Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s staff filed a notice yesterday that they will appeal the ruling of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, to the Kentucky Supreme Court.
In announcing the appeal, Michael Brown, Secretary, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet said:
“The Commonwealth will continue its action to protect Kentucky citizens from illegal internet gambling operations and appeal the recent Court of Appeals ruling to the state Supreme Court,”
“The evidence demonstrated that illegal and unregulated activity is occurring in Kentucky and that millions of dollars are being lost as a result of that activity, a fact that wasn’t disputed in Tuesday’s ruling.”
The appellate court found that domain names were not “gambling devices” within the meaning of the statue.
The Kentucky Legislature could simply amend the law and re-bring the action against the site, if the Kentucky Supreme Court turns the appeal down.
In the meantime, the domains appear to have been released to their rightful owners, reports the publication Government, which carried out whois checks on the domains and commented:
“The lower-court ruling rested on Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate’s highly specious finding that internet casino domain names constitute “gambling devices” that are subject to the state’s anti-gambling statutes. Tuesday’s decision disabused Wingate of that notion in no uncertain terms.”
“Shortly after the order was issued, whois records for many of the domains showed they were the property of Kentucky,” reports Government. “For reasons that still are not clear, the handful of addresses we’ve checked since then appeared to have reverted back to their rightful owner. It’s not clear who made the changes or why they were made.”
“And it’s not too much of a stretch to envision other states with strong opinions, say Utah, or even countries, perhaps China or North Korea, to similarly commandeer entire sites they deem to violate their laws,” Government editorialised.
This is a good development imo. I hope this thing gets settled and sets a solid precedent for the protection of online property.
It appears that the Kentucky Secretary of State is buying time for the Legislature to include domains in the definition of “gambling devices” so that the suit can start all over again. Damn the torpedoes – FULL SPEED AHEAD!!
The publication “Government”? Or would that be TheRegistry.co.uk and posted under the category “Government”?
Sorry, I meant TheRegister.co.uk.
What a Country!
What a State!
What a Governor!
If you really think the U. S. has democracy then think again.
We are being smiled and laught at all over the world. All the failure of our foreign politics, the financial disaster “WE have created” global wide. We want to change the world, tell people in other countries how they should act and how important freedom in all different ways is.
This Kentucky Governor is just one more of our U.S. disasters.
Concentrating on real economy problems should be the No. 1 deal for all of us and specially politicians.
Economy problems mentioned! Get this!
How do you turbo boost the economy?
1. The Government pay’s you $ 3300 if you buy a new car.
2. You limit this bonus for the first 600 000 new cars bought.
3. You only get the bonus if you bring your old car to the wrecking yard.
4. The old car has to be in your name for at least 1 year.
5. The old car has to be at least 9 years old.
Think it does not work? Think this is fantasy? Think again!
The above rules applied 2 days ago in the country of Germany.
Today the press released some car dealers are selling 10 x more cars then usually and if the orders keep up the 600 000 cars will be ordered and sold within 6 weeks.
Smart! Real smart move by the German government.
Keeps jobs, makes a better eco environment and puts money in the right hands.
It’s a winwin for “The consumer” and the important Auto industry.
This is something a Kentucky Governor should be looking at instead of wasting more tax payers money and time.
Sounds like someone sent a copy of the decision to the registrars and they changed it…fast. 🙂
Dave
Now that the case it up for appeal the domains might have to be given back to the state, and if any of the owners of these domains still have their domains with a US based registrar when the Kentucky Supreme court rules on this, or when the Kentucky legislature amends the law to include domain names, they deserve to lose them
MHB,
Don’t be so certain that using an offshore registrar will change whether or not U.S. authorities can assert jurisdiction over a domain name. You have three parties, a regiSTRANT, a regiSTRAR, and a regiSTRY.
And the .com registry is located in…. Virginia.
Marc
In this case the registry has not been named a party or brought into the suit.
As of now you would be protected using an offshore registrar
Besides, it’s a state-initiated (or rather Beshear’s) action, isn’t it? Unless there’s a federal law covering all U.S. states about this, I don’t know how a Kentucky court can impose this on VeriSign.
Unless VeriSign decides to…accomodate? Not sure of the legalities, of course, but just speculating.