With recent news that the highly-valuable bitcoins.com domain name was going up for auction, many start-ups and entrepreneurs may have seen an acquisition as nothing short of beneficial.
We’re learning however, that a Judge’s ruling may derail the auction — which presently holds a reserve price of a whopping $750,000.
This particular case involves CoinLab, a former Mt. Gox partner, who last year sued the company for $75 million for breach of contract.On July 22nd, a U.S. District Court of Seattle Judge granted a temporary restraining order against Tibanne — Mt. Gox’s parent company, also led by Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles.
This restraining order (according to a press announcement) calls for Tibanne to preserve all of its assets, of which includes a significant portfolio of intellectual property items.
“We are pleased that the court entered an order requiring Tibanne to preserve and account for all of its assets, including any ownership it might have in MtGox, domain names, or payments that it has received since the bankruptcy,” said Roger Townsend, CoinLab attorney.
“This [temporary restraining order] sends a strong message to Tibanne that they cannot dissipate assets without the court’s approval.”
NEWSBTC inquired about the currently-appointed trustee in Tokyo that’s handling Mt. Gox assets and whether or not that would conflict with this ruling.
“Mt. Gox is in bankruptcy. Tibanne is not[,] and Tibanne is the registered owner of bitcoins.com,” Townsend told us in a brief statement.
Townsend expects the auction house — Heritage Auctions — to honor the judge’s order and formally decline to auction the valuable domain name on Thursday, when the auction is due to begin.
NEWSBTC did not receive a response from Heritage Auctions on the matter before time of publishing.
Update, 18:20: Heritage Auctions has withdrawn the auction for ‘Bitcoins.com’, according to a notice sent to prospective bidders, NEWSBTC is learning.
Greetings from Heritage Auctions.
A lot you have been tracking, lot # 49, lot description [description omitted for brevity] in the 2014 July 24 Domain Names Signature Auction – Dallas, #1120 has been withdrawn from the auction and is no longer available for tracking.
Thanks for your understanding.
If you have questions regarding this lot, please email bids@HA.Com.
Unfortunately, anyone looking to pick up the domain will no longer be able to for the time being.