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 Just five days after the Kentucky Supreme Court's ruling against the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) they have re-filed the case with the Kentucky Court of Appeals with an affidavit from Yatahay Limited asserting ownership of the domain TruePoker.com and membership in the trade association.
The court will now wait and see if the other plaintiffs in the case will also re-file with an affidavit from one of their members as well. As long as the Court of Appeals is satisfied with iMEGA's standing, the case will move back to the Kentucky Supreme Court for a judgment on the merits of the arguments and they'll be able to make their case to the courts once again.
"The owners of the 'TruePoker.com' domain have taken a big step on the behalf of the industry and players," said iMEGA chairman Joe Brennan Jr. "We've overcome the technicalities that gave the Commonwealth its short-lived victory. The court can now make a decision based on Kentucky law. Based on the language of the decision last week, we know the court wants to do just that. We know that the law favors us and, frankly, so does the Commonwealth's attorneys."
iMEGA had kept all of its members confidential prior to the legal battle. Brennan says that three members of the association volunteered to file the affidavit but only one was needed. Yatahay was chosen to represent the case in part because it does not operate an Internet gambling site but merely leases the software and domain name.
"I'm sure the Commonwealth will say something like that doesn't count," Brennan said. "If you go to a 'whois' site and look up TruePoker.com, you'll see Yatahay Limited. It has been the owner of the domain name since 2007."
Yatahay management issued an anonymous statement via e-mail which said, "Kentucky does not prohibit Kentuckians from playing poker online, but the Commonwealth wants to censor their freedom to do so. Kentucky lacks a Great Firewall of its own to choke off internet access, so it sought to seize website urls from owners located all around the world. As an iMEGA member, Truepoker.com's owner, Yatahay Limited (of Cyprus), has stepped forward to support iMEGA, the internet-protective association challenging Kentucky in Court. Unlike in China, the United States judicial system provides a forum to fight against censorship attacks on Internet freedom. Truepoker.com supports the rule of law in Kentucky, and through iMEGA, is fighting to protect Internet freedoms for its website visitors and poker players who simply want to play where they choose."
Commonwealth attorneys are already preparing to continue the fight they were reported to be in Franklin District Court on Wednesday trying to get the names of the owners of Full Tilt Poker and Pocket Kings Limited, and the software provider of Full Tilt, added to the complaint. Unfortunately for them Judge Thomas Wingate denied their request, saying the Kentucky Supreme Court ruling was not final. The only way the amendment would be granted is if iMEGA loses in the Supreme Court and considering that the law is on their side it doesn't seem likely that will happen.
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