Domain Property Court Case

[olebean]

Does anyone know what happened to the UK court case that was questioning whether domains are property?

OB

 

[Whois-Search]

This one?

http://www.henmans.co.uk/domain_names.htm

She therefore held that a domain name was not capable of coming within the definition of ‘goods’ in the 1977 Act.

Permission to appeal is being sought by Plant. The application for permission was initially reviewed by Lord Justice May on 21 February, 2006, when he remarked: "[In] the modern world of internet communication and activity, questions such as these are likely to arise often and may be of some importance generally. It seems to me at the very least that the question whether an internet domain name is capable of being converted is a question which is fit for consideration by this court on a more extensive and considered basis than is possible upon a single judge application for permission to appeal."

The application for permission to appeal, followed by the appeal itself (if permission is granted), is now being listed before a three-judge Court of Appeal, with a specific direction that at least one member of the court should have expertise in intellectual property. It is likely that the hearing will come before the Court of Appeal this autumn.

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7c45e60e-baaa-43bf-bb4f-d3f788f726d9

The Court of Appeal judge refused the application to appeal holding that domain names are not documents. They will not physically be the property of any party other than the internet service provider (i.e. the registrar or registry where the name is registered) on whose computer they are stored. The Court concluded that since the appellant had no right of property in the computer or the memory owned by the service provider, nor a right to the copy of the ‘document’ holding the domain name information, a key element of the Act was not fulfilled and that the appellant has no reasonable prospect of success if the appeal was allowed.

Although the application was refused, the decision does not definitively resolve the question of whether an internet domain name can be regarded as a “good”. However, both a common sense view and an analysis of the relevant statute wording would suggest it cannot.