Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Reservation in Arizona. Photo from Facebook
The Havasupai Tribe of Arizona is still trying to regain control of two Internet domain names after winning a long-running dispute against a former consultant. Last November, Judge John J. Tuchi ordered the transfer of havasupaifalls.net and havasuwaterfalls.com to the tribe. He also awarded damages and attorney fees of more than $620,000 to the tribe. Consultant Richard J. Nicolaus, however, never complied with the decision. So the tribe went back to court and sought an order against two private companies that hold the registrations for the domains. But in an order on Wednesday, Tuchi determined that he couldn't take action because the tribe failed to show whether he has the authority to force "third-party, out-of-state domain registrars to transfer the domain names at issue." He said the tribe could return to court and provide more information to back up its request. The names are important to the tribe because its economy depends in large part on tourism. The Havasu Falls are a key attraction on the reservation and the top Google search result for the term "Havasu Falls" turns up one of the domains at issue. The site lists a phone number for the tribe but there is no notice stating that the tribe does not actually control the site. The tribe is unable to benefit from advertising on the site or direct people to its official site. In 2012, the tribe won a ruling before the World Intellectual Property Organization that required Nicolaus to turn over the domains. He refused to do so and filed the lawsuit that went before Tuchi. Court documents show that Nicolaus essentially gave up and failed to defend his claims so Tuchi entered a default judgment in January 2014. As of November, he had failed to respond to any of the tribe's motions.
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