legal Arizona court orders that ETH.LINK domain name be transferred back to True Names

[GeorgeK]

An Arizona court has ordered that the ETH[.]LINK domain name be transferred back to True Names:

https://freespeech.com/2022/09/10/a...omain-name-be-transferred-back-to-true-names/

 

[Hypersot]

That is some really good reading.
Thanks for sharing

 

[Constantin S]

IMO that's good.

 

[tonyk2000]

A good one.

On a side note,

Plaintiffs allege they entered into a 2018 Domain Name Registration Agreement with Defendants GoDaddy, Inc. and GoDaddy.com LLC (collectively, “GoDaddy”), for the domain name eth[.]link (the “Domain”)

Actually, Plaintiffs entered into a Domain Name Registration Agreement with Cayman-based Uniregistry in 2018, which was later acquired by GoDaddy. Wasn't the domain sold as uniregistry expired on Dynadot?

Unfortunately, the court did not explain in clear terms why it was wrong to sell o transfer the domain as a pre-release expired one. A global change in this aspect may be good (as this would eliminate situations where some expired domains simply never return to the market under any model due to internal transfers to either registrar-owned entities / netsol, opensrs / or to particular domainers who are in bed with some registrars or their resellers. On the other hand, a global change may not be that good - do we really want all expireds be technically deleted and end up on dropcatch?

 

[bmugford]

This case really goes to the core of registrant rights.

While the owner was in prison, it appears his lawyer was involved. I don't understand why no one could login to the account and renew it, get a power of attorney, or use some other legal mechanism to renew it.

I am curious to see what went on behind the scenes with this one, as it appears from reports that GoDaddy allowed a third party to renew this domain in the past. How cooperative was GoDaddy in trying to resolve this situation? I feel like it never should have got to this point.

It also creates a potential conflict of interest. When it comes to a registrar, it is far more financially beneficial for a domain to expire than be renewed. In this situation for example, the difference is between a $10 renewal and $800,000 sale.

Brad

 

[Altetra]

This case really goes to the core of registrant rights.

While the owner was in prison, it appears his lawyer was involved. I don't understand why no one could login to the account and renew it, get a power of attorney, or use some other legal mechanism to renew it.

I am curious to see what went on behind the scenes with this one, as it appears from reports that GoDaddy allowed a third party to renew this domain in the past. How cooperative was GoDaddy in trying to resolve this situation? I feel like it never should have got to this point.

It also creates a potential conflict of interest. When it comes to a registrar, it is far more financially beneficial for a domain to expire than be renewed.

Brad

Also if he is in prison, why it was not possible to talk on phone or make a visit so he gives the passwords for email and registrar account to trusted people so they renew it?

 

[bmugford]

Also if he is in prison, why it was not possible to talk on phone or make a visit so he gives the passwords for email and registrar account to trusted people so they renew it?

I don't really know what happened behind the scenes, but there has to be some reasonable accommodation.

Can you be held in prison for instance, and not ever be allowed to contact someone to pay your property tax? I highly doubt it.

If that was the case, they could just end up taking your house when you have no opportunity to even pay property tax.

Also, being in prison itself is the punishment. I know nothing about the case where this guy was sentenced, but that is besides the point.

It seems like the owner's lawyer was involved. This was his property and I think reasonable accommodations should have been made to resolve this before it got to this point.

Brad

 

[alcy]

sorry if missed something but what wasn't autorenew on?

 

[tonyk2000]

OK, GoDaddy/Dynadot will now return the domain back to the original account via registrar transfer. DNS servers (bodis parking at the time of this writing) will unlikely be changed during the transfer. True Names could not access this account due to some unknown reason, and likely they still cannot access it now. So, how they are supposed to change DNS and start using the domain again?

 

[Haroon Basha]

When the auction was going on, I pointed out this is going to happened and asked to stay away from bidding.
https://www.namepros.com/threads/eth-link-caught-by-dynadot-are-you-bidding.1282126/

 

[Shimmy]

I have many non-important names renewed for multiple years. The owner doing renewals one year at a time for something that impotant to him is pretty stupid.

 

[Kingslayer]

I agree with this, I don’t like the whole process ‘auctioning off expired domains’ – Especially if these domains are clearly a $10k+ domain asset.

Domain investors regard domain names as digital real estate, if that is the case then we need to start treating them as real estate, if you die or some circumstances happen (such as jail/illness/war), can some fat cat take your house/car and auction it off? No they can't if you have next to kin.

There needs to be a process where domain registrants can voluntary give emergency 2nd contact infomation on all domains (such as friends/family) should they not be renewed, so the rightful owners friends or family can be contacted and benefit from this asset (should anything have happened).

Why should domain grab bots and registrars can take your asset, auction it off and make 100% profit from it?

 

[pb]

Unfortunately, the court did not explain in clear terms why it was wrong to sell o transfer the domain as a pre-release expired one.

Luckily Brad did:

When it comes to a registrar, it is far more financially beneficial for a domain to expire than be renewed.

It's an obvious asymmetry of power. Also it's not allowed by many registries for this very reason.

 

[biggie]

Hi @GeorgeK

i see you don't hold back no punches either

nice!

imo...

 

[tonyk2000]

Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a case that have been resolved by courts or similar tribunals. These past decisions are called "case law", or precedent.
In common law countries (including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), it is used for judicial decisions of selected appellate courts, courts of first instance, agency tribunals, and other bodies discharging adjudicatory functions.
Source: Wikipedia

So, does it mean that any Uniregistry customer, after his expired domain is sold on Dynadot as a pre-release one, is now able to claim the domain back in Arizona court by simply referring to eth.link precedent?

 

[Clover]

Imagine all the paperwork this is gonna take...

Hopefully it gets returned

 

[tiletalk]

Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a case that have been resolved by courts or similar tribunals. These past decisions are called "case law", or precedent.
In common law countries (including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), it is used for judicial decisions of selected appellate courts, courts of first instance, agency tribunals, and other bodies discharging adjudicatory functions.
Source: Wikipedia

So, does it mean that any Uniregistry customer, after his expired domain is sold on Dynadot as a pre-release one, is now able to claim the domain back in Arizona court by simply referring to eth.link precedent?

If you have a good team representing you then probably yes.

 

[satsdifference.com]

uh link.eth doesn't resolve (fork)

 

[NYJimbo]

OK, GoDaddy/Dynadot will now return the domain back to the original account via registrar transfer. DNS servers (bodis parking at the time of this writing) will unlikely be changed during the transfer. True Names could not access this account due to some unknown reason, and likely they still cannot access it now. So, how they are supposed to change DNS and start using the domain again?

Probably manually changed at the registrar if the registrant (or reresentative) requests it.

 

[J.D.]

On the other hand, a global change may not be that good - do we really want all expireds be technically deleted and end up on dropcatch?

Drop Catch wins so many expired auctions due to making greater investments in registrar credentials.

This case provides an additional incentive for GoDaddy and other registrars to invest in more registrar credentials. GoDaddy has enough money to compete against or surpass Drop Catch, they just haven't invested into beating out Snapnames or Dropcatch. GD has been more focused on buying portfolios, etc.

Dynadot, Epik, GD, Namecheap and others need to invest more in their backorder and registrar credentials.

This is another case of the market forcing change on participants, I see this as a good thing for speculators.