Kentucky disappointment

The many interested parties keeping a watching brief on the state of Kentucky’s ludicrous attempt to seize the international domain names of online gambling companies will have to wait a little longer; the state Supreme Court verdict – expected this week – failed to materialise.
The issues surrounding the case were the subject of oral argument before six of the state Supreme Courts learned judges in October last year. This amounted to an appeal against an appeal as Governor Steve Beshear’s outsourced lawyers tried to get a more favourable verdict than they had in their appeal to the Kentucky Court of Appeals earlier.
That appeal sought to overturn a finding that the state lacked the jurisdiction to take the action it did in attempting to seize 141 online gambling domains registered and domiciled outside the bluegrass state, where almost every other kind of gambling is sanctioned.
iMEGA, one of the principle litigants against Kentucky in the dispute, along with the IGC and several Internet freedom bodies, had expected a decision this week (see previous bulletins), and reports that the next possible date for a decision in the matter will not come until late-March this year.
In a statement from iMEGA chairman Joe Brennan Jnr. said, “Everyone was surprised in Kentucky. The rumour mill thought the decision was going to be rendered. That could have been why their [Kentucky] attorneys acted so quickly at the end of December [when the state sought to add new information to its brief], so if they got an adverse decision, they could keep it alive.”
Brennan says that there are no dates listed in February for the busy court to hand down decisions, which means that the next available date is March 18th, following by April 22nd, May 20th and June 17th.

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