Sex.com

Gary Kremen had the foresight to register the domain name Sex.com from Network Solutions back in 1994. Since then, several million people have muttered to themselves, "Damn, I wish I'd thought of that." Kremen didn't do anything with the domain right away. Then in 1995, a convicted con artist named Stephen Cohen forged a letter to Network Solutions claiming that he had purchased the rights to Sex.com, and they obligingly transferred ownership of the domain name to him. Cohen developed a hugely lucrative porn site at that address, while Kremen sued to recover the domain name. In October 2000, a judge finally ruled in Kremen's favor and returned Sex.com to its original owner.

NEWS

The Bleak House of web porn continues in California courts, as two parties wrangle over who owns the domain Sex.com. This article provides a good overview of the case, which started with a questionable and probably fraudulent transfer of the domain name rights in 1995. . . . UPDATE: On Monday, the judge in the Sex.com case ruled in favor of plaintiff Gary Kremen, finding that defendant Stephen Cohen fraudulently obtained rights to the domain name in 1995. Ware ordered Network Solutions to transfer ownership of the domain name back to Kremen, and may also award Kremen some of the millions Cohen has reaped from Sex.com over the past five years.
San Jose Mercury News

Mainstream newspapers and business magazines weigh in on the Sex.com decision. Much sniggering and pained double entendres ensue. Wired News. Experts cited therein estimate the domain name's value at between $100 million and $250 million.

The San Jose Mercury News profiles Gary Kremen, the guy who last week regained the rights to the domain Sex.com. Kremen says he's not sure exactly what he'll do with the domain now, maybe "change the site into something classier, focusing more on erotica than pornography." Hmmm, more likely he'll sell it for an ungodly sum in about two months.
San Jose Mercury News

The Sex.com legal battle isn't over quite yet. A federal appeals court has agreed to consider the appeal by Stephen Cohen, who lost the rights to the domain in a ruling last month.
Wired News

The German Internet company Domshop announced last week that it would be auctioning off the domain Sex.com on behalf of owner Gary Kremen for an expected price of $85 million. Now Domshop has admitted that the whole thing was a hoax.
Financial Times

More tedious legal wrangling in the Sex.com case. The judge ordered domain thief Steven Cohen to put $25 million in escrow while he weighed the damages settlement to victorious plaintiff Gary Kremen. Cohen insists he doesn't have that much money, but Kremen believes Cohen has millions stashed in overseas bank accounts.
The Standard @ Yahoo News

The Sex.com case drags on. Calling the domain ownership dispute "an area of developing law," the judge has decided to seek expert advice from a "special master." (Insert "master" pun here, followed by rim shot.) At Monday's hearing, lawyers estimated that Sex.com currently brings in around $6 million per year.
Wired News

Joseph Menn traces the tangled history of Sex.com.
LA Times

Things just keep getting worse for Stephen Cohen after losing the domain sex.com in court. Now the judge has seized "custody of any proceeds generated from the operation of any Internet domain name for which Stephen Michael Cohen is listed either as a technical, administrative or billing contact," which includes sex.net, nastydate.com and more than eighty others.
Wired

The Sex.com case keeps getting weirder. Judge James Ware has >issued an arrest warrant for losing defendant Stephen Cohen for repeatedly missing court appearances and refusing to relinquish his assets. Ware had ordered Cohen to place $25 million into escrow pending a ruling on damages. Instead, Cohen has reportedly been transferring money to different bank accounts and third parties while hiding out in Mexico.
San Jose Mercury News (Mar 2001)

Joanna Glassner reports on the damages phase of the Sex.com trial, which fugitive defendant Stephen Cohen skipped. Cohen's attorney claims that Cohen is currently incarcerated in Mexico. In another development, winning plaintiff and current Sex.com owner Gary Kremen is being sued by his former attorney, who charges Kremen reneged on a deal to grant him a 15% stake in Sex.com if the lawsuit was successful.
Wired (Mar 2001)

Attorney Charles Carreon is suing the new owner of Sex.com, Gary Kremen, over proceeds from the victorious lawsuit to win back the domain. Carreon claims Kremen promised him 15% ownership in Sex.com if the lawsuit against domain thief Steven Cohen was successful. Kremen denies any such deal.
Law.com (Apr 2001)

New management unveils the new Sex.com, which aims to be a "lifestyle-oriented community" and "sticky portal" to Internet sex resources.
MSNBC

The judge in the Sex.com case awarded losing defendant Stephen Cohen to pay winning plaintiff Gary Kremen $65 million, though Kremen's lawyers don't expect to collect that money anytime soon.
Newsbytes

Yahoo sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sex.com, claiming trademark infringement over the fact that typing "yahoo.sex.com" into your browser takes you to Sex.com. But Sex.com is simply using a common Internet protocol called "wildcard DNS," which means that any URL ending in sex.com (eg, "dazereader.sex.com") redirects to the Sex.com homepage. Yahoo has since backed off the threat. Meanwhile, AOL lost an arbitration hearing to prevent a porn site operator from using the domain Nudescape.com on the grounds that it infinged on the "Netscape" trademark. The arbitrator wrote, "It seems ... there is a reasonably good argument that (Media Dial) should have a right to use these common English words to describe its pornographic services. Otherwise, parts of the English language would soon be acquired and removed from common use by those wishing to name their businesses or describe their services."
Biz Report | ZDNet | Newsbytes (Aug 2001)

Sex.com Loser Claims Poverty: In a self-authored court filing, Stephen Cohen protests the $65 million judgment against him as ludicrously high. "Just how is the defendant expected to live? How is the defendant expected to purchase the necessities of life, such as toilet paper, food, clothes and etc.?" Victorious plaintiff Gary Kremen comments, "It’s actually one of the better arguments out of him, though I don’t know about the toilet paper."
Wired (Jan 2002)

The Sex.com legal wrangling continues. Gary Kremen — who registered the domain in 1994, then lost it to a conman in 1995, then finally regained it last year — is suing Network Solutions for mistakenly transferring the domain based on a forged letter. Last year, the judge who returned the domain to Kremen ruled that Network Solutions could not be held liable, but Kremen has filed a Circuit Court appeal on that point.
Newsbytes (Feb 2002)

Halcyon and friends got invited to a "sex party at a mansion", but it didn't turn out to be what they expected.
Cocky Words (May 2002)