BulkRegister, the world’s fourth largest domain name registrar,
has announced the settlement of the false advertising lawsuit which
it brought against rival company VeriSign. BulkRegister had accused
VeriSign of engaging in unfair practices by attempting to steal its
customers under a recent “Domain Name Expiration Notice” marketing
campaign, a practice known as “domain name slamming.”
VeriSign had been sending out expiry notices to domain name
owners, which included customers of BulkRegister. The notices
referred to a deadline for reply of 15th May 2002, the implication
being that the domain name registration was about to expire.
BulkRegister alleged that the deadline bore no relation to the
actual expiry date of the registrations and that the notices were
“false and misleading attempts to lure customers to VeriSign.” The
company further claimed that it had lost large numbers of customers
to VeriSign as a result of the notices.
The specific terms of the settlement have not been disclosed,
however, BulkRegister has stated that those of its customers who
moved to VeriSign will be transferred back to their BulkRegister
accounts, any sums paid by those customers to transfer to VeriSign
will be repaid and their domain name registration will be extended
for one year free of charge.
VeriSign also faces the same allegations in an action brought by
Go Daddy Software, a smaller domain name registrar, and under two
class actions. VeriSign’s domain name marketing campaign is
currently being investigated by the US Federal Trade
Commission.
