OLD DISPUTE, NEW TRICK
18 December 2009
Lawyers for the state of Kentucky come up
with a new legal wrinkle in domain case
The Kentucky state government's 'appeal against an
appeal' on its so far unsuccessful and long-running
attempt to seize international domain names threw up a
new legal wheeze this week as the state's outsourced
legal eagles tried to find a fresh justification for
their seizure attempts.
The lawyers have asked
the Franklin County Circuit court to add unspecified
names of US citizens and companies to a lawsuit that
seeks the forfeiture of 141 Internet domain names.
Kentucky’s effort to seize those Web site names, all
related to Internet gambling, had been blocked by a
January 2009 decision from the Kentucky Court of
Appeals, in favor of the Interactive Media Entertainment
& Gaming Association (iMEGA) and other groups, including
the Interactive Gaming Council and Sportsbook.com,
representing the domain owners (see previous InfoPowa
reports).
By doing so the state hopes to
strengthen its claims to have jurisdiction, which have
so far not been successful.
Though the new motion
was made public by Kentucky’s lawyers, none of the names
of the US citizens or companies to be added to the
seizure effort were revealed, despite requests by
attorneys acting for iMEGA.
A decision from the
Kentucky Supreme Court is pending after the state’s
lawyers challenged the Appeals Court verdict. Oral
arguments from lawyers representing both sides of the
dispute were heard by the Court in October of this year
.
“In the course of the litigation and the
Commonwealth’s continuing investigation, the
Commonwealth has learned the identity of certain
entities and individuals involved in internet gambling
operations, some of whom are U.S. citizens,” read the
motion from Kentucky’s lawyers. “The Commonwealth asks
for leave to amend its Complaint to add causes of action
against these individuals and entities in personam.”
Joe Brennan Jr, chairman of iMEGA said: “It’s odd
that Kentucky’s lawyers would try something like this at
such a late date, since we’re expecting a decision on
this matter from the State Supreme Court any day now. It
seems like a ‘Hail Mary pass’ to me.”
“We’re
unaware of any ‘investigations’ by the state
attorney-general or law enforcement in Kentucky,"
Brennan added. "The [Kentucky] attorney-general himself
asked to be dismissed from this suit last year. And
there are no indictments or convictions that would
enable Kentucky’s lawyers to add the names of individual
US citizens to their seizure action.
“If
anything, this last-minute gambit highlights our
argument that Kentucky and the lower court provided no
due process to the domain owners, since they seem bent
on continuing down that path even now.”
The new
motion called for a hearing on January 20th, 2010, in
Franklin Circuit Court, before Judge Thomas Wingate -
the same judge who issued the original seizure orders
for the 141 domain names during a secret court hearing
with Kentucky’s lawyers in September 2008, where the
owners of the domain names were not informed of or given
the opportunity to be represented by their own counsel.
The new motion can be read here:
http://www.imega.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/motion-for-leave-to-join-additional-parties-and-to-amend-complaint.pdf
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
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