Through an agreement entered into with the government of Tuvalu, a small Pacific island nation, dotTV became the exclusive registry and registrar for the “.tv” domain, the country code top level domain originally reserved for the island.
Through its own web site, dotTV sells most of the “.tv” domain names on a first-come, first-served basis, for an initial annual registration fee of $100. Other common, generic terms it deems to have broader commercial appeal with greater demand are put up for auction on its web site.
The lawsuit alleges that the head of Future Computing, Je Ho Lim, was notified by dotTV that his bid for the “Golf.tv” domain registration for the sum of $1,010 was successful. Shortly thereafter, the lawsuit says, dotTV attempted to renege upon its agreement, notifying Je Ho Lim that he should “disregard” the acceptance notification, blaming “an e-mail error that occurred.”
“Shortly thereafter,” said Richard D. Farkas, lawyer for Future Computing, “dotTV publicly offered the ‘Golf.tv’ domain name again, both to my client and others, this time with an opening bid of $1 million. Meanwhile, a recent press report indicated an anonymous buyer had purchased the domain name for $600,000. If this proves to be true, the motives of the parties will have to be given careful examination.”
The court action seeks the rights to the name and unspecified compensation.