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legal France seizes France.com from man who’s had it since ‘94, so he sues

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Constantin S

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A French-born American has now sued his home country because, he claims, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has illegally seized a domain that he’s owned since 1994: France.com.

In the mid-1990s, Jean-Noël Frydman bought France.com from Web.com and set up a website to serve as a "digital kiosk" for Francophiles and Francophones in the United States.

For over 20 years, Frydman built up a business (also known as France.com)
Finally, on March 12, 2018, Web.com abruptly transferred ownership of the domain to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The company did so without any formal notification to Frydman and no compensation.

"I'm probably [one of Web.com's] oldest customers," Frydman told Ars.
Sources:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...com-from-man-whos-had-it-since-94-so-he-sues/
I also seen this on 1st page of Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/8frmzc/france_seizes_francecom_from_man_whos_had_it/

EDIT: I see people wondering who's crazy to use web.com/NetworkSolutions, this should answer your question: :)
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/networksolutions.com#trafficstats
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I wonder if Godaddy was in the position of Network Solution, what would they have done? Anyone from Godaddy to chime in?
 
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So this was France and a Trademark claim. I wonder what would happen if a country decided they didn't like the content on a website, sued in their court for violating their laws (surprise, we win), and then demanded the domain be turned over?
 
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Ouch.....

So just like someone can't sue a U.S citizen in another country's court then U.S citizens can't sue foreign countries or their agencies in a U.S court?

Is that right?

I'm not a lawyer, but as I understand it foreign countries have immunity from US law, so I think you're right - The United States probably has the same right to protection from civilian citizen from other countries
 
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I'm not a lawyer, but as I understand it, foreign countries have immunity from US law so I think you're right - The United States probably has the same right to protection from civilian citizen from other countries
I was looking at it more closely and I think they tried claiming "commercial activity exception" through FSIA which was given short shrift......

https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspectives/publications/2021/01/can-you-be-sued-under-fsia

Same I am not a lawyer and the wording does make my eyes glaze over a lot of the time but the final sentence sums it up

"In short, the Corporation has alleged no “expropriation” in violation of international law, and thus the expropriation exception to the FSIA also does not apply. "

All that time, money and effort down the drain - that's gotta hurt.....
 
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Never ever use networksolutions.com as a registrar.
 
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You sure gotta watch out for governments with stuff like this going on more than ever! In a word this SUCKS!
 
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Just another proof why people should NEVER use Web.com/NetworkSolutions.
You got that right. They took my domain and sold it to another networksolutions account. I got it back.
 
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Never ever use networksolutions.com as a registrar.
Had my name removed, by a glich.. I renewed for a year, then cancelled and renewed for 2 or 3 more... and this caused a system hicup ...they sold the domain to another NS account holder... got the domain back
 
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What if the guy's, or anyone's name/surname, is France.. can this be pulled off?
 
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this is the thread that triggers me the most of all to be honest. it's a complete abuse of power, a scam & a reminder that we rent names and don't own them.

the only surprise was seeing that the one handing them over wasn't GoDaddy
 
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My heart goes out to the previous owner of France.com. But for me, it's a lost/losing case IMHO. I admire his fighting spirit to continue his just complaint. But it seems legitimate to me that France would have some priority to own France.com. Maybe there is a case around that.
 
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