Bodog Entertainment and 1st Technologies Counters

What started out as patent litigation concerning an online casinos poker provider, Bodog Entertainment Group, S.A., and internet technology company 1st Technology has now morphed into a landmark case that will set precedence in domain name property law. The ongoing dispute between 1st Technologies and Bodog Ent. entered a new realm when lawyers for Bodog filed a motion last week in a Washington State enforcement court. The case centers on the issue of whether or not the Washington court was operating within the law, and within legal precedence when it awarded the Bodog domain names to 1st Technologies as a way for 1st Technology to collect judgment. The issue began months ago with a default judgment against the online casino poker provider, Bodog, because neither representatives from the company, nor the company’s lawyers attended a patent hearing. The court awarded 1st Technology with a $47 million default judgment. But because of the online casinos ban in the United States, Bodog has no U.S. based operations, and thus 1st Technologies has no way to force Bodog to pay the $47 million default judgment. The case then went before a Washington State enforcement court which authorized 1st Technology to seize Bodog’s main domain name, and other domain names related to the company. Bodog’s recent case though takes the issue right back to the Washington court where lawyers for the online casinos poker site question if domain names are in fat property, and whether the court has the right to seize domain names to “collect a judgment.” Washington State has no legal precedence on the issue, so the online casino company’s lawyers instead suggest that the court look to rulings in Virginia which contend that domain names are not property that can be confiscated and transferred because of copyright infringement possibilities.

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