Domain seized by court...

[Poohnix]

I'm kind of annoyed.. to say it mildly. The US legal system combined with some registrars is a real recipe for a legal mess.
Since a couple of years back I own a domain that I've had a bit of trouble figuring out what to do with. At least that's solved now, in part.
I knew when I bought it that it had kind of a controversial background, but that was long before I acquired it (several years, and a couple of owners back), so I believed that was well over and done with.
After I bought it it was sitting for a year or so in the account at the GoDaddy reseller where it was when I purchased it, until I transferred it to Dynadot last fall.
Suddenly comes an email from Dynadot that I had to transfer the domain "back to GoDaddy", because GoDaddy had notified them that prior to transferring the domain name to Dynadot, there was in effect a Seizure Warrant issued by a United States District Court in one of the southern states.
And they come telling me this now, some 7-8 months after the domain was transferred? "Back to GoDaddy" - where the domain never was, although it was with one of their resellers. I don't have an account with GoDaddy.
They locked the domain down, and don't allow me to transfer it out, although they demand that I transfer it out to GoDaddy. (If the domain is locked, how can I transfer it ANYWHERE, GoDaddy or not? I TRIED to transfer out, but it didn't work.)
And the US District court... as I understand it, that seizure warrant was issued last year - something like 4-5 years and 3-4 owners since the domain was controversially used. How can they do that? And why didn't anybody contact ME - the domain owner? Is that how the legal system works in the US - everybody is guilty until proven innocent? I can't even fight any case in the US, I'm halfway around the world. So apparently US courts can confiscate whatever they want from anyone who can't defend themselves, as long as they can reach something in the US to confiscate...

So, what the h*ll am I supposed to do?

[DNBA]

cant you make a complaint with ICANN? where you using the domain in any way besides for ADs?

[snicksnack]

A complaint with ICANN will get you nowhere. Make sure you put the rest of your domains to an registrar outside the US to avoid this in the future.

Did you get a copy of the documents?

[nameadvertising.com]

ICANN and the UN, both are impotent. They are too busy working on new TLD's to fill their greedy closet.

The best place/person to contact is GoDaddy as they are the ones who were served with a legal notice. Godaddy has their legal department to advise you of your rights.

A legal representation would be your first option, depending on whether the name has enough $$$$ value to fight for.

[Focus]

Call John Berryhill

[mkellerman]

Adam Dicker the owner of this forum is a senior guy at GoDaddy, so ordinarily I'd suggest you contact him (user name DotComGod). Since Adam's father died yesterday, I'd recommend waiting a couple of weeks before contacting him about this. I'm sure Adam will try to help.

As snicksnack says, for any domains that are at all contraversial, try to get them into a registrar outside the US. I think Fabulous is a good choice.

[ksinclair]

What does Fabulous do, if presented with a request from a US court?

[Domagon]

In my view, I'd suggest NOT transferring the domain out; not that you can anyways, since it's locked, but, anyways, just leave it at Dynadot.

It's up to GoDaddy to retrieve it, which requires the assistance of Dynadot. Which from a legal aspect is likely something Dynadot would rather avoid ... and thus is probably why Dynadot is telling you to transfer it back instead of them doing it.

If you plan to keep the domain longterm, you will likely need the assistance of an attorney to research the court order and whether it's valid / still enforceable ...

Lots of issues / questions that may help you regain full control... who renewed the domain? - presumably you did ... if not, it would have expired. Why didn't GoDaddy comply with the court order? ... perhaps it was very limited scope, no longer valid, etc.

I've owned and sold numerous domains that were formerly seized by the U.S. Federal government - typically, their focus is to get the domains out of the hands of the registrant / get the websites shut down - once that's done, they often allow the seized domains to expire, available for registration.

Ron