I received a letter today from the Alan Wenokur, the U.S. Trustee's attorney in my bankruptcy case, that really has me thinking. The letter alleged that I had the domain name www.imagiclabs.com back in 1999 and therefore it belonged to the Trustee and I/we could no longer use it. This posting really has NOTHING to do with that letter (today I registered www.imagiclab.com for $6) but the legal principle is quite interesting.
In 1999, I registered the domain name on behalf of Microworkz.com and listed in as such. As those of you that are Internet savvy know, you must have 3 contacts listed with each registration along with the email addresses. Each of those people (or 1 person if the same person is listed 3 times) could be said to have "control" over the domain name. In the event that the company which originally paid for the name goes out of business, any of those 3 people could then simply pay the annual fee and transfer the name into their personal name (as I did with this name in 8/2001). At what point does this become "personal" property? Does it automatically become an asset of all 3 of the listed people when the company goes out of business? Further, when the domain name has never been used in commerce does it have an "asset" value? It's really an interesting question and one that we'll likely spend some money on because I don't think the law is clear.
The precedent here is a dangerous one: Which intellectual property or non-physical property is an "asset" and which is not. Certainly "sex.com", which has huge market value, was an asset then and now, but how about your email address? How about your home phone number? eBay account name? Understand where I am going here? iMagicLabs is just a cool name with zero market value and the name itself is still worthless. The Trustee thinks its an asset only because it might have value to us now (six years after the Bankruptcy discharge was denied): Two months ago, before we changed the name, it had no value to anyone and the Virginia Burdette, the U.S. Trustee, made no claim against it. By their logic ANYTHING, physical or intellectual, you have a "control" interest in at the time of a Bankruptcy can be attached at anytime in the future when or if any Trustee thinks that it has obtained a monetary value. What if I had an idea and jotted it down before the filing? If I later made the idea into a movie would that be an asset owned by the Estate? I could go on and on here but this is frightening as a precedent.
In this case the point is mute: Microworkz had registered and paid for the name in 1999. I acquired the name in late 2001 when the company was defunct. It was not in my personal property when I filed the petition but because I was listed as a contact I had first "dibs" when it came time for renewal. Much like the way I reacquired this domain name, in cyberspace it's not always clear who owns what or when the transactions took place.
In my business it makes no difference if we use imagiclabs, imagiclab or even imagiclabz, the product is great, business will not change and our customers could care less. The legal challenge though is much more important to the future and to any potential debtors in Bankruptcy court. I'll keep you all advised of what happens...
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