Network Solutions to Pay Class Action Settlements
May 18, 2009
Network Solutions recently sent notices regarding settlement of two class action lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuits were filed by plaintiffs Chris McElroy (Case No. CV 08-01247 PSG (VBKx)) and James Lee Finseth (Case No. CV 08-01537 PSG (VBKx)) over questionable registrations tactics by Network Solutions between December 14th, 2007, and March 15th, 2008.
Network Solutions, during the time in question, engaged in what has been described as “Front Running” domain name registrations. In the Front Running scheme, Network Solution’s system would note when a visitor at their website queried the availability of a domain name. If the domain name was available, and the user left their website without registering it, Network Solutions would themselves secure the registration within 1 to 4 days.
The poorly thought out strategy behind this campaign was to prevent a user from registering the domain name with another Registrar after checking for availability at Network Solutions. All domain names secured by Network Solutions could be purchased and moved to an account at Network Solutions.
The first class of claimants are those who purchased the domain name during the same session the query for availability was conducted. The second class of claimants are those who purchased the domain name up to 4 days after the query for availability was conducted.
First class claimants will be eligible to receive a $6 credit for each domain name, and second class claimants will be eligible to receive a $9.91 credit for each domain name.
Network Solutions estimates approximately 113,094 domain names were registered during the time period. They will be paying approximately $375,000 to the first class and $500,000 to the second class. Additionally Network Solutions will be paying legal fees and costs to the Plaintiffs.
You can find out more information regarding the Settlement here.
Network Solutions maintains that it did not do anything wrong.
Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) has First Meeting
May 4, 2009
The Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), at the direction of the ICANN Board, announced in March it had formed an Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) to provide possible solutions for Trademark and other Intellectual Property concerns raised during the comment period for the new gTLD Guidebook.
The first face-to-face working meeting was April 1st. The IRT has recently published a website which outlines their focus and provides links to resources including a WIKI site. The WIKI site is intended for groups or individuals interested in providing comment or recommendations to the specific issues tasked by the IRT.
The four primary issues that the IRT will focus on are:
- Trademark Protection – High Priority Issues raised during the comment period for the new gTLD Guidebook, most notably IP Clearance, Dispute Resolutions mechanisms and WhoIs requirements for the new TLDs.
- Potential for Malicious Conduct – ICANN has raised the issue of studying the potential for criminal abuse in the new gTLDs and possible measures for mitigation.
- Root Zone Scaling – This study will look at the root impact of not only adding new gTLDs, but also IDNs, DNSSEC, and IPV6.
- TLD Demand and Economic Analysis – ICANN commissioned an independent third-party to produce reports that address consumer benefits and pricing issues. These reports were available for public comment through April 17th, and are located here.
Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) Announced for New gTLDs
March 29, 2009
The Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), at the direction of the ICANN Board, has announced it has formed an Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) to provide possible solutions for Trademark and other Intellectual Property issues regarding the new gTLDs.
Among the team members are Russell Pangborn, Managing Attorney for Microsoft Corporation, J. Scott Evans, Senior Director-Legal for Yahoo! Inc., and Fabricio Vayra, Counsel, Intellectual Property for Time Warner Inc. See the full list here.
The first face-to-face working meeting is scheduled for April 1st. The team will issue its first draft report by April 24th, and a final report on May 24th which will be open for public comment.
The ICANN press release on the IRT can be found here.
Second Draft of New gTLD Applicant Guidebook Released by ICANN
March 25, 2009
ICANN’s second draft of the new generic Top-Level Domains Applicant Guidebook (gTLD) has been released. The public comment period for this new draft is open and ICANN will accept comments through April 13, 2009.
ICANN has clarified several issues, including proposed reduction in ongoing “Registry-Level Fees” from US$75,000 per year to US$25,000 per year.
The application fees are divided into the following:
- TAS User Registration Fee: US$100 – This fee enables the user to enter the online application system.
- gTLD Evaluation Fee: US$185,000 – This fee is set to recover costs associated with the new gTLD program and ensure that the program is fully funded, and doesn’t take resources from other ICANN funding sources.
An interesting note on the gTLD Evaluation Fee is that Participants in ICANN’s proof-of-concept application process in 2000 may be eligible for a credit toward the evaluation fee. The credit is in the amount of US$86,000 and is subject to meeting additional criteria.
If an extended review of an application is required, an additional Registry Services Review Fee of US$50,000 may be required.
Unfortunately it appears that concerns and objections raised in the first comment period, such as protection for Trademark holders and economic viability analysis, are still not addressed.
Follow all the news on ICANN’s New gTLD Program here.
ICANN President and CEO to Leave Office
March 3, 2009
ICANN President and CEO Paul Twomey announced at the 34th International meetings in Mexico City that he would be stepping down at the end of 2009.
“Last year, I told the Board that I did not want to renew my contract as President and CEO for another 3 year term,” said Twomey. “While I am deeply and personally committed to ICANN and its success, I think this is the right time for me to move on to another leadership position in the private or international sectors.”
Twomey has served as the President and CEO of ICANN since 2003. Prior to that, Twomey served as Chairman of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC).
During Twomey’s tenure with ICANN the organization witnessed tremendous growth and has initiated many new measures to further expansion (new gTLDs and Internationalized TLDs).
Twomey will continue to be involved with ICANN even after relinquishing his position.
“The Board has asked me to stay on after it appoints a successor to have a period of handover with the new appointee. During this transition period I shall be appointed to the new position of Senior President,” said Twomey.
ICANN’s Press Release regarding Paul Twomey’s announcement can be found here.
Paul Twomey’s biography can be found here.