Term Paper on "Gary Kremen"

Term Paper 15 pages (4312 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Gary Kremen

The life of Gary Kremen is closely linked to the controversy and legal battle surrounding the ownership of sex.com. This issue is dealt with in detail in this paper but at the same time the other personal and business aspects of his career are not ignored. The sex.com case was a traumatic and multidimensional court case which also serves to highlight certain central issues. The first is the tenacity and perseverance of the character of Gary Kremen in the face of daunting opposition and legal odds. The second issue that this case highlights is the interaction between the legal system and the changing world of online commerce. The sex.com case also serves to show the way in which new methods of fraud can be perpetrated online. In a more positive sense the success that Kremen achieved in wining back his domain name and his success in his legal actions against the giant Networked Solutions, resulted in the reassessment of online property rights and had a lasting impact on the issue of online copyright and ownership guidelines

Index of Contents

Introduction

Overview: Gary Kremen and online entrepreneurship

Overview: personal and business history

3.1. Brief overview of business accomplishments and history

The Sex.com saga

Conclusion

Bibliography

TABLE of AUTHORITIES

ENDNOTES

Gary Kremen

Introduction

The story of the life and business venture of Gary Kremen is both an exploration of new - age entrepreneurship in cyberspace and a lesson in the irony of the search for wealth.

Besides being a personal story of the vicissitudes of the struggle for achievement, it is also a story that provides insight into the workings and intrigue in the arena of modern business on the Internet. It is also the story of the way that legal history has been rewritten by the Internet and online business. However, the story of Gary Kremen is possibly so intriguing in that it reveals the struggle of an individual against tremendous legal and financial odds and a fight against theft and fraud.

The events surrounding Gary Kremen and the legal battle about sex.com has also gripped the attention of the Internet community in that it sheds light on the way that the Internet and in particular the importance of domain names can be abused by fraudsters. From another perspective the Gary Kremen saga is about the history of sex.com and the growth of the adult entertainment industry.

In the final analysis the intense and lengthy court case of Kremer vs Cohen and the subsequent case against Network Solutions, is important in legal and online history in that it helped to qualify and recognize the status of intangible property rights. In brief Kremen was a successful plaintiff in Kremen vs. Cohen, Network Solutions. In the eventual appeal that Kremen made in this extended case his "successful appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal created the precedent that domain names are property and subject to conversion, as well as other property related torts."

On a more Human and personal level the story of Gary Kremen and Sex.com is the story about a man who wanted to become a successful entrepreneur and who was in effect hijacked by corrupt and nefarious people. In fact that story of Gary Kremer one that reveals the determined and courageous side of human nature as well as the darker side of the human desire for wealth and control.

Overview: Gary Kremen and online entrepreneurship

Gary Alan Kremen was born in 1963 and achieved success as an entrepreneur with many enterprising businesses and companies. One of the most well - known is the registration of match.com, which was started in 1993.

However it is the Sex.com case and legal battle which has riveted the media and public attention. Kremen registered the domain name sex.com in 1994. However, in 1996 a convicted fraudster, Stephen M. Cohen, contacted Network Solutions and had the domain transferred to his name. This was to result in a protracted legal battle over a number of years about the ownership of sex.com Cohen was supported by his influence and contacts in the pornography industry in the country. He also had large financial resources and had the financial ability to fight a lengthy and expensive legal battle. In brief, Kremen was to succeed with the assistance of some of Cohen's rivals in the pornography and adult industry. "Kremen took the upper hand when two of Cohen's rivals in the pornographic industry, Seth Warshavsky and Ron Levi, helped fund Kremen's case. "

After a long and complicated legal battle headed up by cyberlawyer Charles Carreon, the domain was eventually returned to its original owner, Kremen. In January 2006 Kremen sold sex.com to Boston-based Escom LLC for $14 million.

Among his other achievements is the invention of a patent for creating dynamic web pages which he resold for over $1,250,000.

Kremen currently lives in Rancho Santa Fe, California

The following quotation from a friend of Kremen shows his entrepreneurial qualities and his expertise and interest in computers and the online world, as well as his unique character.

Those of us who knew Kremen were not at all surprised by his first foray into e-commerce, because it showcased both his preternatural ingenuity (the design and application of advanced privacy models) and his fondness for all things tacky (dating services). If anything, it confirmed the twisted-genius status he had among his classmates. We'd always seen him as something of a character; unpredictable, a little manic, and yet endlessly fascinating, and fascinated.

Overview of personal and business history

The son of two teachers, Kremen's intellectual capabilities were obvious from an early age. He is described as "A sharp, driven and inquisitive child who used to sit for hours in his backyard looking through a telescope at the stars."

He was absorbing advanced science and physics book at eight years of age and built his own computer at the age of twelve. His computer abilities were also evident when he was at high school and he "... was nearly expelled for hacking into the school's computer. "

His driving ambition was to become successes in business and particularity in the computing field. Kremen received an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University.

His establishment of Match.com proved to be extremely successful and was sold for $8 million. Furthermore he was "... The broker in the sale of domain names computer.com and altavista.com for $500,000 and $3.35 million respectively. "

In brief, Kremen has started and floated as well as funded more than 50 companies.

Despite these achievements it is the saga of sex.com that has dominated the general perception of his life. The legal battle that resulted from the registration of this domain name will be discussed in detail in the following section. This was an extremely intense fight against wealthy and powerful adversary. It also involved a legal battle against Network Solutions, a company with revenues of $1 billion a year.

Kremer was eventually successful and Network Solutions accepted responsibility for giving away his domain. The story of the success of the fight for sex.com is therefore more than just a legal battle but also shows the resilience and determination in the character of Gary Kremen. This also in an indicator, some suggest, of his moral nature. One commentator asks the question, why Kremer took such enormous and precarious risks in the fight for sex.com? The answer to this question is revealing.

Why take such enormous risks? Because of his innate sense of what is right. Network Solutions wrongly handed over the domain but wouldn't admit it. Cohen wrongly stole the domain but wouldn't hand it back. Both had to be punished and if that meant ten years of fighting and the risk of bankruptcy and ruin, he would do it because no one else was going to."

Brief overview of business accomplishments and history

Earlier in his career Gary Kremen was a member of the technical staff at the Aerospace Corporation. He worked as software engineer in specialized in computer security and software metrics. A large range of businesses and entrepreneurial achievements are attributed to Kremen. Among others, he was a business consultant for Hughes Communications' New Venture Organization, focusing on satellite delivery.

He was also a consultant and developed business plans for NeTune, a venture backed satellite media transmission network, and was involved in fundraising for DBS Industries, a publicly traded LEO based AMR automatic meter reading company.

Kremen contributed to numerous Internet Projects which included the following: "...general finance and operations for Photoloft.Com / BrightCube... business plan and investor presentation for Signafy, Inc. (an NEC backed spin-off in the digital watermarking area), and... brokering the domain names Computer.com and Altavista.com.

Kremen was also previously the president of NetAngels.Com, Inc., a 40 person company focused on Internet profiling and personalization.

Kremen also held a position as founder and Chairman of the Board for Electric Classifieds, Inc. / Match.Com.

Match.com in particular shows his entrepreneurial and… READ MORE

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