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Name.Space.Info: Name.Space Files Apellate Brief in NSI AntitrustImmunity Case |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <nettime-l-temp@material.net> is the temporary home of the nettime-l list while desk.nl rebuilds its list-serving machine. please continue to send messages to <nettime-l@desk.nl> and your commands to <majordomo@desk.nl>. nettime-l-temp should be active for approximately 2 weeks (11-28 Jun 99). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 18:02:32 -0400 To: nettime-l@desk.nl From: "Name.Space.Info" <info@name-space.com> Subject: Name.Space Files Apellate Brief in NSI Antitrust Immunity Case For Immediate Release: New York, June 23, 1999 Name.Space Files Apellate Brief in NSI Antitrust Immunity Case Attornies for Name.Space, Inc. filed their appeal in the antitrust/free speech case against Network Solutions, Inc. (NSOL) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US Distct Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday, June 22, 1999. The appeal seeks to overturn the decision of the Southern District Court Judge Robert P. Patterson, who on March 16, 1999 ruled that NSOL was immune from antitrust prosecution as a "Federal Instrumentality", and that domain names were not protected by the First Amendment because they were simply the equivalent of telephone numbers, and not expressive speech. Name.Space (f/k/a pgMedia, inc.) filed its antitrust action against NSI in march 1997, when NSI refused to include Name.Space's new domain names on the NSI-controlled root server. Without being included in the root server, Name.Space's domain names would not be universally recognized over the internet. NSOL held a contract with the National Science Foundation to act as the registry for the .com, .org, .net, .edu, and .gov TLDs until September, 1998 when it was taken over by the Department of Commerce (DoC) National Telecommunications and Infrastructure Agency (NTIA) in a move that is presently under Congressional Revue. Name.Space seeks the inclusion of over 500 new generic toplevel domains such as ".art" ."books" ."cars", suggested mainly by users, into the simple text configuration file called the "ROOT.ZONE" controlled by NSOL, and an "essential facility" under the antitrust laws. Name.Space believes that new domains offer consumers and businesses more choice and diversity in the selection of their internet address, without being limited to "dot com" and other legacy domains, and allowing for more descriptive and expressive name spaces. The act of including the new toplevel domains is a simple copy, paste and save operation, and will cost very little for NSOL to perform, but the implications in terms of opening up the domain name market to competition are monumental, and NSI has done all that it can to delay any end to their lucrative monopoly, which has netted them nearly a quarter-billion dollars in domain name sales since the suit began. Name.Space, a privately held company, has pioneered new domains and domain name services since 1996 when it released the first, realtime domain name registry on the internet, setting up an innovative and competitive model for the industry. In addition to the access to the root, Name.Space seeks treble damages from NSOL for the losses it has suffered from NSOL's refusal to add the new TLDs offered by Name.Space, to the root. Name.Space is confident that the Second Circuit will overturn the district court's decision and hold that NSI is not immune from antitrust liability. The D.C. circuit in its recent Thomas decision has cast extreme doubt on the validity of the so-called "federal instrumentality doctrine" and in any case doubts that it protects NSI's conduct in this case. according to Stephanie Joyce, attorney for Name.Space, "the only way that the Second Circuit can avoid overturning the district court is to reverse decades-old antitrust caselaw and fashion a decision that would immunize every government contractor from any behavior -- however anticompetitive it is -- from civil and criminal antitrust liability." Full text of Apellate Brief is online at: http://name.space.xs2.net/law/appeal/ Name.Space: http://name.space.beats-networksolutions.com http://dns411.com For more information, contact: Name.Space, Inc. 212.677.4080 info@name-space.com Stephanie Joyce, Blumenfeld & Cohen 202.955.6300 stephanie@technologylaw.com