[Image] [Investment Toolkit] [Image][The Microsoft Network] [Image] [Image] [MSNBC home page] [Navigation] Domain names back in court Domain registry levels antitrust charges at contractor By Brock N. Meeks MSNBC WASHINGTON, May 14 ‹ An alternate domain name registry, pgMedia, has filed suit in federal court to force Network Solutions Inc., the monopoly domain registry service, to add more than 500 new domains to the central directory. Without access to the so-called ³root zone server,² domain names are invisible to Internet users. The suit charges that NSI is violating antitrust laws because it refuses to add new domains to the ³root,² thereby thwarting competition. [Image] [Image] [Image] [Internet Sites] Network Solutions, Inc. Home Page [Internet Sites] pgMedia Home Page [Image] Last year pgMedia LAST YEAR, PGMEDIA filed a similar filed a similar suit and was close to reaching a settlement suit and was with NSI that would have allowed its new close to reaching domains to be added, but the National Science a settlement with Foundation, the government agency that NSI but the granted NSI its monopoly status through a National Science federal contract, stepped in and stopped the Foundation process. In response, pgMedia also named the stepped in and science foundation as a defendant in its new stopped the lawsuit, filed late Thursday. process. The suit claims pgMedia has suffered financial damage because it has set up servers on two continents and signed up thousands of domain-name customers, yet those customers can¹t ³talk² to others on the Internet because their domains aren¹t listed in the NSI central registry. The move by pgMedia comes within days of when the White House is set to release its ³white paper² on how domain names will be administered when NSI¹s government mandated monopoly ends in September. It¹s widely rumored that the government is prepared to allow the addition of only three new domains. If pgMedia is successful, ³it¹ll blow a big hole in the government¹s white paper plans,² said Glenn Manishin, an attorney for pgMedia. ³They¹ll be forced to allow an unlimited number of domains to be created.² ANTITRUST ALLEGATIONS As the monopoly registry, NSI controls all the ³top level domains,² or TLDs, such ³.com,² ³.net² and ³.org.² It also has exclusive rights to process the requests for all second-level domain names, the unique names attached to the TLDs, such as the ³MSNBC² in ³MSNBC.com.² The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the southern district of New York, seeks a preliminary injunction that would prohibit NSI and the National Science Foundation from continuing to refuse to add pgMedia¹s TLDs to the root server. An NSI spokesman said he couldn¹t comment directly on the suit until the company examines it. However, the spokesman shrugged off the antitrust claims, noting that a federal district judge in Washington had recently dismissed similar charges brought against NSI. In that suit, NSI¹s monopoly status was challenged directly on the grounds of unlawful conspiracy with the NSF. PgMedia¹s suit, however, doesn¹t directly challenge NSI¹s monopoly over the domain-name registry. ³This is a classic Œessential facilities¹ antitrust case,² said Manishin. NSI is ³the only game in town,² Manishin said, ³so the law says they cannot refuse to deal with competitors.² ŒThis is a Manishin argues that NSI isn¹t immune classic from antitrust action as a government ³essential contractor because the National Science facilities² Foundation doesn¹t directly regulate NSI¹s antitrust case.¹ action. ³Although NSF has asserted the power NSI Œis the only to control the Internet root server Š no such game in town so authority is granted by the National Science the law says they Act,² the pgMedia suit says. cannot refuse to deal with FIRST AMENDMENT CONCERNS competitors.¹ Even if the court finds that NSI is ‹ GLENN MANISHIN immune from antitrust action because it Attorney for followed a government ³directive² in not pgMedia allowing new domains to be added to the root, pgMedia claims that such a government edict is a violation of the First Amendment. Domain names constitute ³protected expression because they are not merely tools² for turning the series of numbers, known as an Internet Protocol address, into a readable name, such as ³MSNBC.com,² the suit says. Domain names also ³convey communicative messages, including political views,² it says. The National Science Foundation¹s refusal to add pgMedia¹s domains to the central directory is effectively a prior restraint of speech, according to the court papers. [Image] [Top 10 Voting] [Logos] Cover | Quick News | News | Business | Sports | Local News | Technology | Living & Travel | On Air Opinions | Weather | The Microsoft Network | Find | About MSNBC | Help | Personal Toolkit Write Us | Index | Advertising on MSNBC | Terms, Conditions, and Privacy [Image] [Image]