Appeals court reinstates antitrust case against VeriSign

[companyone]

HI,

Appeals court reinstates antitrust case against VeriSign

By: Howard Mintz

Mercury News
Posted: 06/05/2009 12:05:42 PM PDT
Updated: 06/05/2009 12:05:44 PM PDT

A federal appeals court today reinstated a lawsuit against Mountain View-based VeriSign Inc. that alleges the company violated antitrust laws through its grip on the .com and .net domain name registration system.

In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that an Internet industry trade group should be allowed to proceed to trial on claims that VeriSign has inflated the cost of domain names by engaging in predatory and monopolistic practices.

The appeals court reversed an earlier ruling by San Jose U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte, who dismissed the lawsuit brought in 2005 by the Coalition for ICANN Transparency. The lawsuit alleged that VeriSign in 2004 coerced a "sweetheart deal" from ICANN, which coordinates the Internet's domain name system, driving up the cost to register the popular .com and .net domain slots on the Web.

The lawsuit alleges VeriSign secured the contract from ICANN without competitive bidding from other domain name providers that would offer the domain names for lower prices, including such major industry players as GoDaddy.

"There are people out there who'd like the opportunity to bid on this,'' said Bret Fausett, lawyer for the coalition.

VeriSign's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment, but the company maintained in the appeal that the group had not made out a case for antitrust violations. Source

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Dan

 

[katherine]

Interesting news, thanks.
Obviously no help will come from Icann('t)

 

[Theo]

Which is worse, Verisign that went after a monopolistic deal, or ICANN that approved of it?

 

[dominator]

Which is worse, Verisign that went after a monopolistic deal, or ICANN that approved of it?

or godaddy as a registry?

 

[Leading Names]

Excellent news. Pleased to hear some decent domain related news come out of the US for once. Domains should be getting cheaper not more expensive, the fact that ICANN't allowed this deal to happen in the first place is an absolute travesty.

- Rob

 

[David G]

From reading the case it appears GoDaddy offered to be the dot com registry for $3 or less. That certainly would be great news and I would not be dropping so many names if the cost was that low.


Here is the case: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/06/05/07-16151.pdf

 

[tristanperry]

From reading the case it appears GoDaddy offered to be the dot com registry for $3 or less. That certainly would be great news and I would not be dropping so many names if the cost was that low.


Here is the case: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastor...5/07-16151.pdf

$3 .coms would be nice, but not if GoDaddy were handling them... they'd probably make their GoDaddy girls pop up every so often whenever someone visits a .com.. (obviously not possible, just don't like GD that's all!)

And unfortunately the link doesn't seem to work.

 

[David G]

I fixed the link.


Here is the case: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/06/05/07-16151.pdf

 

[Gerry]

I would not at all be surprised if Bob Parson's and GoDaddy are pushing this.

When ICANN announced turning over the .com/.net registry to VeriSign, Parsons was furious and spent many a night on his podcast and blog blasting the "no bid" deal.

Almost immediately after the announcement VeriSign announced the need to increase fees on .com.

Parsons was so convinced that people would revolt, he encouraged everyone to reg and change from .com to .net.

Here's the clincher - GoDaddy is one of the highest .net regs there is for new regs and renewals.

Yes, Parson's wants to be the PimpDaddy of domaindom.

Sure, a "no bid" policy is full of under-the-table and closed door dealings.

Fact remains is this is such an enormous and profitable industry.

Remember VeriSign? That was supposed to be the trust mark that a site is verified safe and secure to do business with.

What happened is VeriSign soon became so damn cash rich with the .com/.net deal that they later sold off everything else to focus entirely on domaining. THAT is how much money is in this.

The bottom line - whether it is GoDaddy or VeriSign or someone else, it would still most likely be a monopoly and a closed book industry.

 

[BidNo]

Alligators bite (and are ugly) but don't forget the primary goal is to drain the swamp (i.e. restore competitive bidding). This is great news!

 

[NostraDomainus]

Greed Breeds Mean Deeds.

Until the Internet is globally regulated with the interest of all at heart, and not just the selfish interest of few - such greed will never become extinct.

Seems like geo-specific pockets of greed continue to ruin the World for everyone else.

Divided they Stand - United they Fall.