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The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) has submitted its brief to the Kentucky State Supreme Court in good time for the June 1st deadline for submissions, in its opposition to an attempt by Gov. Steven Beshear to seize the rights to 141 Internet domain names.
And in an intriguing addition, iMEGA’s attorneys have asked the court to review a video tape of the secret proceeding Gov. Beshear’s attorneys used to get property seizure orders for the domain names, without notifying the property owners or giving them the opportunity to be represented.
iMEGA and a coalition of other groups has already prevailed over Gov. Beshear in a 2-to-1 majority decision from the commonwealth’s Court of Appeals back in January 2009. The appeals court blocked a lower court’s seizure orders (see previous InfoPowa reports). Gov. Beshear wanted the domain names, all related to gambling, to force online gaming firms to block Kentucky residents from using their sites, and to protect the commonwealth’s in-state gambling operations from competiton.
“We’re very confident the State Supreme Court will reach the same conclusion as the Court of Appeals,” said Joe Brennan Jr., chairman of iMEGA. “It’s too bad Gov. Beshear wants to keep fighting, but since he’s not paying for his attorneys, I guess he doesn’t care how long this takes or how much he ties up Kentucky’s courts with this doomed campaign.”
Gov. Beshear is represented by two private out-of-state law firms that have taken the legal fight on under a contingency contract, one that gives them up to one-third of any financial windfall that may result from the governor’s suit, iMEGA claims.
The effort to block Kentucky’s actions received support from a broad coalition of technology and Internet rights groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), the Internet Commerce Association (ICA), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Club for Growth, eBay, Network Solutions, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC).
