[LINK] Fwd: Possibly interesting Up Over story

[Tony Barry]

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Tony


>From: daryl@ecn.ab.ca
>Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 14:42:10 -0600 (MDT)
>X-Sender: daryl@fn2.freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
>To: Tony Barry <tonyb@dynamite.com.au>
>Subject: Possibly interesting Up Over story
>
>Tony:
>    I thought this might just be the sort of article you'd want to
>advertise on LINK, so here it be.
>    The article mentions that Canada is behind the U.S. in the development
>of related judgements; the case involves a U.S. registrar, though.
>    I suppose it's an example of how national boundaries can still have an
>impact on the 'Net.
>    Whatever. Use it if it pleases you to do so..
>
>    Btw, Sherwood Park is a suburb of Edmonton, the provincial capital
>of Alberta, one of the two most business-oriented provinces in Canada.
>
>Cheers,
>Daryl Krupa                email: daryl@ecn.ab.ca
>
>       ---//---//---//---//---//---//---//---//---//---//---//---
>
>http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology1/stories/000531/4192270.html
>   
>                                                     Wednesday 31 May 2000
>                                                                         
>    Ex-employee sued over domain name
>    Lawsuit likely to set precedent in use of Internet technology
>   
>    Bryant Avery, Journal Staff
>    The Edmonton Journal
>   
>    Innersense International Inc., a small Sherwood Park company, has
>    begun a potentially significant court fight with a former employee
>    over its Web address.
>   
>    The case may have significant implications for the ownership of
>    information technology, said Edmonton lawyer James Swanson.
>   
>    The company in question is Innersense International Inc., formed in
>    1993, now with 3,000 distributors and 5,000 Internet customers per
>    month. Innersense promotes the sale of elk antler velvet.
>   
>    In 1997, according to documents filed by Innersense in Court of
>    Queen's Bench, former Innersense customer relations manager Michelle
>    Manegre was delegated by company president Steve Kurylo to register
>    its domain name, innersense.com.
>   
>    In May of 1998, the documents state, Manegre registered the name with
>    Network Solutions Inc., a Virginia company charged with the
>    responsibility of maintaining registrations of domain names ending in
>    ".com.''
>   
>    But in March 2000, Kurylo said he learned the domain name had been
>    registered to Keith Manegre, Michelle's brother, rather than renewed
>    for Innersense.
>   
>    "This is the first notice Innersense had that Innersense was no longer
>    the registrant of the domain name," Kurylo stated in an affidavit.
>   
>    On March 24, 2000, Keith Manegre sent a letter to Innersense offering
>    to sell the domain name to the company for $20,000, Kurylo claimed.
>    The Manegres have not yet had an opportunity to respond to Kurylo's
>    allegations and the lawyer for the Manegres was not available on
>    Tuesday.
>   
>    Innersense sought a return of the Web address to the company, and
>    asked for damages of $300,000 and a punitive sum of $50,000.
>   
>    Justice Don Lee noted in a ruling last week that "in this general area
>    Š there are relatively few Canadian cases on the issue of unfair
>    competition, trademarks, passing off actions as they relate to the
>    Internet."
>   
>    In addition, Lee said "there are some difficulties with the
>    (Innersense) application" to the court. But the court did issue an
>    interim injunction restraining the Manegres from selling or
>    transferring the innersense.com name.
>   
>    Swanson, Innersense's lawyer, said the injunction is a preliminary
>    step.
>   
>    "The domain name is frozen. It just sits there." The Manegres could
>    file a statement of defence, or apply to have the injunction set
>    aside. The parties could settle out of court, or go to trial.
>   
>    Canadian courts are behind their counterparts in the United States in
>    deciding matters related to information technology, Swanson said.
>   
>    But the Edmonton lawyer added he has several cases now that will bring
>    the subject to more frequent legal attention.
>

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