight // Mar 19, 2008 at 7:57 pm
to go over that.
have left the impression with the court and myself that the registry is actually in California.
14 Jhon // Apr 1, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Thanks good information.
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