Go Daddy fights VeriSign with money and missives

It pledged $100,000 to help ICANN defend its right to regulate VeriSign's registry services

By Scarlet Pruitt

March 3, 2004 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - Go Daddy Software Inc., which filed a lawsuit against VeriSign Inc. regarding the Site Finder service last year, upped the ante in its opposition today by pledging $100,000 to help the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers defend its right to regulate VeriSign's registry services.
Go Daddy's pledge comes in response to a suit VeriSign filed against ICANN last week accusing the nonprofit organization of overstepping its authority by trying to regulate Site Finder and other services introduced by the company.
In a statement today (download PDF), Go Daddy defended ICANN's right to regulate the services and called for a formal review of VeriSign's position as an "exclusive registry." The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company said it has sent letters to ICANN, the U.S. Department of Commerce and various U.S. senators, calling for a formal review of VeriSign's registry position.
In those letters, Go Daddy accused VeriSign of "exploiting its position as the monopoly provider of the .com and .net registry," and "using its monopoly position to gain unfair trade and financial advantages."
VeriSign representatives weren't immediately available to comment on the charges this morning.
Go Daddy first fired its legal guns against VeriSign last September, when it sought a restraining order against the Site Finder service. The controversial service redirects requests for nonexistent Web addresses to a Web site maintained by VeriSign. Opponents have accused VeriSign of using the service to unfairly drum up traffic to Web sites that it maintains by banking on user errors.
VeriSign suspended Site Finder in October following ICANN's request that it halt the service (see story). VeriSign has said that ICANN overstepped its boundaries by delaying the service and acted outside of its charter as a technical coordination body for the Internet.
ICANN representatives, who are currently attending a meeting in Rome, weren't immediately available to comment on the dispute.

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