CDR: sex.com forgery reversed by judge

[anonymous at openpgp.net]

Monday November 27 8:35 PM ET
                U.S. Judge Orders sex.com Address
                Returned to Owner 

                By Andrew Quinn

                SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A judge ordered a major sex
                change on the Internet on Monday, ending a hot-blooded
                struggle over arguably the most valuable piece of real estate in
                cyberspace -- the rights to the name sex.com.

                U.S. District Judge James Ware ordered Stephen Cohen, who
                has turned the sex.com Web site into a multimillion pornography
                business, to turn the address over to San Francisco entrepreneur
                Gary Kremen -- who had the foresight to register the address in
                1994, at the dawn of the Internet age.

                Im just a small guy and this is a huge guy who has built an
                empire based on fraud and deceit, an overjoyed Kremen told
                reporters outside the San Jose, Calif., courthouse after Wares
                decision. Im like a little guy, so I feel pretty good about it.

                Cohen did not return calls seeking comment in the case, and his
                lawyers declined to speak to reporters at the courthouse.

                The judges order marked an important step in resolving the
                issues of Internet claim-jumping and the real value of cyber real
                estate.

                According to Kremens lawyers, Cohen took control of the
                sex.com address in 1995 by presenting forged transfer of
                ownership documentation to Network Solutions Inc., which
                oversees the allocation of Web site addresses.

                Using a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, Cohen
                proceeded to turn sex.com into what Kremens lawyers call a
                multimillion dollar sex empire -- a one-stop shop for the
                nastiest, raunchiest pornography the Internet has to offer.
..snip..

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001127/wr/tech_sex_dc_1.html