IP: An NSI "victory" in the Roadrunner case

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

From: Carl Oppedahl <carl () oppedahl com>


Today the Virginia federal court, at NSI's request, dismissed the Roadrunner
v. NSI case as moot.


Roadrunner Computer Systems emerges from the case with its domain name intact.


If the case had not been dismissed, Roadrunner would have asked the Court to
rule on the propriety of NSI's present domain name policy, and would have
asked the court to determine whether NSI's July 1995 domain name policy
applies to domain names that were registered before its effective date.
These issues, which the court decided are moot given other events in the
case, will be left for some future court to decide.


Since Roadrunner's lawsuit began in March of 1996, NSI's domain name policy
has led to its being sued three more times, in Virginia, California, and
Colorado, by domain name owners who don't want to lose their domain names.
NSI's domain name policy is unfair to domain name owners and still needs
changing.  NSI should get out of the business of taking away someone's
domain name without due process and should conduct its proceedings openly,
not in secret.  Until it does, it will face more and more lawsuits from
domain name owners who aren't infringing anybody's trademarks and who have
nonetheless received notice from NSI that their domain names will be cut off.









---
Carl Oppedahl, oppedahl () patents com  Oppedahl & Larson, patent law firm
http://www.patents.com/ is a web server with frequently asked questions 
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