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WikiLeakS.org and their Domain Name Registrar are being sued in California by Bank Julius Baer

WikiLeakS.org have been silent about any recent developments in the Legal Threats against the project

See the previous blog article Has WikiLeakS.org seen off the recent threats by law firms ?

However, we have stumbled across this:

Justia - Federal District Court Filings & Dockets has some details showing that Hollywood minor media celebrity spin lawyers have at least filed a writ with a Court in California and do seem to be trying to sue WikiLeakS.org

Astonishingly, the Domain Name Registrar Dynadot LLC,who originally registered the WikiLeakS.org domain name back in October 2006, is also being sued, even though they are not even providing the use of DNS servers for the WikiLeakS.org domain name !

Currently the WikiLeakS.org front end website seems to be hosted in Sweden.

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. et al v. Wikileaks et al

Plaintiffs: Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. and Julius Baer Bank and Trust Co. LTD.

Defendants: Wikileaks, Wikileaks.Org and Dynadot LLC

Case Number: 3:2008cv00824
Filed: February 6, 2008

Court: California Northern District Court
Office: San Francisco Office
County: Outside US
Presiding Judge: Hon. Jeffrey S. White

Nature of Suit: Torts - Injury - Other Personal Injury
Cause: 28:1332 Diversity-Other Contract
Jurisdiction: Diversity
Jury Demanded By: Plaintiff
Amount Demanded: $75,000.00

It seems that the case was scheduled to be heard on Thursday 14th February 2008

10:00 AM (r)C-08-824 JSW
Bank Julius Baer, et al., v. Wikileaks, et al.,
Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order

Has this been granted or not ?

There also seems to be a scheduled hearing on Friday 29th February 2008:

09:00 AM (r)C-08-824 JSW
Bank Julius Baer, et al., v. Wikileaks, et al.,
Order to Show Cause re: Preliminary Injunction

Are WikiLeakS.org lawyers defending this, or is it all going through automatically "on the nod"?

Surely this United States Court will uphold the Defendants' fundamental right of Free Speech, under the First Amendment to the US Constitution ?

We await details of the outcome with interest.

Is this an attempt at a Denial of Service attack via the threat of a legal court case ?

If the Plaintiffs cause, either directly or indirectly, any "collateral damage" to an innocent Domain Name Registrar or to innocent Internet Service Providers, then they will face their own legal counter action, and the intense wrath and hatred of many internet users and customers.

If Bank Julius Baer and their lawyers Lavely & Singer" really are stupid enough to bring legal action against an ICANN accredited Domain Name Registrar, then they might find that they have rather more to lose than the $75,000 they are demanding i.e. their own corporate brand name internet domain names !

WikiLeakS.org Domain Name Registration details - note the new contact postal address in Nairobi, Kenya :

Domain ID:D130035267-LROR
Domain Name:WIKILEAKS.ORG
Created On:04-Oct-2006 05:54:19 UTC
Last Updated On:13-Feb-2008 01:32:30 UTC
Expiration Date:04-Oct-2008 05:54:19 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Dynadot, LLC (R1266-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:C-13000
Registrant Name:John Shipton
Registrant Street1:c/o WLK PO Box 8098-00200
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Nairobi
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code:none
Registrant Country:KE
Registrant Phone:+1.2026576222
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:an1984@hush.com
Admin ID:C-13000
Admin Name:John Shipton
Admin Street1:c/o WLK PO Box 8098-00200
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Nairobi
Admin State/Province:
Admin Postal Code:none
Admin Country:KE
Admin Phone:+1.2026576222
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:an1984@hush.com
Tech ID:C-13000
Tech Name:John Shipton
Tech Street1:c/o WLK PO Box 8098-00200
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Nairobi
Tech State/Province:
Tech Postal Code:none
Tech Country:KE
Tech Phone:+1.2026576222
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:an1984@hush.com
Name Server:NS1.EVERYDNS.NET
Name Server:NS2.EVERYDNS.NET
Name Server:NS3.EVERYDNS.NET
Name Server:NS4.EVERYDNS.NET

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