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Porn link on website the work of `local enemies’

Dennis Toeppen

Dear Editor,There are a number of problems with Dennis Webb’s June 28 article regarding glenwoodsprings.com:1) The domain glenwoodsprings.com was registered by me on Dec. 3, 1995. The chamber could not have possibly offered to purchase the domain name from me during 1994 if I did not own it until late 1995.2) Your assertion that only the owner of a domain name can manipulate website content has no basis in fact. A brief survey of the web reveals the following:-An ISP can set up DNS and redirect all customers of the ISP to sites which the owner of a domain does not control.-Hackers often break into web servers and alter content or redirect hits to external sites.-Domain registrars often offer redirection services. To the extent that domain accounts are vulnerable to hacking, sites can be redirected without the domain owner’s consent or knowledge.I have received a number of e-mails urging me not to sell glenwoodsprings.com to the chamber under any circumstance. The chamber should consider the possibility that it has some local enemies who are responsible for recent pornography at the subject URL.3) While the courts have ruled that arbitrage of trademarked names is violative of trademark law, arbitrage of domain names corresponding with town names is both legal and proper. Such arbitrage ensures that these domain name assets will find their highest and best use.4) I did indeed register, and attempt to arbitrage, a large number of domain names which corresponded to trademarks, some famous and some not. That arbitrage was based on my legal theory that a trademark does not confer rights in gross on the trademark owner. The theory did not hold up on appeal in the Seventh Circuit. Accordingly, I abandoned all relevant domain registrations. Attempted arbitrage in a legal vaccuum does not constitute extortion as you seem to claim.5) With regard to the eBay auction which I withdrew, the minimum bid was initially set at $20,000 and then changed by me to $29,000. At no point did someone make a bid for $9,000 more than the minimum. I terminated that auction.6) My remarks regarding Debi Billings’ apparent case of cranial rectitis was in response to her email stating, “it will not let me place my bid at $5,000” Ms. Billings did not understand why eBay would not accept a bid of $5,000 on an item with a minimum bid of $29,000. My comments were the result of my extreme frustration with her apparent lack of common sense. I apologize if this upset her.7) Finally, I did in fact indicate that the price of the domain name has increased as a result of incurring the cost of litigating the suit brought by the chamber last year. You’re not going to find many folks who respond to a lawsuit by lowering the price of that which you covet.The domain name glenwoodsprings.com is available for $35,000. That price is not negotiable. The chamber should either break open their piggy bank and buy it, or simply forget about buying it and stop whining.Best Wishes,Dennis Toeppendomains@inert.comChampaign, Illinois


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