Sex.com videos is an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

and

web portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayin ...

currently owned by Clover Holdings LTD. The domain name was the focus of one of the most publicized legal actions about ownership of domain names. Kieren McCarthy, a journalist who followed the case, wrote the book ''Sex.com'', which was published in 2007.

History

On May 9, 1994, entrepreneur

Gary Kremen Gary Kremen (born 20 September 1963) is an American engineer, entrepreneur and politician who founded the personals site Match.com, was the first registrant of Sex.com and founder of Clean Power Finance, and is a board member of the Santa Clara Va ...

(who also founded

Match.com Match is an online dating service with web sites serving over 50 countries in twelve languages. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas. The company has offices in Dallas, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. Match is ...

and Clean Power Finance) registered sex.com with

Network Solutions Network Solutions, LLC is an American-based technology company and a subsidiary of Web.com, the 4th largest .com domain name registrar with over 6.7 million registrations as of August 2018. In addition to being a domain name registrar, Network S ...

, but did not develop the site as he focused on growing Match.com. On October 18, 1995, Network Solutions transferred, without permission, the domain to Stephen M. Cohen, who had been trying to gain control of the domain for some time by

misrepresentation In common law jurisdictions, a misrepresentation is a false or misleading '' R v Kylsant'' 931/ref> statement of fact made during negotiations by one party to another, the statement then inducing that other party to enter into a contract. The m ...

, using phone calls, e-mails and forged letters. He eventually persuaded an employee of Network Solutions to change the ownership details by submitting a fake

fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...

. After gaining control of the domain, Cohen produced an advertising-heavy site that received up to 25 million hits a day. From payments for click-throughs and other advertising, Cohen was reportedly making $50,000 to $500,000 per month. Kremen undertook steps to recover the domain, while Cohen claimed he obtained the domain legally from Online Classifieds (OCI). A five-year legal battle ensued, led by

cyberlaw Information technology law (also called cyberlaw) concerns the law of information technology, including computing and the internet. It is related to legal informatics, and governs the digital dissemination of both (digitized) information and sof ...

yer Charles Carreon.McCarthy, Kieren (2007). ''Sex.com: One Domain, Two Men, Twelve Years and the Brutal Battle for the Jewel in the Internet's Crown''. Quercus. sex-com-crd

Kremen was victorious in November 2000, when Network Solutions was ordered to return the domain to the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

. According to the record of ''Kremen v. Cohen'', Cohen was ordered to pay $25 million into court; in April 2001, the California District Court awarded Kremen an additional $40 million for lost earnings, for a total judgment of $65 million. Cohen appealed the judgment and refused to allow assessment of his business: he provided false information and declared most of his companies bankrupt while illegally moving assets out of US jurisdiction. When an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a j ...

was issued, Cohen fled to Mexico. Kremen offered a $50,000 reward for information, but Cohen remained at large while continuing to file appeals that were rejected. In October 2005, Cohen was arrested in

Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

for immigration violations, and was handed over to US authorities. Kremen settled his lawsuit against Network Solutions for an undisclosed amount. Cohen has continued to avoid paying the $67 million judgment, and claims poverty. Courts have found in Kremen's favor several times since 2006, with evidence that seven individuals and twelve companies were used to help Cohen hide the money, including his brother, his daughter, his ex-wife and also his former lawyer. A court case against his brother is ongoing. Sex.com relaunched in May 2012 marketing itself as a

Pinterest Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images, and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboard ...

for porn.

Highest price paid for domain

Sex.com was reportedly sold to Escom LLC in January 2006. At a reported $14 million price, the domain name had widely been cited as the highest priced domain sale. On February 18, 2010, the domain name was ordered to be sold at a foreclosure auction. On March 18, 2010, a day before the auction, creditors of Escom, LLC filed an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition to prevent a possible loss of value by selling the name at foreclosure. At Mike Mann's request the domain was brought to

Sedo Sedo (an acronym for Search Engine for Domain Offers and stylised sedo) is a domain name and website marketplace and domain parking provider based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Cologne, Germany. The company is a subsidiary of United Internet. ...

to be auctioned. On October 20, 2010, Sedo reportedly completed the auction, filing in a California court that it had approved the sale for $13 million to a Clover Holdings LTD. A bankruptcy hearing was held on October 27, 2010 to determine if the sale was finalized and approved by all creditors. On November 18, 2010, Sedo confirmed the new sale price in a press release, and marked the previous sale at $11.5 million, negating the claimed $14 million buying price published in 2006.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.sex.com, sex.com * StartUp podcastbr>episode about the case
American erotica and pornography websites American social networking websites Internet properties established in 1994 Domain names