Intercosmos Wins Summary Judgement Against English Business

Intercosmos Media Group, Inc. recently won a lawsuit on summary judgment against an English businessman, and his company, who sued the New Orleans company for defamation, libel and negligence.

Intercosmos Media Group, Inc. recently won a lawsuit on summary judgment against an English businessman, and his company, who sued the New Orleans company for defamation, libel and negligence.

Intercosmos, an international domain name registrar, refused to revoke three domain name registrations that businessman Greg Lloyd Smith claim libeled him.

The case arose after a customer of Intercosmos registered domain names with public WHOIS registrant information that ? unknown to Intercosmos at the time of registration ? was invalid. The customer who registered the three domains allegedly used them to defame Smith and his company, Kestrel Trading Corporation.

This case against Intercosmos was the first in the nation to hold that the federal Communications Decency Act immunizes a domain name registrar from negligence-based lawsuits resulting from a registrar's failure to revoke domain name registrations that contain false and fraudulent registration information. This was held to be the case even though registrars are required by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to maintain accurate public registrant information and to delete domain name registrations that contain invalid information.

The case also held that Intercosmos was not liable for the defamation of plaintiffs simply because its computer servers hosted and maintained allegedly defamatory content.    

Because of the content and the inability to find the registrant, the plaintiffs sought damages and injunctive relief against Intercosmos. In granting Intercomsos? motion for summary judgment, the court concluded that the claims and causes of action were precluded by the immunity afforded by the Communications Decency Act.    

David A. Vinterella, the attorney for Intercosmos, said, ?This case not only benefits my client, Intercosmos, but it could serve as a precedent for other courts to follow when deciding similar lawsuits against other domain name registrars.?

The citation for the case is Smith v. Intercosmos Media Group, Inc., 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24251 (E.D. La. 2002).

For information about Intercosmos Media Group, Inc. visit http://www.intercosmos.com or call Sigmund Solares at (504) 679-5170, ext. 106.