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San Jose, California - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - November 30, 2005 - A suit has been filed in the United States District Court in San Jose, California against ICANN and VeriSign by The World Association of Domain Name Developers, Inc. (WADND).

The lawsuit brought by WADND on behalf of its members around the world, alleges that ICANN and Verisign have engaged in antitrust activities, including conspiracy, monopolization, illegal price fixing and monopolizing ‘.com’ and ‘.net’ domain name markets. The suit alleges that the two are on the verge of entering ”an unlawful agreement that gives VeriSign a permanent monopoly over the all ‘.com’ and ‘.net’ Internet domain name registrations.”

ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the corporation that maintains the database for all Internet domain names. VeriSign is ICANN’s subcontractor for the ‘.com’ and ‘.net’ top level domain name extensions.

According to Patrick Cathcart of Cathcart, Collins and Kneafsey LLP who filed the suit, ”This agreement would permanently fix the price of registering any ‘.com’ or ‘.net’ domain name far above what a free market would otherwise bear. There is no legitimate reason for these price increases. ICANN and VeriSign are trying to take advantage of the lack of government oversight and line their pockets at the expense of domainers and domain investors,”

Domain owners claim Verisign’s monopoly already doubles the cost of .COM domains, and an anti-competitive agreement with ICANN will raise costs another 50% over the next six years.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the California Corporation that maintains the database of all Internet domain names. The ICANN/VeriSign contract, known as the 2005 Registry Agreement would extend VeriSign’s control of the ‘.com’ and ‘.net’ portions of the Internet database.

To read the complaint PDF, please visit: www.wadnd.com.