Affidavit of James B. Strickland, Jr.
State of Florida )
) ss.
County of Pinellas )
1. My name is James B. Strickland, Jr. My name was given to me by my parents. I have used the nickname "Strick" since my childhood. As such I, an individual, have been commonly known by the name "Strick".
2. On about July 28, 1995 I realized it would be good for my business to have an easy-to-remember Internet domain name. I found that I was too late to obtain the domain name strickland.com because it had been registered February 15, 1995. I then found that strick.com had not already been registered, so I registered it. I immediately began using it to communicate with clients and potential clients of my computer consulting and software development business.
3. At the time I registered my domain name, I had never heard of the Complainant. To this day I have no independent knowledge of Complainant's business.
4. Before any notice to me of this dispute, I had been using the name strick.com in connection with a bona fide offering of my computer consulting and software development services.
5. The first time I ever heard of the Complainant was when I received the letter dated March 29, 1996 from Complainant's lawyer. I never offered to sell strick.com to the Complainant but merely responded to the Complainant's offer to buy it. This was in settlement discussions with the Complainant.
6. The cutoff of my strick.com domain name by NSI, caused by Complaint's actions, has caused great harm to me. I have been unable to use the domain name to communicate with clients and potential clients of my computer consulting and software development business.
7. The Complainant owns other domain names in addition to those disclosed in its Complaint, for example trailerlink.com and trailerlink.net.
8. I lack the financial resources to independently investigate whether Complainant's claims as to its size and product line, date of first use, and as to the number of vehicles supposedly in use in the United States bearing the "STRICK" name, and the activities and customers of Complainant, are true.
9. In 1995, and indeed to this day, registration of Internet domain names was and is basically "first-come, first-served". If Complainant had wanted to possess the domain name strick.com, it could have done so by the simple step of registering it before I did.
10. Harvard University obtained its harvard.edu domain name in 1985. IBM obtained its ibm.com domain name in 1986. The Complainant has never explained why, if the strick.com domain name was so important to it, it did not simply register the domain name some time between 1986 and 1995.
11. It is quite easy to find Complainant's web page by typing in "Strick" at a search engine.
12. I certify that the information contained in the attached Response is to the best of my knowledge complete and accurate, that the attached Response is not being presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass, and that the assertions in the attached Response are warranted under these Rules and under applicable law, as it now exists or as it may be extended by a good-faith and reasonable argument.
Signed and sworn to before me this 31st day of May, 2000.
__________________________
Notary public