Kentucky Domains Row - Appeal over domain seizures

Online gambling activist launches an appeal against latest Kentucky domain actions

The latest development in the 4-year-long Kentucky domain seizure issue (see previous InfoPowa reports) has triggered a reaction from online gambling activist association the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (IMEGA), which has submitted a Motion of Appeal against Judge Thomas Wingate’s March 8 domain seizure order.

Judge Wingate, who propelled the issue into the international media with his attempt to freeze or seize 141 international online gambling domains four years ago, precipitated a lengthy legal battle through the Kentucky appeal process as Illinois lawyers hired on a pay-if-we-win basis by Kentucky state officials tried to enforce the state’s dominion over global companies, opposed fiercely by IMEGA.

Wingate was again at the centre of the row on March 8 this year, when despite the appeal process still ongoing, he found that no party had proved legal standing in his court, and the domains still available be confiscated for the Commonwealth.

The issue is now probably of interest only from a legal precedent viewpoint; political, enforcement and judicial developments in the United States over the past four years have created a toxic environment where the risks attached to holding a .com domain vulnerable to American-based ICANN interference have escalated, and many operators have switched to safer registrations beyond the reach of arbitrary decisions by American officialdom.