Kent Dawson

Kent Joseph Dawson (born June 13, 1944) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.

Early life and education Dawson was born in 1944 in Ogden, Utah, and attended Weber State College in Ogden on athletic and music scholarships, graduating in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Utah Law School in 1971, and served as a law clerk for James Guinan, a Nevada state court judge.

Federal judicial service On April 6, 2000, Dawson was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 24, 2000, and receiving his commission on May 31, 2000. Dawson's appointment, along with that of Roger L. Hunt, filled two seats created by 113 Stat. 1501, and represented the first expansion of the federal judiciary in Nevada since 1984. He assumed senior status on July 9, 2012.

In late 2011, Judge Dawson granted court orders for the seizure and transfer of hundreds of domain names belonging to websites alleged by luxury goods company Chanel to be selling counterfeit merchandise. He also required that "all social media websites" and "all Internet search engines" (specifically listing Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Yahoo) remove these domain names from any search results.