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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Thursday, 30 October 2008
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The US Department of Justice filed their response brief with the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in iMEGA v. Mukasey, et al, the Federal court challenge by iMEGA to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. iMEGA v. Mukasey, et al - US Reply Brief
In their reply, the US DoJ's attorneys assert that iMEGA could not argue UIGEA should be "void for vagueness", claiming iMEGA did not raise the issue at the trial level, and that nonetheless UIGEA is not sufficiently vague in order to meet the standard necessary for declaring it unconstitutional.
 "It's hard to believe the government is making that claim, when Judge (Mary J.) Cooper herself preserved due process concerns in her decision," said Joe Brennan Jr., iMEGA's chairman.
In addition, the government asserted in its 24-page brief that iMEGA lacked the standing to represent individual gamblers. iMEGA's legal team now has 15 days to submit a brief responding to the government's arguments. After that, it will be up to a three-judge panel (yet to be named) as to when oral arguments may be heard from both parties.
Despite devoting considerable time and resources in leading the challenge to block the commonwealth of Kentucky's recent attempt to seize 141 domain names from their rights holders, iMEGA's legal team feels they are more than capable of pursuing it's UIGEA and Kentucky challenges at the same time.
"We're very confident today, after reviewing the government's brief, that we are on track to having this law overturned," Brennan said.
"We're looking forward to the opportunity, once this fatally flawed law has been dealt with, to work toward a reasonable, common sense approach by our country to Internet gaming, one that above all affirms our rights and their place in the online world." |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Monday, 29 September 2008
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 Today, iMEGA filed its brief with the US Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, in the matter of iMEGA v. Keisler, et al. The suit challenges the constitutionality of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), which prohibits US financial institutions from processing transactions between online gambling sites and US players, while shifting the determination, burden and cost of enforcement onto the financial institutions.
"This is a very simple argument on which we ask the Court to overturn this law," said Joe Brennan Jr., iMEGA chairman and CEO. "UIGEA should be 'void for vagueness', in that Congress has not defined what an "unlawful Internet gambling transaction" is, as they are required. Congress cannot delegate that necessary determination as to what is 'lawful' or 'unlawful' to US banks and credit card companies. The Department of Treasury, which has been tasked with drafting the regulations for UIGEA, has testified before Congress that they themselves cannot make that determination. Because Congress refused to draft necessary standards, the law is so inherently flawed as to make it totally vague and unenforceable, and we are confident that the Court will overturn it."
iMEGA's appeal follows a ruling by Judge Mary Cooper (US District Court, Trenton) that established iMEGA's associational standing to challenge UIGEA on the behalf of its members and the Internet gambling industry, but was dismissed by Judge Cooper without considering the constitutional issues raised in iMEGA's challenge.
iMEGA is represented on this appeal by lead counsel Eric M. Bernstein (Bernstein & Associates; Warren, NJ); Stephen A. Saltzburg (George Washington Univ. School of Law, Washington DC); and Edward J. Leyden (iMEGA president and general counsel, Hollrah Leyden LLP, Washington DC). |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Thursday, 25 September 2008
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While the Kentucky Internet Gambling Domain Name forfeiture hearing before Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate has been postponed until Friday at 3:30 PM EST, Point-Spreads.com has learned that Oregon registrar PublicDomainRegistry.com turned over the domain name GoldenCasino.com to the state of Kentucky much to the delight of Governor Steve Beshear. Michael Brown on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the current administrative contact for the domain name in WHOIS searches. This is the third domain name that the state has secured.
Popular registrar eNom had turned over two online gambling domain names LuckyPyramidCasino.com and HighRollersLounge.com on Tuesday. Point-Spreads.com broke the news on Monday morning that the state of Kentucky was attempting to seize 141 internet gambling domain names sending the sector into panic while they were traveling to Barcelona to attend industry conferences. Several top brands that are in jeopardy include GoldenPalace.com, WSEX.com, SportsBetting.com, FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com CakePoker.com, DoylesRoom.com and many others.
"We finally got a hold of the case file," The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association President, Edward Leyden, told Gambling911 Thursday morning. His organization is representing the industry. "This was filed in secret. It was a sealed case file. This is why nobody knew about this matter."
Gambling911.com also reported that Dinsmore & Shohl LLP will be appearing on behalf of the industry. Jon L. Fleischaker will be representing the matter. iMEGA was previously working with another law firm but due to a conflict of interest, selected Dinsmore & Shohl, which is considered the most prestigious law firm in the commonwealth.
This will be a wake up call for internet and e-commerce companies providing services to the United States. If the state of Kentucky is successful in the forfeiture hearing tomorrow afternoon, United States based registrars will certainly comply with transferring the online gambling domain names over to Kentucky paving the way for additional domain names being confiscated beyond the 141 on the initial list.
The matter has several people from outside the internet gambling sector monitoring the outcome of this action. This story has spread across the Internet, well beyond just the online gambling sphere. A series of Internet tech websites linking to updates on the Gambling911.com site resulted in tens of thousands of new visitors. Gambling911's server had crashed this afternoon as a result of the enormous traffic surge.
"Anyone with even a remote interest in the online sector are gravely disturbed by what is happening in Kentucky right now but thankfully we (the industry) are well represented by the most powerful law firm in that state," said Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com's founder and publisher.
Fleischaker is Chair of the Communications and Media Law Practice Group. Jon is the Managing Partner for the Louisville Office and he serves on the Management Council. Jon has more than 30 years of experience in media law and First Amendment cases, actively involved in representation of newspapers and broadcasters dealing with publication issues. He has been the most visible attorney in Kentucky in dealing with First Amendment concerns. Jon also has extensive employment litigation experience, including class actions and individual cases. In addition to numerous appellate cases, he also has participated in 99 cases in the U.S. District Courts. |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Tuesday, 23 September 2008
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 It looks like popular domain name registrar ENOM is complying with the online domain name seizure order issued by a Kentucky judge to the delight of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. Earlier today Point-Spreads.com reported that LuckyPyramidCasino.com was seized and now a second domain name HighRollersLounge.com has its administrative contact information listed as Eric Lycan from the Commonwealth of Kentucky Justice Cabinet.
Founded in Bellevue, Washington in 1997 as a privately held company, eNom is a leading online provider of domain name registration and other online services to small and home-based businesses, individuals, traffic aggregators and resellers. eNom is the second largest domain name registrar worldwide, and the number one registrar for resellers, with the largest, most active distribution network in the domain industry. eNom is accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
While these brands are not all that popular, the effects of the news has online gambling operators scrambling. The entire industry has descended on Barcelona this week for parties and networking so the seizures have caught some operators off guard. News of the online gambling domain names is the talk of internet gambling conference EiG as you can well imagine.
Several top brands that are in jeopardy include GoldenPalace.com, WSEX.com, SportsBetting.com, FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com CakePoker.com, DoylesRoom.com and several others. Point-Spreads.com broke the news about Kentucky’s effort to steal online gambling domain names yesterday morning and the industry has had little time to react.
Point-Spreads.com expects the seizures to continue over the next several days and hopefully this will be a wake up call for internet and e-commerce companies providing services to the United States. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 23 September 2008 )
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Tuesday, 23 September 2008
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 As earlier predicted, the Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has already successfully seized at least one online gambling domain name called LuckyPyramidCasino.com. A check of the WHOIS information for this domain name shows that Eric Lycan from the Commonwealth of Kentucky Justice Cabinet is the new administrative contact. The popular registrar ENOM apparently allowed the transfer of the domain name to the state of Kentucky this morning after receiving a order of seizure from a Kentucky judge.
Several top brands that are in jeopardy include GoldenPalace.com, WSEX.com, SportsBetting.com, FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com CakePoker.com, DoylesRoom.com and several others. Point-Spreads.com broke the news about Kentucky’s effort to steal online gambling domain names yesterday morning and the industry has had little time to react to the news since most of the top executives are en route to Barcelona for a EiG’s annual internet gambling conference.
"If that is not a clear case of abuse of power, I don't know what one is," Joe Brennan, Jr. founder of iMEGA, said. The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association was founded to foster cooperation between the online industry and government at all levels, and to promote innovation, openness and freedom on the Internet.
Point-Spreads.com was able to catch up via email with one online gambling operation that had this to say, "I don't think this has anything to do with ICANN....the registrars that are all part of ICANN all got direct letters from the judge and have voluntarily followed the order...the order is against the registrars only as far as I can see. I think all US registered domains are toast....a few other international registrars will also hand the domains over. Some will not....it is very unlikely that our registrar will comply with this order....or even respond to it. This is going to really shake up the industry and global eCommerce....nobody is going to want to build a business of any sort on the net with US ties.”
Companies that hold the online gambling domain names are currently unable to transfer registrars and ownership. Point-Spreads.com believes more successful seizures will take place this week if not today and we will continue to monitor this situation for readers.
Get a complete list of the online gambling domain names effected by the Kentucky seizure order here. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 23 September 2008 )
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