For Sale Court denies WLS injunction

[shaw]

http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-5107909.html?tag=nefd_top

 

[Luc]

i'm not much of a legal person, so shine some light on this
issue.

does this mean that verisign has the green light to proceed
with WLS whenever they want?

:angry:

 

[Digital Address]

Sort of. I believe that the Judge was to make a determination if the case had any merits or not and if yes, it was to go to trial sometime in mid Dec. Apparently he decided it did not! (This does not prevent the petitioners from filing appeals of this ruling.)

Good job Shaw for bringing it to everyone's attention.

 

[Duke]

I believe this ruling was limited to the request for a preliminary injunction to bar WLS from rolling out. The judge did not grant the injunction Dotster et. al. wanted, so ICANN could let WLS begin, but the actual suit is still to be heard and if ICANN loses the case they would then have to shut back down. The judge did seem to side strongly with ICANN which might give Dotster and others reason to pause and consider if they want to spend the money to now proceed through the lengthy legal battle. Hopefully John Berryhill or Ari Goldberger will provide a professional perspective as to where we are at now after the ruling on the injunction.

 

[Digital Address]

I stand corrected. Thanks Duke.

 

[Whois-Search]

ICANN Wins Key Ruling in Dotster-WLS Litigation
by Bret Fausett on November 13, 2003 12:41PM (PST)
U.S. District Judge John Walter issued his opinion yesterday on the preliminary injunction motion in the Dotster, et al. v. ICANN litigation. The ruling, denying the registrars' request for a preliminary injunction, (available as 400K TIFF file or a 2.3 Meg PDF file) is a significant victory for ICANN. As I read it, the Court adopted ICANN's view on every issue. The opinion examines the meaning of key provisions in the RAA and discusses when "consensus" is required for new initiatives, and it is well worth reading even if you're not specifically interested in the WLS.

I found one phrase near the end of the opinion especially important for ICANN's long-term viabilty and independence: "In this case, the proposed preliminary injunction would interfere with the comprehensive scheme devised by the Department of Commerce to administer the Internet. Such interference should not be undertaken lightly." That language suggests that courts should grant some deference to ICANN's decisions when it comes to evaluating what is in the public interest. That's big.

http://blog.lextext.com/blog/icann/

 

[Whois-Search]

http://www.icann.org/announcements/advisory-13nov03.htm

 

[dvdrip]

I think WLS will start anyway.
Then they will go to court and the decision will come maybe after 1 or two years...
In the end they might say that the WLS cost is too high or something similar, put a fine and that's the end. That's what I think.

Better plan for the next couple of years and take it from there.

 

[mole]

Congrats ICANN/Verisign!

 

[cyphix]

Excellent!

 

[hiOsilver]

This pretty much means that the WLS rollout will be happening sooner rather than later. It is now just for Verisign and ICANN to work out the details of a few issues.

 

[clemzonguy]

Howard,

Loved your article at DnJournal.com!

For those of you who haven't read it go to ....

http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/hoffman_wls.htm

The keyword is TRANSPARENCY :evil:

 

[hiOsilver]

Thanks Clemzonguy. And thanks to Duke for a real class publication.

I think that most judges would look at this lawsuit and see that opposition to WLS is not about "justice" or consumer choice.

And, if I were the plaintiffs, I would probably be doing what I could to halt, or even just delay implementation of WLS. There was always a chance that they would have gotten a judge who bought their arguments. However, without an injunction, WLS will go ahead. Then the point of the suit becomes pretty meaningless, unless they could get a decision to halt WLS very quickly, which seems very unlikely. I read somewhere that the case will actually be in Q1 2004. Time is on the side of ICANN and Verisign.

This puts the pressure on Verisign to jump through any remaining hoops that ICANN puts into their path. The sooner the actual rollout of WLS, the less likely that it will be stopped and the more likely that the plaintiffs will throw in the towel.

 

[Whois-Search]

What if Namewinner , Pool , Enom , and Godaddy start sueing for loss of earnings ?

 

[ddent]

:'''''(

 

[clemzonguy]

I think judges are more concerned with the stability of the internet and putting in place more control over the current system than the lost earnings of people abusing registrar connections for their own gain.

 

[owen]

Could you explain how the current system is an abuse of registrar connections?

Originally posted by clemzonguy
I think judges are more concerned with the stability of the internet and putting in place more control over the current system than the lost earnings of people abusing registrar connections for their own gain.

 

[Luc]

Originally posted by cyphix
Excellent!

Give it a few months and we'll ALL be buying domains from
BuyDomains for mega $xx,xxx, because they'll dictate the prices.

Those who won't be able to afford the astronomical fees will
have to find a new job.

Mike Mann said it himself, not only will WLS save BD a LOT of
money, but it will make the game much easier for them.

If BD can place multiple $6k+ bids in a single day, imagine
how many WLS subscriptions that will buy. 250+? 300? When
was the last time 250 solid names dropped in a day? Week?

BD will be able to WLS all decent names, months before they
hit dropping stages, and if WLS law isn’t strict enough they’ll
be backordered years in advance. They’ll still end up saving major
money from the current auction system.

Now you have an alternative. Pool, NW, Snap, etc. If one doesn’t
catch a name, the other will. Pretty soon it’ll be WLS or nothing, and all
half decent WLS slots will be filled by the big players with pockets much
deeper than the average domainer.

I’m 100% sure BuyDomains, Ultimate Search and the bunch already
have lists of complete zone files with link popularity results and the works
of all domains dropping within the next 10 years and they’re itching for
WLS to come out.

By the time all you WLS lovers finish scratching your heads in confusion,
the giants will have taken all the good WLS slots and you’ll be SOL.

By that time it’s going to be too late, hell, it’s too late right now.

Just my 2cents.
Luc L.

 

[Cash Is King]

Originally posted by Luc


Give it a few months and we'll ALL be buying domains from
BuyDomains for mega $xx,xxx, because they'll dictate the prices.

Those who won't be able to afford the astronomical fees will
have to find a new job.

Mike Mann said it himself, not only will WLS save BD a LOT of
money, but it will make the game much easier for them.

If BD can place multiple $6k+ bids in a single day, imagine
how many WLS subscriptions that will buy. 250+? 300? When
was the last time 250 solid names dropped in a day? Week?

BD will be able to WLS all decent names, months before they
hit dropping stages, and if WLS law isn’t strict enough they’ll
be backordered years in advance. They’ll still end up saving major
money from the current auction system.

Now you have an alternative. Pool, NW, Snap, etc. If one doesn’t
catch a name, the other will. Pretty soon it’ll be WLS or nothing, and all
half decent WLS slots will be filled by the big players with pockets much
deeper than the average domainer.

I’m 100% sure BuyDomains, Ultimate Search and the bunch already
have lists of complete zone files with link popularity results and the works
of all domains dropping within the next 10 years and they’re itching for
WLS to come out.

By the time all you WLS lovers finish scratching your heads in confusion,
the giants will have taken all the good WLS slots and you’ll be SOL.

By that time it’s going to be too late, hell, it’s too late right now.

Just my 2cents.
Luc L.

Luc

Altogether a very nice insight. Time to buy some snaps and hope for the conversion. :-D

 

[Luc]

Originally posted by ClassicNames.com


Luc

Altogether a very nice insight. Time to buy some snaps and hope for the conversion. :-D

Thanks

Just make sure you read the fine print. Even though snapnames
is one of the major players in the WLS game, they can't guarantee
that your snaps will be converted to WLS subscriptions.

Good luck k:
Luc L.