The Dot responds in Bird.com dispute — Right of
Auctioneer denies counterclaims in non-paying bidder dispute.
Right of the Dot has responded to David Lizmi’s affirmative defenses and counterclaims in a lawsuit stemming from its February 25 auction.
In that auction, Lizmi bid $2.5 million for bird.com and $1.6 million for fish.com but didn’t pay. As a result, Right of the Dot and the owner of the domains sued Lizmi.
Lizmi responded to the lawsuit and countersued. His main arguments seem to be that he wasn’t authorized to bid more than $2,000 in the auction and that he received outbid notices on the domains, so he thought he hadn’t won.
The prior week, Right of the Dot filed its response (pdf) to Lizmi’s defenses and counterclaims. The response denies the claims and adds a bit more color.
As stated by Right of the Dot’s response, “The terms and conditions to which Lizmi agreed in order to participate in the auction state that the auctioneer’s decision and hammer price supersede any and all notices bidders receive during an auction.”
While I can’t find this specific term under such wording, bidding platform HiBid’s terms give wide latitude to the seller to determine the outcome of each auction.
