March 26, 2008

ICANN, UDRP, and antitrust

USA: two plaintiffs who "would like to have been able to enter contracts to register ... 109 domain names that did not force them to agree to the [UDRP] or the Domain Transfer Agreement" sue ICANN for antitrust practices.
They also complain they are subject to "ICANN's future policies that are not even into existence" if they register these names. According to them, ICANN "force[s] its accredited registrars to adhere to its policy of forcing these contractual provision on registrants of domain names because of its monopoly power in the market for entry onto the Legacy A root server as well as the second legacy roots". They also contend that the UDRP is the result of a collusion between registrars (thus of an anticompetitive practice).

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