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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