VeriSign Signs Stipulation Promising Not To Slam Registrars' Customers

VeriSign, Inc., the leading domain name registrar, signed a stipulation agreeing to halt its slamming of customers of competing registrars. The stipulation, dated June 20, 2002, was entered by U.S. District Court Judge Mary Murguia in Phoenix, Arizona in the action brought in June 2002 against VeriSign by rival registrar GoDaddy Software. Go Daddy accused VeriSign of consumer fraud, deceptive advertising and misappropriation of trade secrets in connection with VeriSign's aggressive customer acquisition campaign centered on the mailing of controversial "Domain Name Expiration Notices" to customers of VeriSign's competitors encouraging them to switch their registrations to VeriSign.

Under the stipulation, VeriSign agreed to halt mailing its "Domain Name Expiration Notices" to domain name registrants not already registered with VeriSign. "It is our hope that this order will send a strong message to anyone in this industry contemplating the use of such dubious marketing tactics to clean up their act," said [pdf format] Go Daddy founder and President Bob Parsons.

According to Go Daddy, VeriSign said that it stopped mailing the domain expiration notices on May 14, 2002 when a preliminary injunction was entered in a Maryland court in a similar suit against VeriSign filed by another registrar, BulkRegister. But customers of registrars like Go...