Go Daddy fights VeriSign with money and missives
Company pledges $100,000 to help ICANN defend itself
Follow @infoworldGo Daddy Software Inc., which filed a lawsuit against VeriSign Inc. regarding the Site Finder service last year, upped the ante in its opposition Wednesday by pledging $100,000 to help the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) defend itself over 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 release issued Wednesday, 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, Arizona, 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 the 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 were not immediately available to comment on the charges Wednesday morning.
Go Daddy first fired its legal guns against VeriSign in September of last year when it filed a lawsuit asking for 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. VeriSign has said that ICANN overstepped its boundaries by delaying the service, and acted outside of its charter as an technical coordination body for the Internet.
ICANN representatives, who are currently attending a meeting a Rome, were not immediately available to comment on the dispute.
