Lawsuits can lead to the freezing of domains assets.
As Mark posted yesterday, several domain owners woke up to a notification email from several registrars, stating that their domains were frozen.
Specifically, the email said “We have received a Temporary Restraining Order relating to domains in your account. We have disabled the domains.”
Due to a pending litigation between a company called BrandLab and domain investor Joel Williams, domains that were assumed to be under the control of the latter, triggered a “manhunt” across several domain registrars.
In other words, a number of domains that were formerly under the control of Joel Williams, expired and dropped, or expired and were auctioned as far back as two years ago. The new owners, received notifications as if they were part of the litigation.
Did the registrars rush to non-selectively freeze these domains, as instructed by the lawyers of the plaintiffs, or was there a miscommunication between the court and the registrars?
Jennifer A. Lawson, attorney for the plaintiffs stated:
“We are working with the registrars to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. The court issued a temporary restraining order affecting the parties to the lawsuit only. While we appreciate the registrars’ quick action, it appears that third parties are being affected. That was not our intent (and not part of the court order).”
There is no clarification about how many registrars rushed to freeze all domains regardless of ownership, and what type of instructions they were following; it’s also very peculiar that every single one of them allegedly misunderstood the requirements of the court order document.
For more information, click here.
This post is 100% true!
many of my domains are cold… but none are frozen.
RaTHeaD – That’s hot.