- AFRINIC and Cloud Innovation are engaged in a dispute over number assignment policies.

- AFRINIC invokes the clause that they are reclaiming the space in question. 

- Cloud Innovation files for garnishment, stating that AFRINIG is 'taking' IP addresses worth millions of dollars, therefore it is entitled to damages.

- The courts grant the garnishment, although such garnishment is at Cloud Innovation's risk. ( Meaning if they are challenged and lose, they are on the hook for damages for taking the action.)

- However, in the process, since Cloud Innovation has claimed enough damages to freeze all of AFRINIC's accounts, they now have no money accessible to protect their legal rights on the IP address, or defend themselves against the damaged seizure.

As Mr. Curran put forth a week ago, 'property rights' of IP allocations are an unsettled area. What happens if this holds up that the court there rules that you 'own' the IPs assigned to you from an RIR until you give them back? That sure creates a mess with any RIR views that allocations as simply entries in a database.  How long would it take before some clown in a boardroom decides that want to latch onto that ruling and do something stupid to 'maximize shareholder value' and there's an expensive legal brawl over that? How long before people start popping up and laying claim as the 'rightful owner' of addresses from the origin days? Do we really want to see RIRs and our companies dealing with BS lawsuits for things like this? It only has to work once...