Canadian Judge Rules Domain Names Are Property 142
farrellj writes "A recent decision in the Ontario Appeals court has ruled in favour of Tucows, saying that domain names are considered property, rather than being a license. This has major ramifications for a people both inside and outside Canada, doubly so since Tucows is a major domain registrar. This ruling comes from a very high court, which means that any appeal must go to the Supreme Court of Canada. So there is a good chance this ruling will stand."
Murky: could be good or bad (Score:5, Interesting)
It's hard to know exactly what the judge had in mind (yes, I read the article).
I was reading the actual judgement [ontariocourts.on.ca], but it was too long.
This brings up some interesting points: if you have a property interest in a domain, then what do you pay the yearly fee for?
It must only be for server usage. By that standard, a registrar shouldn't be able to seize your domain if you don't pay the fee.
Or, perhaps, in order to recover their fee, they could auction the domain, and take their cut ($9). The rest is your money. So if a domain sells for $100k, you get $99,991.