Namecritic aka Chris McElroy Sues Network Solutions and ICANN
February 26th, 2008
My buddy, Chris McElroy, aka Namecritic, has taken on the Goliaths at Network Solutions and ICANN for some of their tactics and domain front running.
Here’s what’s shakin:
A filing in US District Court for the Central District of California seeks satisfaction from ICANN and Network Solutions over the latter’s practice of locking up domains searched for through its site.
The lawsuit claims frontrunning cost US searchers who registered domains through Network Solutions millions of dollars that they could have saved by registering with a less expensive registrant.
As people searched for domains through Network Solutions, the company would then lock up the domain for several days unless the individual chose to purchase it from Network Solutions. Unlike lower cost registrars, Network Solutions charges $35 per one-year registrations, as it has for years.
The practice angered a number of people who complained about the practice. If searchers found a quality domain name available, they were forced to either purchase it immediately, or risk losing it to another searcher willing to meet the Network Solutions price.
In paperwork filed by the law firm Kabateck Brown Kellner, they identified the plaintiff as a Florida resident named Chris McElroy. The suit seeks class action status for all US searchers who used Network Solutions to find a domain and subsequently register it.
The lawsuit said McElroy searched on January 31, 2008, for kidsearchnetwork.com at Network Solutions, unaware that the company would register the domain for itself. When he tried to purchase it through registrar Go Daddy, he learned the domain had become unavailable.
