Porsche then filed suit against Mr. Chen, Heinz Porsche Langeneckert Consulting, and Network Solutions, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Of course, Porsche was unable to serve Mr. Chen with legal process because the information that he had provided to Network Solutions, Inc. was false. Service of process was finally effected upon Mr. Chen's father. After Porsche had spent several thousand dollars in unsuccessfully locating Mr. Chen, the District Court finally determined that notice of the lawsuit sent to Mr. Chen's false address provided to Network Solutions, Inc., to Mr. Chen's E-mail address provided to Network Solutions, Inc., to the facsimile number provided to Network Solutions, Inc., and service of process on Mr. Chen's father was sufficient for the Court to enter both a preliminary and permanent injunction. Other examples that Porsche has encountered further illustrate the problem.
Some registrants create offshore corporations which then register the domain names.
Porsche respectfully submits that the only effective way to deal with problems such as false and fictitious information is through legislation that makes the act of cybersquatting illegal, provides for statutory damages, and, importantly, recognizes the concept of in rem jurisdiction whereby Porsche can sue the Internet domain names themselves, rather than file suit against the registrants personally. By proceeding in rem, Porsche voluntarily limited itself to claims to the res itself, and agreed to forego any claims for damages and attorneys fees against the cyberpirates who registered the domain names. Unfortunately, the court dismissed Porsche s lawsuit because the court could find no specific in rem jurisdictional provision in the Lanham Act allowing such a lawsuit. Porsche has appealed the ruling to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. In Protecting Consumers From Cyberabuse Some critics assert that Congress has no business enacting legislation to protect commerce on the Internet, a world-wide resource.