The Director of Gia Pham Law Company has filed a lawsuit against the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC), claiming that they were the first to register but were denied the Internet.com.vn domain. Meanwhile, VNNIC asserts that they acted in accordance with the law.
In the administrative lawsuit regarding the allocation of the Internet.com.vn domain issued by VNNIC, on January 20, Gia Pham Law Company stated: “We submitted our application earlier, but it was rejected without reason by your center“. On January 10, Gia Pham Law discovered that Internet.com.vn had been allocated to another entity by VNNIC. The next day, Gia Pham Law filed a complaint against the domain allocation decision, requesting the retrieval of the Internet.com.vn domain and its reallocation to them as the original applicant.
On January 16, in a response letter, VNNIC’s Deputy Director Tran Minh Tan argued that when this law firm submitted their application (in 2004), the law did not allow for the allocation of that domain. “Due to changes in the policies governing the management and use of Internet resources, Decision No. 27/2005/QĐ-BBCVT dated August 11, 2005, permits the allocation of second-level .vn domains and expands the registration scope… Accordingly, the Internet.com.vn domain was allocated to Vietnam Construction and Trade Company Limited on September 21, 2005,” Mr. Tan confirmed.
VNNIC explained that previous regulations did not allow for the allocation of second-level .vn domains; it also prohibited registering domain names related to geographical names, common names of economic sectors, types of goods, or products. Therefore, VNNIC stored and did not accept applications for third-level domains in common second-level formats such as .com.vn or .org.vn. Alongside geographical domain names like Vietnam.com.vn and thudo.com.vn, the Internet.com.vn domain was also among those stored.
According to VNNIC, before the policy adjustments, not only Gia Pham Law Company but also many other organizations and individuals applied for the Internet.com.vn domain, all of which were not approved.
However, Gia Pham Law maintains that “There is unfairness and a failure to comply with legal regulations regarding the management of Internet resources by the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center“. For this reason, the company has requested the Administrative Court of Hanoi to accept their lawsuit and annul VNNIC’s decision to allocate the Internet.com.vn domain, compelling them to accept the application and reallocate the domain to them.
In an interview, Director Pham Thanh Long stated that at the end of January, he contacted the Administrative Court of Hanoi, and shortly after, the lawsuit was sent via postal service to this judicial authority.
On the afternoon of February 6, Deputy Director Tran Minh Tan confirmed: “We have acted in accordance with legal regulations. The lawsuit is the right of Gia Pham Law“.
Explaining to reporters why the website does not display when entering the address Internet.com.vn, Mr. Tan stated that if the allocated entity does not need web hosting, they can use the domain for other applications like email addresses.
Regarding VNNIC’s domain management, another individual, Mr. Vu Thai Ha, has filed a complaint against this agency for not providing written notification regarding the suspension and recovery of two domains he owns. Lawyer Vu Thai Ha stated that he is awaiting a response document from VNNIC. Should the two parties fail to reach an agreement, similar to Gia Pham Law, he will also file a lawsuit in the Administrative Court.
Anh Thu
