Wow, NotDeadYet. I had no idea about that hoopla, and am going to post the interesting part of
www.seaside.com right here for those like me who have slow internet service to know about the website.
Richard I. Clayton died on July 25, 2001 after a long illness.
Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC has this to say:
Rick was our client, and it was an honor to serve him. We knew Rick as the owner of the
seaside.com Internet domain name, which he used for a web site to show his art work and to allow web site visitors to hear his musical compositions. Rick was the target of years of litigation by the Seaside Community Development Corporation, which coveted his domain name. They misused the legal system to try to take the domain name away from him, despite having no legal claim to it.
When the case ended, the Federal District Court in Florida sanctioned the Seaside Community Development Corporation for its conduct in the case. While the sanction, of many thousands of dollars, came nowhere close to compensating Rick for all that the Seaside Community Development Corporation had done to him, it represented one of the few times that a company has been sanctioned in a case of this type.
The Seaside Community Development Corporation appealed the sanction to the Court of Appeals, and the Court of Appeals ruled in Rick's favor, affirming the sanction.
Rick got to keep his domain name until his death, half a year after the litigation ended.
Rick's strength of character in resisting the efforts of the Seaside Community Development Corporation, even during his illness, should be an inspiration to us all.
Rick made it known before he died that he would want donations to go to the
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
It was our privilege to serve Rick free of charge. When he knew his death was imminent, Rick asked Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC to take over the domain name and web site, with the hope that some day the domain name might be sold to some good owner, with the proceeds to go the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Not surprisingly, he also asked us to make sure the domain name would never fall into the hands of the Seaside Community Development Corporation.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, November 16, 1999.
***************
I'd also like to point out that there are other places named Seaside in the USA. You can trademark the font, spacing, color, etc for Seaside, but not the name itself, as I understand it.