Ninth Circuit Affirms Appointment of Receiver to Collect and Sell Domain Names

On February 26, 2010 the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district’s decision appointing a post-judgment receiver to collect and sell the domain names of a judgment debtor at public auction. Prominent Internet law firm, Kronenberger Rosenfeld, represented DS Holdings, the judgment creditor, before both the district court and the Ninth Circuit.

John Zuccarini was a judgment debtor who owned the rights to numerous Internet domain names. DS Holdings moved the district court to appoint a receiver to take control of and auction Zuccarini’s domain names to satisfy DS Holdings’s judgment against Zuccarini. The district court granted that motion and appointed a receiver. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment, finding that domain names constitute personal property subject to levy under California’s judgment enforcement rules. The Ninth Circuit further found that such domain name properly reside in the Northern District of California, the location of Verisign, the registry for .com and .org domain names. Thus, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling.

DS Holdings, LLC v. Zuccarini, Case No. 07-17688 (9th Cir.) [D.E. 34-1]