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HEADLINE: Bodog
Poker Founder Not in Contempt of Court in Bitter Domain Litigation
Case
Body:
In the $49 million default judgment issued against Bodog,
under which its BodogPoker
and other domain names were placed under the control of 1st Technologies,
the bitter ongoing case took a turn in Bodog's favor when a federal
magistrate in Las Vegas ruled that because neither Bodog
nor founder Calvin Ayre are residents of Nevada they are not subject
to Nevada law, so Ayre is not required to appear before the court
and thus cannot be found guilty of contempt of court.
So the attempt by 1st Technologies to get Bodog
founder Calvin Ayre into a Nevada courtroom, which could have
possibly placed the high profile online gambling executive under
personal danger, has seemingly failed.
In a ruling issued on 28 November, the magistrate denied a motion
of contempt on the part of 1st Technology (who Ayre's blog dubbed
the 'patent troll'), which is the same company that won a ruling
in Washington state causing Bodog
to lose its domain names.
Ayre said, "This has been an interesting case, and as it
progresses, there seems to be plenty of compelling facts emerging.
With the recent ruling in favor of the defense, I'm happy that
it was also clarified by the judge that I am, by law, not personally
in contempt of any order from the Nevada court."
Another and potentially more important issue is the request for
clarification by the courts whether domain names are property
that can be subject to seizure to satisfy a judgment, which was
launched by the Bodog
legal team (click here for related article).
Bodog
stresses that the outcome of the Washington clarification request
could greatly affect the interests of international domain owners
registered in Washington state, where there are several very prominent
domain name registrars.
If the court answers that Washington domain names ARE seizeable
property, it could undermine the business viability of Washington
State domain registrars, since prominent domain name owners may
opt to move their businesses to other states with more favorable
legal structures or to jurisdictions that more strongly protect
domain names, such as the European Union.
Bodog
Bonus
Related: See
U.S. Poker Rooms
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