The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted yesterday to support an agreement allowing VeriSign to increase the annual fee for .com domain names by 7%.
This newly reached agreement is highly beneficial for both organizations. It is the result of a lawsuit filed by VeriSign against ICANN in 2004.
With over 48.1 million active “.com” domains currently charged at a fee of $6 per year, the monopoly in managing this type of domain generates at least $288.6 million annually for VeriSign. This revenue is expected to increase further as VeriSign has received support for the fee increase.
However, this is not the final conclusion. The agreement still requires approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Nonetheless, a member of Congress has expressed intentions to reject the agreement. Rick Boucher, a Republican Congressman from Virginia, stated in a letter to the Washington administration last month that this agreement is indeed a “serious anti-competitive action.”
In a recent statement, VeriSign indicated that the agreement to maintain the registration of .com domains is relatively similar to the agreement reached last year for .net domains. “VeriSign is committed to continuing to build and invest in Internet infrastructure to meet the growing demands of Internet users.”
However, this agreement has not received support from users and .com domain registrars. These parties accuse ICANN and VeriSign of pursuing profit, as the agreement mentions that VeriSign must pay ICANN between $6 to $12 million annually.
The Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CFIT) has initiated legal action against VeriSign and ICANN regarding this issue. In the lawsuit, CFIT argues that this agreement is illegal because it allows these organizations to maintain their monopoly. This agreement is entirely contrary to anti-trust regulations and competition laws.
Meanwhile, ICANN asserts that it must accept this agreement to resolve the lawsuit with VeriSign.
This agreement will last until the end of 2012. After this agreement expires, could VeriSign still maintain its monopoly through another agreement?
