How did Esqwire’s legal battle on website jurisdiction launch his career?
Ari: So I called EsqWire, a fun play on the term, and I really didn’t even think of Esquire Magazine, I didn’t even know that it was still being published, to tell you the truth, and I actually filed for a trademark for Esqwire, E-S-Q-Wire, way before I ever got a domain name, because I didn’t even know what domain names were at the time.
Monte: Right, right.
Ari: And I got the trademark and it went through the approval process and after it was approved, I get this--you know, I’m all--I’m pretty excited, then I get a letter in the mail saying that someone’s opposing my trademark, and it was the Hearst Corporation, that owns the Esquire Magazine, and, you know, that lawsuit changed my life. It was a wonderful thing, because it gave--it initiated a lot of publicity for the case, and it was right around the same time that people started talking about the Internet. And I remember there was a friend of mine that say, “Hey--
Monte: Now, what year was this?
Ari: This was 1996.
Monte: Oh, okay, so right when I--
Ari: And--
Monte: --when I got into domain names, then.
Ari: --yeah, it was--(cell phone ringing) sorry about that interruption there, I thought I had “Do Not Disturb” on.
Monte: Put that phone on meeting, will you!
Ari: Let me see what I can do here.
[Laughter]
Ari: So somebody told me, “Hey, you need to go out and get a domain name. You need to call this company called Internic and get your domain.” So I called up and I was pleased to find out that EsqWire.com was available, and when Hearst learned that I registered the domain name, they then filed an Action against me in Federal Court in New York. At the time, I was living in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. So here I am in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, operating a website from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Hearst sues me in New York saying, you know, “We have jurisdiction over you in New York, because we can access your website in New York.”
And, you know, I remembered from law school there’s a thing called jurisdiction. You can’t just sue somebody anywhere, they have to actually step into the state, and, you know, I argued, “I’m not stepping into New York just because you can access my website, you can access my website anywhere in the world. Does that mean I’m subject to jurisdiction?” And this was actually a landmark issue, and ultimately, the court ruled in my favor and held, you know, no jurisdiction in New York. After that, Hearst and I settled the case, and we parted ways. I was able to--
Monte: And you ended up with the name, I guess?
Ari: Pardon me? I got the name, and the only thing I couldn’t do was have the kind of racy stories that Esquire.com has, but I could do basically whatever I wanted. And that was nice.
Monte: Now, did you have to, when you settled the case, I mean, can you share with us, did you have to pay them out or, you know, what’s--
Ari: Yeah, that--
Monte: -- what’s the details?
Ari: --that’s confidential.
Monte: Oh, okay.
Ari: That’s confidential. Yeah.
Monte: So if you tell me, you might have to kill me then.
Ari: Exactly.
Monte: Okay.
Ari: And I wouldn’t want to do that, but they might have to. But actually, you know, I pretty much have told you everything that I can tell you about the settlement, and, you know, I was pleased. And, you know, the ironic thing was that because Esqwire.com got all this publicity and there were a lot of other domain name disputes, I decided hey, you know, why don’t I do this. Also, at the same time, Mail.com, which was then known as Iname [ph] heard about my case, and they said, “Hey, listen, you know, we own a lot of domain names, how’d you like to come to work for us?”
Monte: Right, [inaudible] protect us.
Ari: That sounds great, you know. Internet company, New York, I was, you know, I was in Cherry Hill, commuted to New York for four months, working at this little company--you know, I left this huge law firm with a secretary, big infrastructure mail room to go work for this tiny little company. I shared an office with three guys, we couldn’t hear ourselves when we were talking on the phone because everybody was blabbing in this tiny little office. And, you know, that 12-person company became a 600-person company, we went public, and it was a great thing, and all because of this domain name dispute. So--
Monte: So I picked the right one from your list to talk about--
Ari: Absolutely.
Monte: --because it not only educated you about more like Internet law, you know, Internet domain law, but also it has to do with your brand name.
Ari: Exactly, you know, it just gave birth to all of this, so I’m forever thankful to the Hearst Corporation. And, you know, it’s worth fighting. I remember being out with somebody and talking about my case and he said, you know, “Why are you bothering, why are you fighting, you know, why,” and, you know, it was just an important thing to me. And--
Monte: Right.
Ari: --it ended up working out, so--
Monte: Well, that’s great, ‘cause—
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