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[ICANN-EU] Attn. Louis Touton to:Re: Regland
- To: Joe Baptista <baptista@PCCF.NET>
- Subject: [ICANN-EU] Attn. Louis Touton to:Re: Regland
- From: Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>
- Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 22:04:26 -0800
- CC: DOMAIN-POLICY@LISTS.NETSOL.COM, Louis Touton <touton@icann.org>, icann board address <icann-board@icann.org>, ICANN-EU <icann-europe@fitug.de>
- Comment: This message comes from the icann-europe mailing list.
- Organization: INEGroup Spokesman
- References: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0011032115360.3304-100000@proxy.pccf.net>
- Sender: owner-icann-europe@fitug.de
Joe and all,
Of course ICANN and Touton claim this legal action is "Frivolous".
But of course they would make this claim! ROFLMAO. We will see
if a judge here in Texas will agree with his claim. My guess is that
such a claim by Louis Touton will not stand. I hope Louis has
retained a good trial atty. And I hope for his sake it isn't Joe Simms!
For Louis: Louis, we here in Texas have had enough of your nonsense.
Look forward to more of this sort of action in the near future...
Joe Baptista wrote:
> Touton really comes off as a hitler type. According to regland he does
> alot of screaming during the course of business - i wonder if he bites
> rugs too? strange boy.
>
> If you have any questions, Please contact Regland, Inc. at
> 210-495-9800
> CAUSE NO. __________________
>
> REGLAND, INC. § IN
> THE DISTRICT COURT
>
> §
> Plaintiff, §
>
> §
> VS.
> §
>
> § OF BEXAR COUNTY, TEXAS
> INTERNET CORPORATION FOR §
> ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS §
> A/K/A ICANN AND LOUIS TOUTON, §
> INDIVIDUALLY, §
>
> §
> Defendants.
> § ______ JUDICIAL DISTRICT
>
> PLAINTIFF'S ORIGINAL PETITION
>
> TO THE HONORABLE JUDGE OF SAID COURT:
>
> COMES NOW REGLAND, INC., Plaintiff in the above-numbered and styled
> cause, complaining of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
> Numbers a/k/a ICANN and Louis Touton, individually, and for cause of
> action respectfully would show the following:
>
> I.
>
> DISCOVERY CONTROL PLAN
>
> 1.1 Plaintiff designates this case, under Texas Rule of Civil
> Procedure 190.3, to be governed by a Level 2 Discovery Control Plan.
>
> II.
>
> PARTIES AND SERVICE
>
> 2.1 Plaintiff RegLand, Inc. ("RegLand" or "Plaintiff") is a
> corporation organized under the laws of the State of Texas.
>
> 2.2 Defendant Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
> Numbers a/k/a ICANN ("ICANN") is a nonprofit corporation organized
> under the California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law, which
> may be served with process by delivering a copy of the citation
> together with this Plaintiff's Original Petition, upon its registered
> agent, CT Corporation System, 818 West Seventh St., Los Angeles, CA.
> 90017.
>
> 2.3 Defendant Louis Touton ("Touton") is an individual resident
> of the State of California, who may be served with process by
> delivering a copy of the citation together with this Plaintiff's
> Original Petition, upon him at his place of business located at 4676
> Admiralty Way #330, Marina Del Rey CA. 90292, or wherever he may be
> found.
>
> III.
>
> VENUE AND JURISDICTION
>
> 3.1 Venue is proper in Bexar County, Texas, because Bexar County
> is where all or a substantial part of the events or omissions giving
> rise to the claim occurred and/or plaintiff resided in Bexar County,
> Texas, at the time of the accrual of the cause of action.
>
> 3.2 Jurisdiction is proper in this Court because the amount in
> controversy is within the jurisdictional limits of this Court.
>
> IV.
>
> FACTUAL BACKGROUND
>
> 4.1 ICANN is a technical coordination body for the Internet.
> ICANN was created in October 1998 by a coalition of the Internet's
> business, technical, academic, and user communities. The purpose
> behind the creation of ICANN was for it to assume responsibility for a
> set of functions previously performed under U.S. government contract
> by IANA and other groups. Specifically, ICANN is to coordinate the
> assignment of the following identifiers that must be globally unique
> for the Internet to function: Internet domain names; IP address
> numbers; protocol parameter and port numbers. In addition, ICANN is
> supposed to coordinate the stable operation of the Internet's root
> server system. ICANN has no other authority or purpose. ICANN's
> Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Commerce
> specifically states that it shall not act unjustifiably or arbitrarily
> to injure particular persons or entities or particular categories of
> persons or entities.
>
> 4.2 When founded, ICANN was purportedly dedicated to preserving
> the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition;
> to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and
> to developing policy through private-sector, bottom-up,
> consensus-based means. Regrettably, ICANN has become an instrument by
> which a few individuals attempt to impose their will upon the very
> communities they were supposed to serve. One of those individuals is
> Touton.
>
> 4.3 Touton is Vice-President, Secretary, and General Counsel of
> ICANN. Although neither ICANN's Articles of Incorporation or its
> By-Laws impute any policy-making authority upon Touton, due to his
> position, he wields considerable power and influence over the Internet
> community. Touton is subjectively aware of this power and influence,
> which he uses to the detriment of those who defy him or his own view
> of what the Internet is or should be.
>
> 4.4 ICANN recently announced that it was considering the
> adoption of a variety of new generic top-level domain names ("New
> gTLDs"). New gTLDs were needed for the simple reason that domain
> names using the existing gTLDs were running out; that is, most of the
> common words and word combinations were no longer available. In
> approximately August 2000, therefore, ICANN began the process for
> identifying which of various proposed New gTLDs would become
> officially available for use in registering domain names. The process
> envisioned an expensive application procedure for the accreditation of
> Registries and Registrars. ICANN was to control the entire process
> and collect the exorbitant fees.
>
> 4.5 Plaintiff is a start-up Internet corporation with a website
> located at the domain name www.regland.com The founders of RegLand
> envisioned, and then created, a means by which individuals who wanted
> the best possible chance at obtaining domain names incorporating the
> New gTLDs would be able to have RegLand "stand in line" for them. The
> system created by RegLand was premised on technology, namely, the
> creation of a database of RegLand's customers which, pursuant to
> contracts with Registrars, would be processed as soon as ICANN
> announced that a New gTLD was available for registration. By contrast
> to the exorbitant fees charged by ICANN, RegLand charged its customers
> a nominal $20 for the privilege of entering a potential domain name
> into RegLand's database and taking advantage of RegLand's contractual
> relationships with Registrars.
>
> 4.6 RegLand's site makes abundantly clear that there are no
> guaranties or warranties with respect to the service offered by
> RegLand. Indeed, every customer who purchased those services was
> required to "click-through" a contract which set forth (i) that none
> of the proposed New gTLDs might become available, (ii) that, if a New
> gTLD became available, there was no guaranty that RegLand's proposed
> system would result in registration, and (iii) that the entire
> relationship between RegLand and its customers was at the customer's
> risk. In addition, when large orders were placed with RegLand, a
> member of its support staff would personally telephone the customer
> and reiterate the speculative nature of the situation.
>
> 4.7 On or about August 12, 2000, Scott Harris, of RegLand, met
> with Joseph Kibur at the main offices of NetNation, Inc. and Domain
> People, Inc. in Vancouver, Canada. Mr. Kibur is one of the founders
> of, and a major stockholder in, NetNation, Inc. Domain People, Inc.,
> a subsidiary of NetNation, Inc., is an ICANN accredited registrar.
> During the course of their meeting, the fact that ICANN had announced
> that it was exploring the introduction of New gTLDs into the root
> servers was discussed. Mr. Kibur and Mr. Harris agreed that a service
> to assist in the registration of domain names incorporating the New
> gTLDs, would not only be profitable, but also helpful to the general
> public. Mr. Kibur agreed that such a service, if it were started by
> Mr. Harris, would be able to market to the customers of Domain People,
> Inc. and such a service would also be allowed to use Domain People,
> Inc. to process registrations when the New gTLDs were introduced by
> ICANN.
>
> 4.8 Upon his return to San Antonio, Mr. Harris and Mr. Rick
> Hernandez founded RegLand for the purpose of implementing the idea
> discussed with Mr. Kibur. Mr. Kibur left on an extended vacation to
> Ethiopia, Africa, but before leaving instructed Julia Dean, Domain
> People's business development manager, to complete a contract between
> Domain People, Inc. and RegLand. Ms. Dean was excited about the
> possibilities of a contractual relationship with Regland because it
> would bring in both additional revenue as well as additional new
> customers to Domain People. In early September, 2000, after
> finalizing the details of the contract between Domain People and
> Regland, Ms. Dean felt it would be prudent to contact ICANN to get
> verification that the contract with Regland would not violate any
> policies of, or Domain People's agreement with, ICANN. Ms. Dean
> contacted Mr. Touton and during the course of this conversation, Mr.
> Touton informed Ms. Dean that ICANN was strongly against the type of
> service to be offered by RegLand, and implied that a contract with
> Regland would jeopardize Domain People's ability to register names in
> the New gTLDs and even its accreditation. After reporting to the
> officers of Domain People the details of the conversation between Ms.
> Dean and Mr. Touton, Domain People's CEO, Ashley Sinclair, decided
> that, because of Mr. Touton's comments, it was too risky to enter into
> a contract with Regland. On or about September 14, 2000, Ms. Dean
> contacted Mr. Harris and notified him that Domain People was backing
> out of their proposed contract altogether because they were fearful of
> ICANN and Mr. Touton.
>
> 4.9 The Defendants interference with RegLand's business did not
> stop with Domain People. Indeed, shortly after RegLand launched its
> website, it learned from potential customers that ICANN was advising
> people that the RegLand service was a "fraud," a "scam," and was
> simply designed to take $20 from as many people as possible. RegLand
> confirmed this by telephoning ICANN and hearing for itself these
> statements made by an employee of ICANN.
>
> 4.10 In addition, RegLand learned from other Registrars with whom
> RegLand had prospective contractual relationships with that Touton was
> advising Registrars that affiliation with RegLand would have a
> negative impact on such Registrar's application and accreditation with
> ICANN. These comments by Touton had the effect of icing the potential
> market for RegLand with Registrars.
>
> 4.11 In the face of this information, RegLand's founders and its
> attorney contacted Touton to demand that ICANN and Touton immediately
> cease and desist from disparaging RegLand and from interfering with
> RegLand's prospective contracts and business relationships. In the
> course of a 3-hour conference call with Touton, RegLand learned that
> Touton was aware that ICANN employees were disparaging RegLand, that
> Touton himself approved of this wrongful conduct, and that Touton
> intended to do nothing to stop the disparagement and defamation.
> However, Touton did state that he was aware of no ICANN policy or
> procedure that was being violated by RegLand, or which would be
> violated by any Registrar who entered into a contractual relationship
> with RegLand, and Touton stated that he would never advise a Registrar
> otherwise. Finally, Touton suggested changes to the RegLand site
> which he deemed necessary to make the website meet with his approval.
> In recognition of Touton's power and influence, RegLand made all the
> changes suggested by Touton, even though they were not necessary for
> any other reason.
>
> 4.12 In the course of developing its business, RegLand had
> identified Register.com as a potential partner. As a result, RegLand
> contacted Register.com and began negotiating a contract by which
> Register.com would serve as one of the Registrars through which
> RegLand's database of domain names with New gTLDs would be processed.
> In addition, RegLand became an affiliate of Register.com and displayed
> Register.com's logo on the RegLand site. On or about September 27,
> 2000, RegLand received a cease and desist letter from outside counsel
> for Register.com demanding that RegLand remove the Register.com logo
> from its website. RegLand complied. RegLand's counsel contacted
> Register.com's counsel to learn why the cease and desist letter was
> sent. RegLand's counsel was told that Touton had contacted
> Register.com's counsel "screaming" at him and demanding to know why
> Register.com was on RegLand's website. It was this conversation that
> precipitated RegLand's cease and desist letter to ICANN and Touton.
> Moreover, RegLand shortly thereafter received a communication directly
> from Register.com declining to meet with RegLand, although a
> communication just hours earlier had stated Register.com's interest in
> having a meeting to discuss a contractual relationship.
>
> 4.13 At approximately the same time, ICANN posted on its site a
> "warning" to visitors suggesting that taking advantage of the services
> of businesses such as RegLand was inappropriate because no one was
> "authorized" to pre-register domain names with the New gTLDs. This
> statement was false and deceptive because it implied that
> authorization from ICANN was necessary, when, in fact, no such
> authorization is needed -- or even available. Upon information and
> belief, the "warning" was not the result of the considered reflection
> of the board of ICANN, but was instead the result of Touton's personal
> decision to interfere with RegLand's business.
>
> 4.14 In the meantime, RegLand had begun negotiating a contract
> with Bulkregister.com, the second largest Registrar in the world.
> These negotiations proceeded to the point where execution of a
> contract was a reasonable probability. Had the contract been
> executed, it would have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars
> in revenue and profit to RegLand. However, at the last minute, after
> the essential terms of the contract were agreed upon, but before the
> contract could be executed, Bulkregister.com refused to consummate the
> deal. Bulkregister.com's stated reason was the wrongful intimidation
> and defamatory statements by Touton and ICANN and its fear that
> affiliation with RegLand would have a negative impact on its
> applications pending before ICANN.
>
> 4.15 Upon information and belief, ICANN considered RegLand's
> situation at a recent meeting of its board of directors. At the
> meeting, the board acknowledged that neither Touton nor ICANN has
> authority to make statements regarding RegLand's services. However,
> in conscious disregard of the rights of RegLand, ICANN has failed and
> refused to remove the false and deceptive warning on its website, and
> has failed and refused to issue an apology to RegLand.
>
> V.
>
> FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION - DEFAMATION
>
> 5.1 RegLand restates and incorporates by reference the factual
> allegations in paragraphs 4.1 to 4.15 above as if fully set forth
> herein.
>
> 5.2 ICANN and Touton made false, defamatory statements of and
> concerning RegLand, with knowledge that such statements were false or
> with reckless disregard as to the truth of such statements.
>
> 5.3 ICANN and Touton's defamation of RegLand has proximately
> caused actual damages to be suffered by RegLand, for which actual
> damages RegLand hereby sues.
>
> 5.4 ICANN and Touton's defamatory statements were made with
> malice and, therefore, it is appropriate for RegLand to recover
> exemplary damages in addition to its actual damages, for which
> exemplary damages RegLand hereby sues.
>
> VI.
>
> SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION - BUSINESS DISPARAGEMENT
>
> 6.1 RegLand restates and incorporates by reference the factual
> allegations in paragraphs 4.1 to 4.15 above as if fully set forth
> herein.
>
> 6.2 ICANN and Touton made false and disparaging statements of
> and concerning the services of RegLand, with knowledge that such
> statements were false or with reckless disregard as to the truth of
> such statements.
>
> 6.3 ICANN and Touton's business disparagement of RegLand has
> proximately caused actual damages to be suffered by RegLand, for which
> actual damages RegLand hereby sues.
>
> 6.4 ICANN and Touton's business disparagement was with malice
> and, therefore, it is appropriate for RegLand to recover exemplary
> damages in addition to its actual damages, for which exemplary damages
> RegLand hereby sues.
>
> VII.
>
> THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION - TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE
>
> 7.1 RegLand restates and incorporates by reference the factual
> allegations in paragraphs 4.1 to 4.15 above as if fully set forth
> herein.
>
> 7.2 ICANN and Touton's conduct interfered with prospective
> contracts and prospective business relations between RegLand and
> various Registrars, and between RegLand and its customers and
> potential customers.
>
> 7.3 ICANN and Touton's tortious interference has proximately
> caused actual damages to be suffered by RegLand, for which actual
> damages RegLand hereby sues.
>
> 7.4 ICANN and Touton's tortious interference was committed with
> malice and, therefore, it is appropriate for RegLand to recover
> exemplary damages in addition to its actual damages, for which
> exemplary damages RegLand hereby sues.
>
> VIII.
>
> JURY DEMAND
>
> Plaintiff demands a trial by jury.
>
> WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, REGLAND, INC., plaintiff herein, prays
> that the defendants be cited to appear and answer herein, and that
> upon final hearing the Court award judgment in favor of Plaintiff and
> against Defendants, jointly and severally, for actual damages,
> exemplary damages, pre-judgment interest and post-judgment interest,
> together with such other and further relief, both general and special,
> at law and in equity, to which Plaintiff may show itself justly
> entitled.
>
> Respectfully submitted,
>
> JACKSON WALKER L.L.P.
>
> 901 Main Street, Suite 6000
>
> Dallas, Texas 75201
>
> (214) 953-6000
>
> (214) 953-5822 (fax)
>
> By:___________________________
>
> Alan N. Greenspan
>
> State Bar No. 08402975
>
> OF COUNSEL
>
> Cynthia L. Beverage
>
> State Bar No. 00787076
>
> Jackson Walker L.L.P.
>
> 112 E. Pecan St., Suite 2100
>
> San Antonio, Texas 78205
>
> (210) 978-7700
>
> (210) 978-7790 (fax)
Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman INEGroup (Over 112k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number: 972-447-1800 x1894 or 9236 fwd's to home ph#
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208