So what is the charge against Afilias?Thousands
of their customers (and customers of their accredited registrars) were persuaded
to part with money for a product which never materialised.
Afilias set up a system
which did not check in advance for fraud, and therefore "left the door open" for
deception.
As a result over 10000 names were illegally claimed.
Processes existed
and were widely circulated, which would have protected the interests of Landrush
customers and honest Trademark claimants. But Afilias declined to implement them
- preferring to prevent Landrush customers access to the names they'd paid to pre-register
for, and "sell" the names all over again next year.
Then it emerged that over 50%
of these fraudulent claims had been executed by the companies of Afilias Board members
and executives. Even the company of the Afilias CEO was caught out, abusing Afilias's
own system by submitting completely false applications.
Compounding this offence,
it then emerged that these "Afilias Board Companies" had accepted over $500,000 to
carry out the abuse of their own system.
The scandal was made worse when the original
false claimants (Lorenz and Plankenstein among others) publicly admitted the applications
were ineligible or had false details (in Lorenz's case, NO details!!). Lorenz asked
18 times for these names to be released for Landrush customers. It was inexplicable
that Afilias would not just delete the names (as the Landrush had not yet taken place).
By consciously refusing to do so, they "disentitled" Landrush customers who had been
completely defrauded.
These actions were : frauds which defrauded people of products
they had bought - namely, the chance to win a domain name.
Afilias had the contractual
right to delete over 50% of fake Sunrise registrations (registrations which should
never have gone ahead anyway, but which profited Board members' companies by over
half a million dollars) and yet chose not to.
Instead, they have created the opportunity
to "re-sell" these names at a second Landrush, for the further profit of their companies.
While
all this was going on, there were other violations being perpetrated by Afilias members...
A
further Board member was caught submitting (through her company at least - if not
her in person!) deliberately faked Trademark information to claim Hawaii.info and
Maui.info. Trademark number 444455555 does not exist for this name, but Afilias still
went ahead and registered it for Board Member Govinda Leopold's registrar company.
Even when this became public knowledge, they refused to delete the names and release
them for Landrush applicants.
Other instances of bad business practice included
the Afilias CEO Lubsen's company, Domain Bank, who continued to take money selling
pre-registrations after names had already been registered by Afilias in the Sunrise
phase. Lubsen's registrar site reported these names as "available" but they were
not.
Afilias also granted "reserved" status to Registrars for certain names which
they may not have the right to. On what grounds did Corporate Domains, represented
on the Afilias Board, have the right to "reserve" NUDES.info ahead of the rest of
the Internet community.
In addition, registrars were not permitted to apply for
names, and yet Afilias went ahead and registered over 500 names for friendly registrars,
many if not most of which need checking for suspect TM details of their highly-prized
generic names : the very names many registrars had charged honest customers to pre-register
for.
THE PRIMARY CHARGE remains the fact that Afilias Board members - through their
companies - took $500,000 to execute frauds which abused and broke the rules of their
own system. Then, as Afilias, they registered these names (resulting in the defrauding
of thousands of honest customers). And when the original fraudsters admitted the
details were faked or requested (18 times!) that they be released to the public...
it was Afilias, not the original fraudsters, who declined to let Landrush custoners
have them back, thereby creating the opportunity for Afilias and registrars to "sell
them a second time".
SURELY.... there is a lawyer somewhere in America or Ireland
who can confront this company, when the actions are as blatant as this?
I encourage
you to copy and e-mail this forum posting to every lawyer you can find. Just let
them read what has happened. Then let them dig deeper and they will be stunned by
everything else they will find. These whole event has been very clearly recorded
from day to day.
I believe this is a gift package for any lawyer, on a plate, with
the chance to enhance their reputations.
People have been defrauded in various
ways. The complainants exist and are willing to testify.
The actions of this company
speak for themselves. They are as blatant and as clear as day.
But when fair and
reasonable points are raised, they decline to answer the questions, or else they
pretend it's all nonsense.
Which is what they did a few weeks ago, when their own
Director Robert Connelly announced he wanted to resign all his interests and cut
off his business connections, because of the unjust treatment of Landrush pre-registrants,
and what he called the "abomination" of the Sunrise debacle.
He resigned because
he was a man of honor.
I believe we, who have been defrauded, are looking for a
legal man or woman of honor right now.
Please stand up for what is right.
Rachel
MacGregor