Stolen Domain

[DnPowerful]

I am looking for insider information on this one, or at least someone who has studied these things closely.

I might have a domain that was stolen before I picked it up. It's fairly high profile, and most certainly involves hundreds of thousands in revenue.

It was a Versign domain (naturally) and was set to email authentication.

We all know the rest of the story.

The original owner is now suing NSI/Verisign. The other day, the Sex.com case took a promising turn when the judge in the case chided NSI/Verisign for not taking any responsibility, and Verisign's very own lawyer noted that any libaility on Verisign's part would most certainly open the door to tons of lawsuits.

What I want to know is: Once a domain has left Verisign as "stolen", how successful is Verisign in restoring a stolen domain, and what process do they have to go through to get it. Is it just an explosion of civil lawsuits that settles this thing, or does Verisign set the tone for, ah, atonement.

Please note that I know a fair bit about this subject, but want someone to post who has actually been through the process or knows about a particular case.

Thanks for any info.

[draqon]

unfortunately I don't have the info you request. I do know that without legal threats, NSI doesnt even try to return stolen domains once they are at a new registrar. if you bought this domain while it was stolen, its only fair that you return it immediately.

[Brujah]

While someone is stealing domain names, its odd that people protect the person and not reveal who it is.

[MillerTyme]

I might have a domain that was stolen before I picked it up. It's fairly high profile, and most certainly involves hundreds of thousands in revenue.

It was a Versign domain (naturally) and was set to email authentication>>>
Hmm I dont quite understand, you say you picked up the name, do you mean the name dropped/expired and you got it or that you bought it ? You say it involves alot of revenue, is a full website earning money when you got it ? How do you know it was previously set to email auth ?
To answer your question about 'stolen domains' , no verisign does not turn names back to people who dispute the names as far as I know. I lost one name one time and it was impossible to prove to them. One such name I ve watched that 'appears' to have been taken in a sneaky way is the name EYE.COM. In july the domain name (different than eye.com ) for the email contact on the domain eye.com expired and soemone registered that name and was able to set up an email address and 'apparently' transferred eye.com to tucows from verisign. Domain name ownership is a very nebulous area and people dont realise that verisign and most courts dont consider domain names property.

[uncle]

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,32974,00.html

Brujah, the name of the thief remains ambiguous, but I know someone who swears he knows who he is. All he says so far is that he lives in California and that he has stolen names for well over a year now. I also know a company that is working with Verisign now on the matter.

[DnPowerful]

In fact, as his wont, Brujah's comment was a swipe at me.

It doesn't seem to occur to him that I might have very good reasons not to start screaming the potential thief's name in a public forum.

Don't you worry, as soon as it makes sense, I will be broadcasting his/her name from a rooftop.

Likewise

[DomainGoon]

Is it related in any way to this theft?
http://www.freepicturepage.com/info.html

The persons who stole the above domain are alleged to have been involved in quite a few other thefts as well. Supposedly there is a law enforcement investigation ongoing in California regarding the above case.

[Brujah]

What I meant was that apparently someone is offering to sell the domains that are possibly stolen. Its too bad that its kept a secret (assuming it is). Some of us have a large list of domains that were definitely stolen, and others have been approached to buy domains. None seem to want to cooperate by communicating about it.