|
Domain Coalition Files Lawsuit Against ICANN
Jul 17, 2003
Members of the Domain Justice Coalition (stopwls.com) filed a lawsuit this week requesting a temporary restraining order and other relief against ICANN to block the implementation of a domain name Wait Listing Service (WLS) proposed by VeriSign, Inc. and approved by ICANN in federal court in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit challenges that ICANN failed to comply with its internal decision-making process requirements when it approved implementation of the WLS amidst opposition from domain name registrars, resellers and consumers.
“The WLS will have a devastating impact on consumer choice in the secondary domain registration marketplace by creating one centralized service for the acquisition of expired domains,” said Clint Page, Coalition leader and president of Dotster, Inc., a domain name registrar. “In addition to the increased cost to consumers, the WLS will recreate the type of monopoly that VeriSign once had in the domain name market. It is our hope that the lawsuit filed today will result in an injunction against ICANN and the prevention of implementation of the WLS.”
The Domain Justice Coalition is comprised of domain name registrars and resellers who oppose the proposed WLS, which aims to create a single waiting list for expiring domain names. It believes the WLS is an anti-competitive, anti-consumer proposal that potentially undermines the competitive secondary domain market by raising costs and adding bureaucracy to the process of acquiring domain names.
More details at: http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/ica071703.cfm
|
