A California resident, Jeff Kessler, has filed a lawsuit against Verisign and ICANN. Kessler, who owns six .com domain names, argues that the agreements governing .com between Verisign and ICANN have allowed Verisign to maintain an illegal monopoly and charge excessive prices for .com domain registrations.
According to Domain Incite, the lawsuit centers on the long-standing history of the Verisign–ICANN contract for managing the .com domain, and on Verisign’s alleged efforts to secure favorable terms from ICANN.
Kessler seeks to represent a nationwide class of individuals and businesses that have paid to renew their .com domain registrations at least since September 4, 2022. On behalf of this group, he is seeking injunctive relief against certain actions by the defendants. He also demands monetary compensation and other relief under California law on behalf of a subclass of plaintiffs from that state.
Among other measures, the plaintiff asks the court to order the defendants to halt the alleged anticompetitive practices and to strike down provisions that limit ICANN’s ability to regulate wholesale prices for .com domain names.
