Nominet, the .uk Internet domain name registry, today announced that the Federal Court of Australia has awarded AUD$1.3 million (£550,000) in damages to conclude the battle against Chesley Rafferty and Bradley Norrish, and 3 of their companies, who were found liable for copyright infringement and breaches of Australian fair trade laws by copying data from Nominet's WHOIS service, and issuing misleading domain name registration notices.
The judgment of Justice French in the Federal Court of Australia underlines the value of Nominet's .uk Register and copyright ownership of its databases. The Court awarded actual damages for copyright infringement as well as additional damages to reflect the "flagrancy" of the breaches, in using Nominet's records for direct marketing purposes. The award of AUD $500,000 for the misuse of the data is one of the highest additional damages awards ever made by the Australian Courts.
Lesley Cowley, CEO, Nominet, said,
"We take protection of our intellectual property and copyright ownership very seriously, both as the core of our business and in protecting our .uk registrants from domain name scams. This Judgement not only recognises the value of Nominet's domain name register but also underlines the responsibility of legal systems worldwide in tackling Internet scams. By fighting, and winning, this case we are very clearly showing that scamming is a serious industry issue which will not be tolerated."
Nominet has issued advice to registrants receiving invoices in relation to domain names to carefully check their authenticity and, if in any doubt, contact their Internet Service Provider or Nominet for advice.
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