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ICANN Sued Over Wait List
Greedo writes "According to their press release, "Pool.com, one of the Internet's hottest new ventures (their words, not mine), has launched a lawsuit challenging the right of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to proceed with a monopolistic new Wait-Listing Service (Google cache) this fall." You can read Pool.com's Statement of Claim, if you like."
I realize it has little to do with the topic at hand, but a random link to openNIC(http://www.opennic.unrated.net/) is neccesary anyway.
Regardless of the motive, it is good to see an example of litigiousness that might actually benefit us all.
ICANN needs to be slapped, and slapped hard, and NOT with an open palm. I don't know anything about Pool, but I'm hoping that they have a big enough fist, or good enough lawyers (which are effectively the same thing) to send ICANN's head spinning.
Neopets - the best free game on the Int
the statement of claim is actually here
It seems that pool.com's business model was based on something that is pretty tenuous. If ICANN wants to change their rules for letting people reserve domain names, isn't that their right? (again, IANAL, that's a question, not a statement.)
I realize this is a big kick in the pants for pool.com, I don't see that they have much of a case here. They should consider themselves lucky that only one reservation can be put on one domain name.
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Waving around the word "monopolistic" seems a bit silly here -- like with broadcast spectrum allocation, this is a case where you need a central authority. Whether or not you like ICANN and whether or not a waiting-list is better than a free-for-all, there doesn't seem to be anything at issue here except Pool.com's business model.
(Incidentally, pool.com is the sort of sweet domain that got swept up in the '90's and become available again now. Apparently their system works.)
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
So does this mean when it's up for renewal next, i could get it? I been eyeing mit.edu for quite a while now.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
This won't kill pool.com's business model, they can just grab the expired waiting list registrations if it goes through.
We could call it meta-squatting!
Your credit card information wants to be free.
I am of the firm belief that a significant amount of total shit on the Internet would not have appeared had domain name registration not been "privatized". Pool.com should be counting their blessings that they can even broker in domain names in the first place.
It was, of course, unfair for Network Solutions to reap such large profits from a service that cost them little to opeate. But it would have made more sense to divert this money into Internet operations or research. Cutting the fees has just enabled wholesale domain squatting and the strange business of grabbing popular names for porn sites.
What the heck. I think it's time to stop trying to "fix" the domain system and think of it as a set of arbitrary addresses. For actually finding the web site you want, we need some kind of keyword system and/or a central registry of people and organization that own domain names.
Someone please tell me how a suit filed in canada is going to have any effect over a US corporation. Unless there is some treaty that allows for them to execute their judgment here, or a US court enforcing a judgment, i just cant see anything actually happening as a result. Seems more of a futile gesture then anything that will have a real effect.
Their business plan was $2,000 per registrar per day * 8 registrars * 365 = $5.8 million. They're asking for $29 million general damages and $5 million punative damages and I think they'll get it to. ICAAN obviously screwed the pooch on this one. Bypassing your own rules/regs is a surefire way to get slapped down by the courts.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Let them have their wait list!
;)
Think of all the porn sites that will be put on that list. That alone should bog down the system so much to make it unfeasible... right?
True, pool.com has a vested interest. One can't expect expensive lawsuits to be driven by people with no income and no vested stake - that doesn't happen often.
If I'm not mistaken, the "reservation" system is explicitly handed to one company. There are other models that would work, pool.com's being one of them. ICANN, in typical fashion, handed out a freebie to an incumbent.
And you're actually factually incorrect: the reason ICANN has the power it has is that people who choose to participate in the distributed database known as DNS choose to participate with ICANN policies, including which name servers to use. There are others. I use others. I suspect many others will start choosing others as well, as time goes on. Many of us want a "free-for-all", and believe that would be far superior.
I forget what 8 was for.
Why do you want only those with a lot of cash to own domains? This flies in the face of, say, US trademark law, which (though much maligned here) allows me, for instance, legal acknoledgement of my term. With a flat namespace, first mover wins. So be it- that's how it always works. Should a cash reserve change that?
Don't talk about "need" - I don't need the 15 or so domains I own (I'm not even sure how many at this point). I have them. That's what counts.
I forget what 8 was for.
Another difference: to grab a domain name, all you have to do is pay the registration fee. To grab a trademark, you have to identify the mark with something of potential value: a product, a service, a business, something. A trademark is part of a identity. A domain name is just a kind of address.
Oh yeah, and unlike domain names, you don't achieve ownership of a trademark just by registering it. The registration does help, but what's crucial is being able to show that you've used the mark.
You're completely misrepresenting what I said.
Read it again, think a bit, and drive through.
Ahem.
I forget what 8 was for.
Yeah, I know that's a childish response. But so's yours. If you see a flaw in my reasoning, let's hear it.
is ICANN going to make it, I wouldnt want to see them get thier butt kicked!!