San Francisco Consulting

Network Solutions Sued For Defrauding Millions – ICANN named

This came up yesterday, from the IP justice organization in San Francisco.  An interesting development related to domain nale purchasing, where the limited legal framework poses some real problems.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ — Network Solutions has forced
millions of people to buy Internet domain names from them instead of
cheaper competitors through a scheme that’s netted the firm millions
of dollars, a federal class action lawsuit filed today by Kabateck
Brown Kellner, LLP states. ICANN, whose policies facilitate the
scheme, is also named in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court,
Central District of California.

“Imagine if you asked a car dealer if they had a black convertible
and were then forced to buy the car from them. Would you get a good
deal? Each time someone asks Network Solutions about a domain name,
the firm creates a monopoly for itself, forcing consumers to pay the
price they demand,” said Brian Kabateck, lead counsel in the class
action and Kabateck Brown Kellner’s Managing Partner.

Whenever someone searches for the availability of a domain name
through Network Solutions’ website, the company immediately registers
the name for itself, preventing other companies from selling it and
forcing consumers to pay Network Solutions’ expensive fees.

If a consumer were to go to another, cheaper site to register the
name, they would find the name is “unavailable.” Consumers are never
informed that inquiring as to a name’s availability through Network
Solutions results in the company holding a monopoly on selling that
name.

This allows Network Solutions to continue charging substantially
higher prices for domain name registration. Network Solutions charged
$34.99 to register the name sought by this suit’s lead plaintiff. A
competitor would have charged $9.99.

Network Solutions’ scheme is made possible by ICANN. ICANN allows
companies that sell domain names to avoid paying registration fees
for names cancelled within five days. Thus, Network Solutions can
defraud customers at no cost to itself.

ICANN is aware that Network Solutions is abusing this policy and yet
continues to facilitate its actions.
ICANN is the international organization, headquartered in Marina Del
Rey, CA, that regulates domain names and other Internet protocols.

Kabateck Brown Kellner is one of the nation’s foremost consumer law
firms. Its clients have won more than $750 million against Google,
Yahoo!, Farmer’s Insurance, Eli Lilly and others. As a plaintiff’s-
only firm, Kabateck Brown Kellner is always on the consumers’ side.

IP JUSTICE
1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
w: http://www.ipjustice.org