October 25, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (icann.org) said on Monday that it had reached an agreement to settle a longstanding legal dispute with VeriSign (verisign.com), operator of the .com and .net registries.
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The settlement covers all legal disputes between the two parties. Foremost among these was the controversial Site Finder service VeriSign introduced in late 2003. With Site Finder, Internet users typing in addresses that did not exist were served Web pages suggesting where they could go rather than given error pages.
Critics argued the service was an abuse of power by VeriSign, since it received money from those who benefited from the traffic. VeriSign gave in to the pressure and suspended the service. It then counter-sued ICANN, alleging the organization was impeding its efforts to offer new services and generate revenue.
According to the settlement, new services like Site Finder will be sent to the Internet community for review and comment, and will ultimately require ICANN approval. Another part of the deal extends VeriSign's control over the .com registry from 2007 till 2012.
"This agreement settles many of the long-standing points of tension between ICANN and VeriSign," says Paul Twomey, president and CEO of ICANN. "The settlement opens the way for a constructive and productive relationship between ICANN and VeriSign that will benefit the global Internet community, and further illustrates the benefits of a multi-stakeholder approach."
