We wish to advise you that we
have obtained
injunctions and orders from the High Court against Peter
Francis-Macrae and Ultra Technologies Ltd, a company of which Mr
Francis-Macrae is the sole director. The injunctions prevent either
defendant from:-
a) Causing any damage to Nominet's computer systems, b) Harassing
Nominet staff, c) Misusing the .uk WHOIS database, or d)
Sending any documents in the format of the 'Domain Registry Services'
notices which the defendants have sent out on a wide scale.
The defendants were further ordered to provide us with a list of names
and addresses of those to whom they may have sent the bogus invoice
letters and to make an interim payment of £40,000 to cover our
costs.
We allege that the defendants have misused Nominet's intellectual
property rights in its WHOIS service and, by sending bogus 'Domain
Expiration Notices' to .uk registrants under the name of Domain
Registry Services have falsely passed themselves off as Nominet. The
orders remain in place until trial, for which a date has not yet been
set. We will also continue to assist the police with their
investigations into Domain Registry Services.
By way of background, according to Huntingdon Magistrates' court
record, there is a 'no bail' warrant for the arrest of Mr
Francis-Macrae for non-appearance at court. He is currently charged
with: two counts of making threats to kill contrary to s.16 of the
Offences Against the Person Act 1861, causing a public nuisance
contrary to common law, sending a grossly offensive message via a
public communications system contrary to s.43(1)(a) of the
Telecommunications Act 1984, persistently making use of a public
telecommunications system for the purpose of causing annoyance,
inconvenience or needless anxiety to another contrary to s.43(1)(b) of
the Telecommunications Act 1984 and threatening to burn the offices of
a trading standards office without lawful excuse intending that a
person would believe that the threat would be carried out contrary to
ss.2(a) and 4 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971.
At the time of writing, we are not aware that any plea has been
entered to these criminal charges and no verdict has been reached by
any court.
Further updates on the Nominet High Court action will follow in due
course.
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