'Cybersquatting' suit filed by state

Advertiser Staff

The state has sued a Maui man they claim is "cybersquatting" on an Internet domain name sought by the Hawai'i Tourism Authority.

The lawsuit, filed yesterday, asks the state Circuit Court to compel Ha'iku resident John Hendrickson to forfeit his ownership of the Web address www.hawaiiconventioncenter.com, which Hendrickson's business, Wailuku-based Pacific Motivation Advisors, registered in the late 1990s.

The tourism authority wants to use that Web address as the official Internet site of the Hawai'i Convention Center.

According to the lawsuit, the authority tried to register the name in 1998 with the World Wide Web but discovered Hendrickson's firm had already registered the name "to promote competing convention and business meeting services."

Convention center officials refused Hendrickson's offer to sell the domain name for $6 million, the lawsuit said.

Hendrickson could not be reached for comment last night.