Possible lawsuit against Network Solutions/Verisign

Posted Wednesday, November 14, 2001

We have received the following information (in the form of three e-mail messages) from an attorney working on a case against Network Solutions/Versign. We are posting the information here in order to notify our customers about the possible suit and to allow them to comment based on their personal experiences with these issues.

Note that we are not directly involved in this lawsuit. We are just providing this information to you. If you have some information to share, please send it directly to the attorney in charge of the case. Do not send it to us. If you have any questions about this case, they should also be directed to the attorney.

Attorney Contact Information:

Robert O'Reilly, Esq.
Ademi & O'Reilly
Roreilly@ticon.net
(414) 671-1000 tel
(866) 264-3995 toll free

Message #1

On behalf of two clients, Ademi & O'Reilly, Attorneys at Law, are investigating the practices of Network Solutions. It appears that Network Solutions and its parent company, Verisign, may be engaging in anticompetitive behavior, in refusing to release domain names to the general public, and in refusing to transfer domain server services to competitors. (The latter happened to us, promtping our interest in this issue.) Our impression is that Network Solutions has created unreasonable and unjustified obstacles to allowing transfers of services to maintain market share in the face of its loss of a legal monopoly.

We would like the chance to discuss your experiences with Network Solutions. We think that many Network Solutions customers are entitled to some sort of refund, but we need to document how wide spread the problem is, and all of the factual variations involved. We would certainly appreciate your help.

Message #2

Thank you for your email. I have in fact made substantial progress towards a suit against Network Solutions/Verisign, although I am still investigating at this point. I could certainly use your help and front line experience.

The following are, I believe, all practices of Verisign. Please confirm any you have knowledge of, and even more importantly, please alert as to any policies I may have missed:

  1. Verisign does not pay pro rata rebates for unused portions of domain name registrations, when the site is transferred away. However, Verisign does receive another $6.00 after the transfer as Registry from the Registrar.
  2. Verisign refuses to transfer domain names if the term of the Registration is expired.
  3. If the term of the Registration is expired, then Verisign, and only Verisign, can remove the site from the pending deletion status and reactivate it. This is true until the site is finally deleted and returned to the public domain.
  4. Verisign requires the registrant to confirm a transfer request within 36 hours of its email, or the process must reinitiated by the Registrant through the gaining Registrar.
  5. Verisign refused to honor transfer requests received five days or less before the end of a registration period. The Registrant must pay Verisign for another full year term, and must wait 60 days before again seeking to transfer the site.
  6. Verisign's renewal billing asks for seventy dollars, with no mention of a discount (available to new users on their website), and no stated option for a one year renewal.

If you have any more policies, or can confirm any of these, please let me know.

Message #3

I have had some success in my investigation against Network Solutions. I think that a suit can be maintained, but I need confirmation of some elements of the case. If you saved the emails you received from Verisign/Network Solutions, I would appreciate it if you could take a minute to forward them to me, so I can quote from them properly.

I am especially interested in the email sent by Verisign to a gaining registrar denying the transfer because the Registrant failed to respond to the confirmation email sent by Verisign. I believe that Verisign would state that the ownership of the site is in dispute. Thank you.