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NAME.SPACE FILES APPEAL IN NSI ANTITRUST CASE
press release from 03-31-99
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New York: March 31, 1999--The pioneer Internet
Domain Name Registry Name.Space filed an appeal
today at the US Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit in an ongoing antitrust battle against
Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI), the publicly traded
Virginia company who was recently granted antitrust
immunity by alower court, and the National Science
Foundation (NSF).
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Name.Space filed the antitrust suit on March 20,
1997 after NSI refused the company's request to
add new toplevel domains to the root directory
of the Internet, which NSI controls under a
contract with the US Government. On March 19,
1999, two years after the suit was filed, district
court Judge Robert P. Patterson ruled in favor of
NSI and the NSF, granting NSI immunity from antitrust
laws, recognizing NSI's contract with the NSF, and
later the NTIA, as protection from prosecution.
The Court's opinion also dismissed Name.Space's
First Amendment claims stating that domain names
are like telephone numbers and are not free speech.
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Name.Space Founder and CEO, Paul Garrin,
comments that "the Court's decision was a
political decision and not a legal one. I
believe that the Judge did not fully understand
this case or the Internet, as he admitted, and
would not make a decision on the present legal
issues, so he simply rubberstampped the
Defandants' briefs. I am glad to take the case
on to a higher court where I hope it will
be more seriously reviewed."
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Name.Space offers new and innovative domain
services and new top level domain names (TLDs)
such as "art." "cam." "law." "media." and "sex."
and hundreds of others which they believe are a
needed change to the legacy "com." "org." and
"net." domains that have become over-crowded and
limit market choice and free expression. Since
the beginning of its operations in 1996,
Name.Space has processed thousands of requests
for new top level domains and believes that the
demand will grow as more users connect to the
Internet.
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Name.Space believes that NSI is unfairly using
its monopoly position to control the market
while hiding behind its government contract. The
artificial scarcity imposed by limiting consumer
choice to "com." "org." and "net." has allowed NSI
to realize substantial monopoly profits and a
huge market capitalization while eliminating
competition from firms as such as Name.Space.
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Since 1996 Name.Space was the first to have a fully
functional real time domain registry specializing
in new toplevel domains and later adapted to resell
the legacy domains. Name.Space is a leader in
developing new services to enhance the domain
name system, and bring a wider range of services
at a lower cost to the consumer.
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Glenn Manishin, lead counsel for Name.Space said
that "the district court's decision extends antitrust
immunity never contemplated by Congress and would
provide blanket protections against any claim for
all government contractors. The court's cavallier
treatment of the serious First Amendment issues
arising from TLDs and internet domain names will
merit more rigorous analysis on appeal." Name.Space
is confident that it will prevail in the appeal on
legal grounds, and intends to pursue its claim for
treble damages under the antitrust laws.
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