Morning Folks!

Fasten your seat belts. These next 2 posts are going to be the most riveting you have ever seen on my blog. Howard is going to give you a lawyers view of the Oversee contract, LINE BY LINE! Yesterday I touched on the Oversee/Snapnames agreement. Later I posted the following
onTheDomains.com where Mike Berkens disects the 12,000 auctions he was involved in with 'Halvarez'. Thanks Mike for taking the time and expense to do this for all to see and stepping up to cover this story.

'Their
release could have been one sentence: “I hear-by release Oversee and Snap for
any liability arising from any past auction involving Halvarez.”

The way
they word that contractual release is the single biggest reason for this
unraveling and people looking for more of the story, who is involved and if it
spills over to other companies. They want folks to sign away their rights since
Day one of the Universe before you even know the extent of what might have
really happened.. I think anyone that signs that does not have any idea of the
far reaching impact it could have. It is absolutely INSANE to sign your rights
away BEFORE all the facts are in and even then the release is so bad I think
paying every domainer $10,000 whether affected or not would be a coup for them.
Sign your LIFE away with this baby. INSANE!'

Oversee could have kept it simple and put what I said on the back of the check with no
fanfare. Instead they went for something that includes “From the beginning of
time” and absolves them of everything that could have ever happened or did ever
happen or anything that gets uncovered from here on out. That does not sound like a 'Victim' to me, that sounds like a company with some things to hide, people to protect and worse if it involves others outside the company. Is the entire Industry being hoodwinked by a piraña? And if it is, how many will remain silent, how many will stay on the sidelines, and how many are willing to stick their dick out and speak up??

As Mike Berkens points
out, you haveONE YEAR to sign and get a refund. I’d be willing to bet there
will be a revised agreement at some point. And if they don't get real, then they will keep dealing with more and more fallout and eventually they will either capitulate or worse. My opinion.

This agreement is INSANE, over reaching and unfair
IMHO which is not a legal opinion. So I decided to ask Howard to post on the
legal ramifications so every one in this industry has an opportunity to get a
handle on all this before signing something that you might regret for a very
long time. Any domainer signing it would have to be hard up for cash the way I
view the world or just want to make this all go away as fast as possible. Selling out for chump change. Tell them you don’t want the
money, Tell them you just want the truth without the PR firm and without the
damage control. As Mike Berkens points
out, you have ONE YEAR to sign and get a refund. I’d be willing to bet there
will be a revised agreement. This agreement is INSANE, over reaching and unfair
IMHO which is not a legal opinion. So I decided to ask Howard to post on the
legal ramifications so every one in this industry has an opportunity to get a
handle on all this before signing something that you might regret for a very
long time. Any domainer signing it would have to be hard up for cash the way I
view the world or just want to make this all go away as fast as possible. Selling out for chump change. Tell them you don’t want the
money, Tell them you just want the truth without the PR firm and without the
damage control.
Howard Neu posted the following no holds barred comments on Mike's blog and then will be followed by a post in Part 2 just addressing the release form. Free legal advice from one of the best in the biz.

'It seems to me, that the biggest question of all has been left unanswered. WHY HAVE NO CHARGES BEEN BROUGHT AGAINST BRADY? Why have we not heard from Jeff Kupietsky? Why have we not heard from Craig Snyder?Who else is involved in this obvious cover-up? Millions of dollars have been lost by domainers, yet no charges have been brought. Oversee spent millions of dollars acquiring Snapnames at a hugely inflated price, yet no charges have been brought. The domain industry is on the brink of possible collapse due to lack of trust, yet no charges have been brought.Who is protecting whom?

Much more to come from Howard in Part 2.

You may also be interested in the interview at DNW where Santiago A. Cueto (The first attorney to file a Class Action in this mess) states: 'This is an interesting case because SnapNames has already admitted wrong doing and offered to compensate victims. “That’s not going to cut it,” said S. Cueto. “We want to clean up the industry.” Both brothers think insider bidding is pervasive in the industry, and they may expand their investigation to other companies as well.'

After reading that, I for one welcome their involvement and hope others join the search for the TRUTH of what the hell is going on and how far reaching is it!!

Rick Schwartz