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IP: NSI/NSF antitrust lawsuit win freezes Infrastructure Fund
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 17:36:09 -0500
I assume from the style that this was written by the plaintive. But I assume the facts are correct. djf NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: William Bode January 26, 1998 202/862-4300 VICTORY FOR INTERNET USERS: Federal Judge Asks NSI and NSF to Freeze $50 Million Registration Fee Fund PRESS CONFERENCE Scheduled for Thursday, January 29, 1998, 10:30 a.m. Connecticut Building, 1150 Connecticut Ave., N.W., 9th Floor, Washington,= D.C. Sponsored by the Association of Internet Registrants of America (AIRA) Washington, D.C. -- "Highway Robbery on the Information Superhighway." On January 16, 1998, in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Internet domain name registrants, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan asked Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to "freeze" the funds in the Internet "Intellectual Infrastructure Fund" until he decides whether the fund was lawfully created. Judge Hogan will decide by the end of the month whether the $100 registration and $50 annual renewal fee paid by Internet domain name registrants constitute an unconstitutional tax. In the class action suit, Thomas et al. v. NSI and NSF, the plaintiffs claim that: =B7 The 30% set-aside from the Internet registration and renewal fee is an unconstitutional tax; =B7 The remaining registration and renewal fees are contrary to federal statute (the Independent Office Appropriation Act) and the U.S. Constitution; and =B7 NSI violated the Sherman Act (the principal antitrust law) in administering the domain name function. William Bode, attorney for the plaintiffs, explained that, "Under federal law, no independent executive agency -- such as NSF -- can collect fees that exceed the cost of providing the service they are administering. NSI, the agent of NSF, spends less than $5 to register domain names, yet it charges a registration fee of $100 and renewal fees of $50 per year." The plaintiffs will file a second motion for preliminary injunction this week asking the U.S. District Court to require NSI to return all registration and renewal fees to Internet users, and to prevent NSI from collecting any registration fees in excess of its costs and any renewal fees at all. Adds AIRA President Howard Sartori, "The government has, in effect, unlawfully given this [intellectual] property for free to NSI and permitted NSI to make exorbitant profits -- at the expense of the Internet user. Worse, the services these fees are supposed to fund are not meeting the needs of the Internet user." To attend the January 29, 1998 press conference, contact Judy Caruthers at 202/862-4341. For more information, contact Mr. Bode (202/862-4300) or Mr. Sartori (202/917-2935).
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- IP: NSI/NSF antitrust lawsuit win freezes Infrastructure Fund Dave Farber (Jan 27)