IP: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names

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

Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 14:18:11 EST
From: Danny Burstein <dannyb () panix com>
Subject: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names

oh ... AND they also got the 1-800 number ...
NJ Transit receives rights to three Internet domains, 800 number
The Associated Press 11/13/99 12:26 PM Eastern
(NEWARK) The right name means everything. Especially if you're NJ
Transit.
The state commuter agency won a court settlement Friday forcing a
Nutley-based company to give up ownership of three Internet domains
and an 800 number that refers to NJ Transit.
" They'll transfer the ownership of NJTransit.com, NJTransit.org,
NJTransit.net and 1-800-NJTransit to us immediately," said Jeffrey
Warsh, the commuter agency's executive director. "We own the name and
they were using it illegally."
[rest snipped for the usual reasons. It's available for the moment at:
http://wire.nj.com
but they tend to cycle stories out after a day or so]
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Danny asked for the full story to not
printed and I'm honoring his request. Read it at the above link.
What happens it seems is this:
An organization which discusses transportation issues in New Jersey
among other things relevant to the state holds a large number of
*active* domain names all beginning 'NJ' as in NJTransit.com among
others. The state agency New Jersey Transit (often referred to as
NJ Transit) took a dislike to this. The web site was used to discuss
transportation issues in general in the state; it was not used in
an effort to be an imposter of the state agency. They attempted to
compromise with the state agency by offering to print all of their
timetables, fare information and other public notices at no charge
to the state. That, it seems, was not good enough. Naturally, the
state agency pulls this routine about 'cybersquatting' and gets a
court to issue an order pulling the domain names away from their
rightful owner.
So, the Cerfing of the net continues ... apparently unabated ... and
if the thought of Police Officer Shirey foaming at the mouth and
getting your newsgroup/website shut down is not scary enough, then how
about if you work on it night and day for a few years, shed a few
tears over it and wind up in the poor house because of it only to have
a judge somewhere declare you are nothing more than a cyber-squatter,
and order you to be evicted?
One regular reader here asked me in private correspondence once why so
many netizens were in a 'coma-like' trance as these changes go on
about us. I dunno ... but now, as the beautiful melody of J.S. Bach
plays in the background -- a MIDI of 'Sleepers, Awake' -- yes, I
know it is still Saturday night and not Sunday morning in church --
let's read Monty Solomon's latest report on the continued assaults on
our privacy when using the net. Those of you who were slumbering may
go back to doing so. PAT]

_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber
Email: farber () cis upenn edu

Home: +1 610 274 8292; Cell and Office: +1 215 327 8756; Fax:  +1 408 490 2720



_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber
Email: farber () cis upenn edu

Home: +1 610 274 8292; Cell and Office: +1 215 327 8756; Fax:  +1 408 490 2720



_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber
Email: farber () cis upenn edu

Home: +1 610 274 8292; Cell and Office: +1 215 327 8756; Fax:  +1 408 490 2720