As a matter of policy, Register.com places a “Coming Soon”
message on a homepage for domain names unused by its customers,
which includes a link to Register.com’s homepage and third party
banner ads. The page is removed when the domain name owner erects a
web site.
Zukarov said that Register.com failed to disclose its policy
when he registered the name and that it was profiting unjustly from
his domain name. He argued that Register.com’s practice also
violated implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing and
breached laws against deceptive business practices.
Register.com argued that it did not deprive Zukarov of any of
the services for which he contracted; but Zukarov said his
registration amounted to an exclusive property right and that the
"Coming Soon" page interfered with this right.
The court accepted Register.com’s motion to dismiss the case,
relying on a Virginia court’s ruling last year in a case between
Network Solutions and Umbro International which said:
"[A] domain name that is not a trade mark
arguably entails only contract, not property rights. Thus, a domain
name registration is the product of a contract for services between
the registrar and registrant."
Noting that Laborzionist.org was not a registered patent or
trade mark, the New York court ruled that Zukarov had no property
right in the name, only a contract right, and, finding that he had
“received everything he bargained for”, it dismissed his
action.
Zukarov has since re-directed the domain name to point to the
web site at http://jewishfrontier.org.
