By Will Sturgeon, 13 June 2003 16:59
NEWS Sex.com, widely believed to be the most valuable URL in the world, has been returned to its rightful owner after a six-year custody battle. The US Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of cyber-squatter Stephen Cohen who had been using the domain name as the flagship product in an online porn empire which made him his fortune. It is believed that the sex.com site brought in around $500,000 per month in advertising. However, Cohen acquired the domain through unfair means when he wrote a letter to registrar Verisign asking it be signed over to him, and transferred from its original owner Gary Kremen, who had the original foresight to register the name. Kremen, outraged at Verisign's compliance with this request, then embarked on a lengthy legal battle to regain control of the domain. However, Cohen's failure to overturn a $65m damages award is far from the end of the story. Cohen is holed up in Mexico and appears to be understandably loath to re-enter the US and honour the pay award to Kremen.
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