U.S. Seizes 82 Domain Names in Bid to Stop Online Intellectual Property Violations

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security seized 82 domain names of commercial websites said to be engaged in copyright piracy and sale of counterfeit goods, it said Monday. The action is part two of “Operation In Our Sites,” which launched in June with the shuttering of nine domain names offering pirated copies of first-run movies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said. The strategy is also under consideration in the U.K., where police are pressing for similar closure powers, a spokesman for .uk registry Nominet said.

The operation targeted online retailers of bogus goods such as shoes, handbags, athletic apparel and sunglasses, as well as illegal copies of copyrighted DVD boxed sets, music and software, ICE said. Officers made undercover purchases from Internet sellers, many of whom shipped the goods into the U.S. from suppliers in other countries using international express mail, it said. When items were confirmed to be counterfeit or otherwise illegal, orders were obtained from federal magistrates to close down the websites selling the goods, it said.

"The Justice Department’s commitment to [intellectual property] enforcement has never been stronger,” Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news briefing Monday. Theft of innovative ideas and sales of counterfeit, defective and dangerous goods has been perceived as “business as usual” but “not anymore,” he said.

Most of the websites are in .com, and three are in .net, the Justice Department said Monday. One is Torrent-Finder.com, whose owner told TorrentFreak late last week that his domain was taken with no previous complaint or court notice. The website remained available at Torrent-Finder.info.

Torrent-Finder is apparently a search engine that neither hosts nor distributes illegal content, said Milton Mueller, director of the Telecommunications Network Management Program at Syracuse University School of Information Studies. The fact that it could be taken down unilaterally, without notice to the domain name registrar or registrant, is “disturbing,” he said. “Presumably Google could be taken down on the same basis,” he said. This shows the kinds of issues that will increasingly arise if intellectual property rights interests and law enforcement agencies resort to such tactics, he said.

But ICE’s action brought cheers from the intellectual property community and one lawmaker. The “innovative use” of currently available tools is similar to the remedy that will be specifically authorized by the Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeit Act that won unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

ICE’s move is a “welcome example” of law enforcement’s essential work to keep the Internet safe and legal for consumers, creators and businesses, said Copyright Alliance Executive Director Patrick Ross. No anti-piracy initiative “is a silver bullet,” but targeted government enforcement “against the worst of the worst rogue sites” sends a strong message that illegal trafficking in creative works won’t be tolerated, said Recording Industry of America Chairman Mitch Bainwol.

The U.K. Serious and Organized Crime Agency wants Nominet to be able to close websites engaged in criminal activity, the registry spokesman told us. Unlike many registrars and several registries, including .org and .biz, Nominet registrants aren’t clearly barred from using their domains for activities deemed offenses under U.K. law, a registry “issue group brief” says. Police agencies increasingly expect Nominet to respond quickly to reasonable requests to suspend domain names used in association with criminal activities and the registry has shut down more than 1200 names, it said.

Nominet is just beginning a consultation to decide if and how it should change its terms and conditions to account for criminal activity on websites, the spokesman said. Any such policy will apply to intellectual property violations that are criminalized under national law, he said. Nominet has worked with the police in the past on take-downs involving the sale of counterfeit goods and this policy -- whatever it ends up looking like -- “will give structure to that process,” he said.