Nearly two years after would-be Net registrar PGMedia accused NSI in court of violating antitrust laws, the suit appears stalled over weighty legal issues.
Bogging down the case is whether NSI, the government-appointed monopoly registrar for the most popular forms of Internet addresses, can even be sued. Adding to the confusion is the push by the Commerce Department to open up registration competition later this year.
In a federal
lawsuit filed in March 1997, New York City-based PGMedia accused NSI of violating antitrust laws by refusing to expand the number of TLDs, or "top level domains," available in the master directory it maintains under authority of
the government. PGMedia, which sells domain names with novel endings such as ".firm" and ".store," argues that NSI and the government lack the authority to dictate what TLDs are made available on the global network.
Since PGMedia filed its suit, however, the Internet landscape has changed drastically, throwing a monkey wrench into an already-complicated lawsuit. Last fall, the National Science Foundation passed responsibility for the Internet to Commerce Department, which in turn has laid out a plan to turn administration to a private company and open up registration competition. By March, five companies are slated to offer wholesale registration to addresses ending in ".com," ".net," and ".org," and by June, the field is slated to be opened to any accredited registrar.
When the move is complete, the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will assume authority over the domain name system, or DNS, which serves as the plumbing for Internet addresses around the world. The Commerce Department, in conjunction with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, currently governs the system.
NSI, which is being represented by the same firm representing Microsoft in the antitrust suit against it by the Justice Department (DOJ) and 19 states, is also seizing on the Commerce Department's plans.
But PGMedia is not rolling over yet.
Evidence that there is strong demand for new generic TLDs is growing, said Sascha Mornell, director of marketing at Register.com, a retail domain name registry. He said his company registers 10 to 20 domain names per day ending in ".md." Although the TLD formally recognizes the country of Moldovia, many pharmaceutical companies believe it may be a desirable piece of real estate in the future. Similarly, broadcast companies are showing interest in addresses ending in ".tv," the TLD for Tuvalu, he said.
Still, with NSI controlling the plumbing of the vast majority of the Internet, legal challenges to its authority are likely to continue. Analysts note that even after the Commerce Department's privatization plans are completed NSI is likely to wield immense control over the DNS, since it will continue day-to-day upkeep of the root server. MyInternet.com, a small domain-name management service, says it will sue NSI if it cuts off access to its root server as NSI has promised.