"I'm pleased that EURid finally took action by suspending 74,000 domain names and taking legal action," says Go Daddy (godaddy.com) founder and CEO Bob Parsons. "It is mind-blowing to think it took them almost four months to wake up and see what I contend was a gross mishandling of the whole .eu land rush process."

Still, Parsons says EURid deserves credit for its recent actions, which include the domain name suspensions and breach of contract lawsuits against 400 would-be registrars that, according to EURid, "systematically acquired domain names with the obvious intent of selling them."

EURid communications manager and regional manager of Northern Europe Patrik Linden says his organization, and particularly its legal team, constantly monitors the .eu registrations it receives and takes emails and phone calls from registrars, registrants and the general public "if something looks dubious."

"The work is done by our legal department and a team of people specializing in this," says Linden. "It is the work of this team that has led to this case. In other words, it is difficult to say if it was a specific email or our own work that led us to take action. I think it is fair to say that it was a combination."

Upon the launch of the .eu domain and its land rush process last April, EURid took heavy criticism from Parsons, who was later reinforced by a European Commission official's call for an investigation into the .eu land rush process and potentially illegitimate registrations. Parsons said the land rush, which was supposed to be a fair process, fell victim to ineptitude from EURid and domain name opportunists who created shell registrars to increase the bids they could make on new .eu names.

It appears that more than criticism came from the US, as EURid's Linden reported that all of the 400 .eu registrars being sued are from the US.

"We believe that they have been cooperating and using the three holder companies as a front so that, in practice, it can be regarded as warehousing and hence in breach of the registrar contract," he says.

EURid says the three holder companies, Ovidio Ltd., Fausto Ltd. and Gabino Ltd., held the 74,000 names that were suspended. The fate of those domain names will be determined by a court decision, according to EURid, which said it hopes to later make the names available for legitimate registration again.

The organization operating the .eu TLD also referred to the risk that the abuse may decrease the value of the domain name. "That is why EURid wants to act firmly against any improper behavior regarding .eu domain names," says EURid.

The .eu rollout, which drew more than 1.5 million domain registrations per week after it was initially made available, showed the continued popularity and success of geographical TLDs. However, the abuse of the process should serve as a lesson for other registry rollouts, says Parsons.

"I hope other registries getting ready to come online take notice at how the system can be abused and make the appropriate adjustments to avoid situations like this," he says.

Parsons also said the .eu issues were likely more widespread, and while he was supportive of EURid's action, he says it compares to a lackluster response to the problem from the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

"I am pleased EURid is working to correct the problem," Parsons says. "I hope they continue to pursue other registrars that violated the agreement set forth by EURid. There isn't a doubt in my mind that more registrars abused the system. It will be interesting to see if they continue to pursue individuals who abused the system.

"And I'll say this: at least EURid is taking some action, which is more than I can say for ICANN."