WLS

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WLS (Waiting List Service) was a proposed service provided by registrars to give potential registrants or subscribers the opportunity to reserve their desired domain names that are currently registered for one year. Under this service a registrant may purchase a one year subscription for a particular domain name under a registrar which will directly perform the transaction with Verisign GRS. A domain name being subscribed under the Waiting List Service will only be registered to the subscriber in the event when the owner of the domain name underwent through the normal operational process of registration deletion. For example, the present registrant submitted a request for the deletion of his or her domain name with the registrar.[1]

Background

Verisign proposed the Waiting List Service as a new registry offering to domain name subscribers to ICANN on March 21, 2002. In addition, the company also requested the internet governing body to change its .com & .net registry agreement to include WLS with a $35 subscription fee.[2]

ICANN Board's Approval of the WLS

In August 2002, The ICANN Board approved the Waiting List Service proposal of Verisign to test the company's expiring domain name service despite the controversy surrounding it. The WLS became controversial due to the objections raised by the Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO) and emphasized that it will only cooperate with the Board unless its recommendations will be adopted. The DNSO's recommendations adopted by the Board include:[3]

  1. A redemption grace period for 6 months for all deleted domain names to give opportunity to the domain owners who unconsciously let their domain name expired to retrieve it.
  2. The WLS will be implemented on test run for one year.
  3. There should be no preference or exclusion due to any registrar reservation service.
  4. Current domain owners should receive notification that there is an interested buyer for his or her domain name, however the identity of the buyer will not be disclosed.
  5. Registrars won't be able to include the domain name on the WLS more than 60 days from expiration.
  6. Data from the WLS trial period should be collected to determine its relevance.

WLS Objections

Karl Auerbach, then At-large Representative of North America to the ICANN Board of Directors believed that the WLS provides an unfair for Verisign. He pointed that, "The people who are affected by this, the registrars, don't have a voice in ICANN, and I think it's unfair that we keep changing the contract these people have with VeriSign, without having any role or participation in making those changes." Furthermore, he raised his concerns over the issue that the identity of the interested buyer is unknown to the current owner of the domain name. He emphasized that this might cause damage to the reputation of the original owner of th domain name.[4]

Legal Charges Against ICANN

In 2003, the Domain Justice Coalition comprised of 23 domain name registration comopanies filed a law suit against ICANN due to its agreement with Verisign regarding the WLS. The Coalition argued that the Board's approval of the WLS eliminated competition between registrars and it gave an unfair advantage to Network Solutions, Verisign's domain name registration subsidiary. According to them ICANN breached its terms of agreement with the registrars.[5] The coalition filed a temporary injunction for the implementation of the WLS which was led by Dotster, Inc., Go Daddy Software, Inc. and eNom Inc. to the California District Court.[6]

On the other hand, then ICANN Spokesperson Mary Hewitt explained ICANN's position. She said, "The board voted for it because they thought it was a boon to consumers. This eliminates a ton of people pinging to see if the name is available at once. [As a consumer,] instead of me paying three different people to try to get a domain name I may not get, [with the WLS (wait listing service)], if I don't get it, I don't pay any money.[7]

On November 2003, the California District Court denied the group's request for a temporary restraining order against ICANN's approval for Verisign to implement the Waiting List Service.[8] By December, Network Solutions, Register.com and Bulk Register expressed their enthusiasm to then ICANN President Paul Twomey to launch the WLS after the California District Court's denial on the temporary restraining order filed against internet governing body. In addition, the companies also commented that the black out period for WLS is unnecessary and they emphasized that an adequate and enforceable safeguard is already present in the RAA.[9]

In 2004, another law suit was filed by Newman & Newman, a law firm representing an ad hoc coalition of domain name registrars against ICANN and Verisign to stop the implementation of the WLS. The group accused ICANN and Verisign of:[10]

  1. Unfair Trade Practices Act Violations
  2. Violation of California Business & Professions Code
  3. Unlawful Tying Arrangement
  4. Attempted Monopolization
  5. Violation of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
  6. Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage
  7. Breach of Contract
  8. Declaratory Relief

References

  1. ↑ Domain Name Waiting List Service
  2. ↑ DNSO Status Report Regarding Deletions, Solutions, and WLS
  3. ↑ Internetnews.com
  4. ↑ Internetnews.com
  5. ↑ ICANN sued over WLS
  6. ↑ Motion for Temporary Restraining Order
  7. ↑ ICANN sued over WLS
  8. ↑ ORDER Denying Temporary Restraining Order
  9. ↑ www.icann.org
  10. ↑ Circleid.com
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