Court asks for explanation, but it’s probably a moot point anyway.
United States District Judge Susan Illston has asked DS Holdings and The United States to file a response to accusations that auctioning off domains previously held by John Zuccarini at a TRAFFIC auction would be a conflict of interest. Zuccarini complained to the court that this would be a conflict of interest since TRAFFIC co-organizer Howard Neu once represented him in the cybersquatting lawsuit that led to the judgment for which the domains would be auctioned.
The order states:
DS Holdings and the United States have moved to authorize auction of the domain names and distribution of the auction proceeds. In opposing the motion, Zuccarini asserts that the proposed auction site, the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Domain Conference & Expo, raises a conflict of interest because Howard Neu, an attorney who represented Zuccarini in the underlying action filed by Office Depot, is a co-owner and organizer of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Moving parties DS Holdings and the Unites States do not address this assertion in their reply. DS Holdings and the United States are therefore directed, within ten days of the date of this order, to file a response to Zuccarini’s contentions regarding conflict of interest.
Of course this is probably all a moot point anyway. The TRAFFIC show organizers have gone on record saying they want nothing to do with auctioning off Zuccarini’s domain names. Given that TRAFFIC auctions are actually run by Latona’s, and merely use TRAFFIC as a venue, it’s likely that Neu didn’t even know about the plans to auction off the domains at TRAFFIC before he was dragged into it thanks to the court filings.
Elsewhere in the Zuccarini saga, Zuccarini has filed a response (pdf) to Network Solutions’ motion to dismiss his lawsuit over the sale of expired domain names he owned that were later handed to a receiver.
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