[bc-gnso] FW: 9th Circuit Reverses in CFIT Suit Against VeriSign; Cites ICA for Decisive Role
FYI --The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed and remanded for
further proceedings in the case of CFIT v VeriSign, Inc. The case alleges that
the awarding of the present .com registry contract through the settlement
entered into by ICANN with VeriSign was in violation of U.S. antitrust laws. My
law firm prepared an amicus brief on behalf of the Internet Commerce
Association which is cited by the Court as a decisive factor in reaching its
decision. The Opinion is attached.
Please pass this on to other interested parties.
>From the decision:
Moreover, amicus in
this case, the Internet Commerce Association ("ICA"), points
out that when Smith and Weber were decided, "the present
expired domain name market barely existed," and that today's
conditions were "unanticipated only a few years ago."
[15] Here CFIT's complaint alleges that every word in the
English language is already registered as a domain name, and
that desirable domain names can be difficult to come by. On
appeal, our understanding of the distinct role and value of
expiring domain names has also been significantly aided by
the explanation provided by the ICA. As cogently explained
by ICA, expiring domain names often carry with them a history
of established web traffic and advertising support; when
such names do expire, they "still maintain much of [their]
prior inbound traffic," making them more valuable than
domain names that have never before been registered. The
district court, of course, did not have the benefit of briefing
by amicus. With the benefit of this aid to our understanding,
we are not prepared to affirm the district court's ruling that no
separate market exists. We therefore reverse and remand for
further proceedings.
Philip S. Corwin
Partner
Butera & Andrews
1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20004
202-347-6875 (office)
202-347-6876 (fax)
202-255-6172 (cell)
"Luck is the residue of design." -- Branch Rickey
Attachment:
ICA-CFITvVS_9thCircAppeals-060509.pdf
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