In Feb, the man allegedly called the website manager for the Lotus Steel Sheet Company (LSSC), and told them that he had their domain name for sale at $2,500. The company had a different domain name and subsequently didn’t pay the money.

In early May, Hieu allegedly posted damaging information on a fake website he had created and asked for VND50 million ($3,090). The company agreed to the deal and secretly contacted police.

Dupre is seeking damages for, among other things, unjust enrichment based on videos and DVD’s sold via domain names which, its been alleged, have been registered in bad faith. For the lawyers reading this, the domain name component is brought under the Anti-Cyber-squatting Consumer Protect Act - Section 43(d) of the Lanham Act. Documents filed in the Southern District of Florida reveal that the domain names involved are:

www.ashleydupre.net
www.girlsgonewildashleydupre.com
www.ashleyduprecallgirl.com
www.onelivecall.com/ashleydupre

In my mind, there are a HEAP of questions coming out of this, starting with:

1. Were the domain names registered in bad faith, and how do you prove it?
2. What is reasonable compensation for this?
3. What damage has she actually suffered?
4. If you have the view that your name is a trademark, then who has the right to your name?
5. Was the trademark registered in the first instance?
6. What about all the other Ashley Dupre’s in the world?

This is going to be a very interesting case. While the documents filed in the District Court mention profit from the sales of DVDs and videos, what about all the affiliate comissions and PPC advertising on the sites? As I write this post, the domain ashleyduprecallgirl.com is still online, complete with match making ads and a picture of the girl in question.

Personally, I think this is going to be tough case to prove. However, it might surprise you that I’m on the side of the call girl. Why? Because people who go out of their way to register dodgy domain names should have the book thrown at them (or in this case the DVD’s they are allegedly selling).

Its cases like this that the media latch onto and then make “broad brush” statements about cybersquatters being evil (which they are), but unfortunately domainers often get lumped in with those guys. Lets hope the media has matured enough to recognize the issue, this time around.