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RegisterFly

April 11, 2024

RegisterFly was a New Jersey (U.S.) based internet hosting and domain name registrar that had their ICANN-accredited status terminated in March 2007.[1]

RegisterFly
Company typePrivate
IndustryDomain registrar
Founded2000
Headquarters404 Main St. Boonton, New Jersey
Key people
John Naruszewicz, Kevin Medina
ProductsDomain names
Websitewww.registerfly.com

History edit

RegisterFly formerly acted as a reseller of the services of eNom, but became an accredited registrar in its own right in 2006 through the acquisition of "Top Class Names" sold to the company by Directi with Bhavin Turakhia completing the asset transfer.[2] By February 2007, the company was registrar for approximately 2,000,000 domain names held by about 900,000 customers.[3] Notable clients of RegisterFly included the government of Thailand, the Easter Seals charity, and pop star Michael Jackson.[4] In 2007, ICANN launched an investigation of RegisterFly amid allegations of fraud. No lawsuits were initially filed between the governing domain body and the company; however, there was during this time a lawsuit between the company's two owners, CEO John Naruszewicz and Kevin Medina. RegisterFly's website went offline for a time, causing serious concern amongst registrant customers of RegisterFly.[5][6]

 
One user's support ticket history, including tickets closed without resolution.

The incidents and lawsuit that then followed were the result of a feud between RegisterFly co-owners Kevin Medina and John Naruszewicz, who were at once both business and intimate partners. As problems at RegisterFly gained momentum, their ten-year-long business and romantic relationship abruptly came to an end.[7] The lawsuit between the former partners alleged, among other matters, that Medina misappropriated corporate funds for personal use.[7][8] However, the court ruled on March 8, 2007, in favor of Medina, stating that Naruszewicz had no ownership over RegisterFly. Medina resumed control over RegisterFly, but not before Naruszewicz published a public apology to customers on the company's web page.[9]

On March 28, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen unsealed a class action lawsuit filed by Attorney E. Clarke Dummit against RegisterFly, eNom, and ICANN. The lawsuit alleges that RegisterFly systematically defrauded customers attempting to register or renew Internet domain names.

Due to the reported negligence of RegisterFly in protecting its customers, angry calls have arisen for oversight of the domain registrar industry.[10] On March 16, 2007, ICANN publicly announced that Registerfly will cease operating as an ICANN-Accredited Registrar on March 31, 2007.[11] ICANN officially removed Registerfly's accreditation on March 31, 2007 and ordered Registerfly to cease operation and remove the ICANN logo from Registerfly's website. However, Kevin Medina invoked the arbitration clause in the registrar's accreditation agreement which allows him to continue to operate as a domain name registrar through an arbitration process laid out in the contract.[12]

On April 17, 2007, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to ICANN, compelling Registerfly to turn over all registration data within 48 hours and to update it every seven days.[13] Medina failed to do so, and ICANN was granted a civil contempt order against Registerfly on May 9, 2007, compelling Registerfly to comply with the preliminary injunction. Because Kevin Medina failed to show up for the hearings, the judge issued a show cause why Medina should not be found personally in contempt of court on May 16, and ordered another hearing for May 25, 2007. Kevin Medina appeared in court on May 25, 2007, and was found personally in contempt for not complying with the previous orders. The temporary restraining order was made permanent. He was given 48 hours to post a notice on his website stating that Registerfly's accreditation had been terminated, and until June 1, 2007 to give ICANN all registrant data. Registerfly could be fined $5,000 USD a day for failure to do so. Registerfly initially posted the required ICANN notice in the help section of their website; however, the notice did not meet all of the order's requirements, especially as to placement on the top one-third of every page in a fourteen-point bold typeface.[14] RegisterFly has since printed the required notice on its home page.[15]

Ownership lawsuit edit

In February 2007 eNom formally severed ties with RegisterFly over continued consumer complaints.[16] John Naruszewicz, a co-owner of RegisterFly, filed suit against his business partner, CEO Kevin Medina (they each were thought to have owned 50% of the company). Medina was fired by RegisterFly, reportedly over civil liabilities relating to allegations of funds mismanagement[17] but Medina and Naruszewicz continued to dispute legal control over the company.[18][19] Meanwhile, RegisterFly filed suit against Kevin Medina, alleging he had stolen company funds for a $27,000 male escort service, a $6,000 liposuction procedure, a $10,000/month penthouse apartment in Miami, Florida and a $6,000 chihuahua dog. This alleged misappropriation of funds, along with Medina's lavish spending, was said to have caused the company's woes.[8][20] Court documents claim over 75,000 customer domain names were forfeited by RegisterFly.com in one month alone because of the company's failure to pay registration fees.[4][18] RegisterFly management also claimed that Medina deleted passwords and access to billing system information to prevent the issuing of customer refunds.[21] However, Medina reportedly accused his ex-lover Naruzewicz of spending $60,000 in company funds on Moroccan furniture for the Corporate office.[20]

Website split and court ruling edit

In early March 2007 two competing and visually similar versions of the RegisterFly website were online. Naruszewicz had taken over control of RegisterFly.com; and RegisterFly.net was set up by and under Medina's management, each through separate service providers. On March 7, 2007, reports emerged that Registerfly.net was effectively a phishing site gathering credit card sales but not providing a product or service.[22] Customers were urged to avoid all business with RegisterFly.net, and immediately, to change their passwords via RegisterFly.com, since even though the websites were separate, Medina still had a duplicate of all account information.

On March 8, 2007, then-CEO John Naruszewicz made an official announcement that having regained control of the website, he would begin rectifying payment problems and recovering lost domains.[23] Later the same day, United States district court Judge Peter Sheridan ordered that legal control of RegisterFly be returned to an official ownership state as of December 17, 2006, when, at this time it was discovered that Medina never correctly filed proper ownership agreements and they were being drawn up and discussed. This ruling essentially allowed Naruszewicz to forfeit any claim to Registerfly, with Medina being the sole owner and fully responsible for all company affairs. After the ruling, Medina said “This decision puts me back in the driver's seat. I believe I have built a lot of customers that will weather the storm.”[24] Without Naruszewicz at the helm, all Registerfly employees tendered their resignation on the same day as Medina's court victory. This was one of the final nails in the coffin for this company.[citation needed]

Naruszewicz said he would not appeal the judge's ruling and stated, “We lost and it's all over. The company will implode in days and 1 million domain names are going to be lost. It's a damned shame.”[25]

ICANN and customer complaints edit

ICANN had received many customer complaints about RegisterFly. There were allegations of fraud dating back to 2004, including reports RegisterFly had suspended customer accounts and domain names in retaliation for complaints about overcharging. Kevin Medina also reportedly used the fake alias of "Tim Shor". eNom and ICANN also accused RegisterFly of inappropriately altering clients' WHOIS data. Complaints about RegisterFly were issued by other ICANN-accredited registrars, ICANN board members and the United States Department of Commerce.[18]

On February 22, 2007 ICANN notified RegisterFly they would lose their accreditation as a domain registrar if certain issues were not corrected.[26] News sources reported that as of February 19, 2007 RegisterFly had suspended all business contact including e-mail, telephone and fax communications.[27] Meanwhile, ICANN was also the subject of criticism over their handling of RegisterFly's problems, with allegations of a “laissez faire attitude toward customer allegations of fraud”.[28]

ICANN lawsuit and domain restrictions edit

On March 4, 2007 (a Sunday) ICANN announced it would file suit against RegisterFly in United States federal court the following March 6 for failing to comply with an audit as required by their Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA).[29] However, ICANN deferred the suit after RegisterFly provided ICANN with minimum registrant information. ICANN also convinced several top-level domain registries who administer the .com, .net, .biz and .info namespaces, including VeriSign, NeuStar and Afilias to restrict pending-expiration Registerfly domains into a so-called “Server-Delete-Prohibited” status. ICANN stated, “This will prevent them from being deleted from the registry and becoming available for re-registration by others.”

.be domains edit

In 2005...2006, RegisterFly was the main registrar of .be domains (Belgium). This is due to various promotional zero-dollar offers for .be domains by RegisterFly during 2005 and probably until late 2006. A significant part of the RegisterFly domain data base included .be domains. While the exact number can not be specified at this time, the number is supposed to be between 100 000 and 300 000 .be domains. When customers tried to renew such domains, the money was drawn from their credit card but domain renewal did not take place. So in their RegisterFly customer account, their domain was marked as renewed, while the Belgium ccTLD registry for these domains had already made them available for new domain registrants. The Belgian ccTLD registry equivalent refused to apply to these domains the status “Server-Delete-Prohibited”, as this function was not provided in the registries processes. This refusal was the answer for the corresponding request for various .be domains, for example for the domain notenverga.be ("rating...", related to the German site http://vox7.com = rating of election candidates.) - Source: infos7.com - So while ICANN coordinated some kind of protection, the registrants of .be domain had the risk to definitely lose their domains in case of some marketing value (high visitor frequence) to domain hunters.

Termination of ICANN accreditation edit

On March 16, 2007, ICANN informed Registerfly that it would cease operating as an ICANN-Accredited Registrar on March 31, 2007, and also ordered RegisterFly to immediately cease using the ICANN logo and trademarks on their website.[30]

“Terminating accreditation is the strongest measure ICANN is able to take against RegisterFly under its powers. ICANN has been frustrated and distressed by recent management confusion inside RegisterFly. Completely understand the greater frustration and enormous difficulty that this has created for registrants.” Dr. Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN was quoted as saying.[31] Twomey also called on RegisterFly to immediately initiate a “bulk transfer” (migrating or moving multiple names at one time) of all their domain names to another registrar, to protect the interests of their remaining clients.[30]

On April 27, a US Judge ruled that ICANN could terminate RegisterFly's accreditation immediately.[32]

Effects on industry due to RegisterFly collapse edit

In the wake of and in response to RegisterFly's collapse, ICANN is planning to reform the entire domain registration and registrar accreditation process. President and CEO of ICANN, Dr. Paul Twomey, stated:

What has happened to registrants with RegisterFly.com has made it clear there must be comprehensive review of the registrar accreditation process and the content of the RAA. This is going to be a key debate at our Lisbon meeting scheduled for 26–30 March 2007. There must be clear decisions made on changes. As a community we cannot put this off. ICANN introduced competition to the domain name market in 1998. Back then there was one registrar. There are now over 865. That's a good thing because it has made domain names cheaper and offered more choice. But the RAA was designed and signed when the domain name market was much smaller. The market now supports about 70 million generic TLD names and is growing. Registrants suffer most from weaknesses in the RAA and I want to make sure that ICANN's accreditation process and our agreement gives us the ability to respond more strongly and flexibly in the future.[33]

Independent help for customers edit

For customers of RegisterFly the court ruling was exacerbated by reports that Medina's credit card provider Humboldt was terminating their services.[34] Many customers had learned of these problems only after having failed in routine online attempts to renew or transfer domain names or pay for services via credit card. The support website registerflies.com, which had been set up in 2005 for the purpose of providing independent support and information to disgruntled RegisterFly customers, was providing information on recovering domain names lost by RegisterFly. Also, they have called for domain name registrants to contact the Florida attorney general.[35]

RegisterFly was ordered by ICANN to provide its database of registrant information to them, including the owners of domain names and their contact details. ICANN reportedly received the data on March 7 and found that the data was deficient and inaccurate. On April 17, 2007 A Federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to ICANN compelling Registerfly to turn over all registration data and to update it every seven days.[13]

Because of the current operational problems at the RegisterFly website, ProtectFly in many instances can not be turned off, or turning it off has no effect, which has caused customers more difficulties.[36] Valentino Viccetzar, a writer for the web blog Poker Rouge Blog, was reported to have found a 15-step work-around solution for customers.[37] This technique became known as the 'poker push', but in many instances failed to work, and customers were forced to try to find remedies with Registerfly.

Customers continued to report that they were unable to get support through the Registerfly support system as their telephone support involved multiple hour wait times, support tickets were ignored or deleted, and that emails went unanswered. A few customers were able to resolve problems. However, sometime in the middle of May 2007 the Registerfly support telephone numbers were disconnected.[38]

There is no way for disenfranchised customers to recover funds remaining in their accounts. As of April 2, 2008, customer support states "We do not refund quick checkout balances... This policy is without exception."

Portfolio buyout edit

On May 29, 2007 Go Daddy, announced that through an agreement with RegisterFly, it was taking over the entire portfolio of more than 855,000 generic top-level domain (gTLD) names held by RegisterFly.[39] The names would move to newly created accounts at GoDaddy, and they would notify Registerfly customers by email. GoDaddy and ICANN will not release terms of the agreement but have said that GoDaddy is not buying Registerfly.[40][41] ICANN plans to continue legal action against Registerfly for its continued noncompliance of the court ordered injunction.[42]

Bankruptcy hearings edit

A hearing in Newark, New Jersey in December 2007 discussed that the company would be executing what is known as an "assignment for the benefit of creditors."[citation needed] This is usually a state-court equivalent to a bankruptcy case in which a company's assets are gathered by a third-party, liquidated, then distributed to the company's creditors in proportion to the company's debt to each of the creditors.

References edit

  1. ^ ICANN Blog FAQs for RegisterFly customers, April 3, 2007 September 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ The Register, Burke Hansen. ICANN sued by irate RegisterFly customer, as class action rumble begins, March 28, 2007 February 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ The Register, Burke Hansen. Registerfly on the fly, ICANN on the run, February 19, 2007 July 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Business Week, Steve Hamm, , Claims of embezzlement and complaints from irate customers threaten to derail the small domain-name registrar, March 8, 2007
  5. ^ Netcraft news, RegisterFly Site Goes Offline, March 6, 2007 March 31, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Hostsearch news, Netcraft Reports RegisterFly Site Offline, March 8, 2007 July 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ a b The Register, Burke Hansen; ICANN: we can help Registerfly mess, March 14, 2007 October 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ a b The Register, Burke Hansen. Registerfly files suit against ousted CEO, February 22, 2007 December 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Business Week, Steve Hamm, et al. , March 9, 2007
  10. ^ Business Week Online; Problems at RegisterFly.com shed light on loose oversight of Net addresses", March 26, 2007
  11. ^ ICANN, Official ICANN announcement, March 16, 2007 May 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ ICANN.org ICANN public participation site June 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ a b ICANN.org, ICANN announcement April 17, 2007 June 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ ICANN.org, ICANN vs. Registerfly preliminary injunction item 11
  15. ^ RegisterFly.com, Home Page, retrieved 5 September 2007 14 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ RegisterFly Reseller Termination F.A.Q. February 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ RegisterFly, RegisterFly Official Reseller Termination FAQ February 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ a b c Malaysia Sun, Brawling RegisterFly partners in fight to the death, February 24, 2007 May 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ The Register, Burke Hansen. ICANN rides to the rescue in Registerfly meltdown, February 23, 2007 February 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ a b IT News Australia, Tom Sanders; ICANN pulls Registerfly's licence, March 20, 2007 March 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ Ars Technica, Jacqui Cheng Registerfly faces losing ICANN accreditation, February 27, 2007 December 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ RegisterFlies News; ACT NOW - Important News Release October 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ RegisterFlies News; Official Registerfly Announcement August 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Business Week, Steve Hamm and Megan Tucker; , March 8, 2007
  25. ^ Netcraft News, Rich Miller; Two RegisterFly Sites Online as Ousted CEO Returns, March 12, 2007 March 31, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  26. ^ ICANN, Kurt J. Pritz, Senior Vice President, Services, Notice of Breach of ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement, February 21, 2007
  27. ^ Malaysia Sun, Alarm bells ringing over domain registrar, RegisterFly.com, February 19, 2007 February 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ The Register, Burke Hansen Of ICANN and the Registerfly meltdown, March 3, 2007 October 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ The Register, Burke Hansen, Stiffening at last, ICANN threatens Registerfly with legal action, March 4, 2007 October 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  30. ^ a b Malaysia Sun, ICANN terminates RegisterFly.com accreditation, March 17, 2007 February 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  31. ^ The Register, Drew Cullen; ICANN terminates RegisterFly with extreme prejudice, March 17, 2007 October 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ ICANN.org, ICANN announcement, April 27, 2007 July 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ ICANN.org, "Registrar Accreditation Policy and Process Must be Reviewed," March 21, 2007. January 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ RegisterFlies News; Registerfly is DONE - Get Out! October 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ RegisterFlies; RegisterFlies Latest News October 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  36. ^ RegisterFlies Forum; RegisterFly Update March 10 2007 (whole page) October 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  37. ^ Web Host Directory - Industry News; Poker Blog Finds Loophole in RegisterFly.com's System-May Save over 1 Million Domains February 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  38. ^ Registerflies.com forum posts, Registerlies.com forums February 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  39. ^ Hot Points with Go Daddy CEO Bob Parson July 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  40. ^ Go Daddy Press release May 29, 2007 July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  41. ^ ICANN.org ICANN blog May 29, 2007 October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  42. ^ Associated Press GoDaddy Agrees to Run Domains in Limbo May 29, 2007

External links edit

  • Registerflies
  • "Registerfly and the ICANN Office of the Ombudsman" by ICANN ombudsman on ICANN.org, the authority on the 2007 RegisterFly situation.
  • RegisterFly search results at ICANN

April 11, 2024
registerfly, jersey, based, internet, hosting, domain, name, registrar, that, their, icann, accredited, status, terminated, march, 2007, company, typeprivateindustrydomain, registrarfounded2000headquarters404, main, boonton, jerseykey, peoplejohn, naruszewicz,. RegisterFly was a New Jersey U S based internet hosting and domain name registrar that had their ICANN accredited status terminated in March 2007 1 RegisterFlyCompany typePrivateIndustryDomain registrarFounded2000Headquarters404 Main St Boonton New JerseyKey peopleJohn Naruszewicz Kevin MedinaProductsDomain namesWebsitewww registerfly com Contents 1 History 2 Ownership lawsuit 2 1 Website split and court ruling 3 ICANN and customer complaints 3 1 ICANN lawsuit and domain restrictions 3 2 be domains 3 3 Termination of ICANN accreditation 3 4 Effects on industry due to RegisterFly collapse 4 Independent help for customers 5 Portfolio buyout 6 Bankruptcy hearings 7 References 8 External linksHistory editRegisterFly formerly acted as a reseller of the services of eNom but became an accredited registrar in its own right in 2006 through the acquisition of Top Class Names sold to the company by Directi with Bhavin Turakhia completing the asset transfer 2 By February 2007 the company was registrar for approximately 2 000 000 domain names held by about 900 000 customers 3 Notable clients of RegisterFly included the government of Thailand the Easter Seals charity and pop star Michael Jackson 4 In 2007 ICANN launched an investigation of RegisterFly amid allegations of fraud No lawsuits were initially filed between the governing domain body and the company however there was during this time a lawsuit between the company s two owners CEO John Naruszewicz and Kevin Medina RegisterFly s website went offline for a time causing serious concern amongst registrant customers of RegisterFly 5 6 nbsp One user s support ticket history including tickets closed without resolution The incidents and lawsuit that then followed were the result of a feud between RegisterFly co owners Kevin Medina and John Naruszewicz who were at once both business and intimate partners As problems at RegisterFly gained momentum their ten year long business and romantic relationship abruptly came to an end 7 The lawsuit between the former partners alleged among other matters that Medina misappropriated corporate funds for personal use 7 8 However the court ruled on March 8 2007 in favor of Medina stating that Naruszewicz had no ownership over RegisterFly Medina resumed control over RegisterFly but not before Naruszewicz published a public apology to customers on the company s web page 9 On March 28 2007 U S District Court Judge William Osteen unsealed a class action lawsuit filed by Attorney E Clarke Dummit against RegisterFly eNom and ICANN The lawsuit alleges that RegisterFly systematically defrauded customers attempting to register or renew Internet domain names Due to the reported negligence of RegisterFly in protecting its customers angry calls have arisen for oversight of the domain registrar industry 10 On March 16 2007 ICANN publicly announced that Registerfly will cease operating as an ICANN Accredited Registrar on March 31 2007 11 ICANN officially removed Registerfly s accreditation on March 31 2007 and ordered Registerfly to cease operation and remove the ICANN logo from Registerfly s website However Kevin Medina invoked the arbitration clause in the registrar s accreditation agreement which allows him to continue to operate as a domain name registrar through an arbitration process laid out in the contract 12 On April 17 2007 a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to ICANN compelling Registerfly to turn over all registration data within 48 hours and to update it every seven days 13 Medina failed to do so and ICANN was granted a civil contempt order against Registerfly on May 9 2007 compelling Registerfly to comply with the preliminary injunction Because Kevin Medina failed to show up for the hearings the judge issued a show cause why Medina should not be found personally in contempt of court on May 16 and ordered another hearing for May 25 2007 Kevin Medina appeared in court on May 25 2007 and was found personally in contempt for not complying with the previous orders The temporary restraining order was made permanent He was given 48 hours to post a notice on his website stating that Registerfly s accreditation had been terminated and until June 1 2007 to give ICANN all registrant data Registerfly could be fined 5 000 USD a day for failure to do so Registerfly initially posted the required ICANN notice in the help section of their website however the notice did not meet all of the order s requirements especially as to placement on the top one third of every page in a fourteen point bold typeface 14 RegisterFly has since printed the required notice on its home page 15 Ownership lawsuit editIn February 2007 eNom formally severed ties with RegisterFly over continued consumer complaints 16 John Naruszewicz a co owner of RegisterFly filed suit against his business partner CEO Kevin Medina they each were thought to have owned 50 of the company Medina was fired by RegisterFly reportedly over civil liabilities relating to allegations of funds mismanagement 17 but Medina and Naruszewicz continued to dispute legal control over the company 18 19 Meanwhile RegisterFly filed suit against Kevin Medina alleging he had stolen company funds for a 27 000 male escort service a 6 000 liposuction procedure a 10 000 month penthouse apartment in Miami Florida and a 6 000 chihuahua dog This alleged misappropriation of funds along with Medina s lavish spending was said to have caused the company s woes 8 20 Court documents claim over 75 000 customer domain names were forfeited by RegisterFly com in one month alone because of the company s failure to pay registration fees 4 18 RegisterFly management also claimed that Medina deleted passwords and access to billing system information to prevent the issuing of customer refunds 21 However Medina reportedly accused his ex lover Naruzewicz of spending 60 000 in company funds on Moroccan furniture for the Corporate office 20 Website split and court ruling edit In early March 2007 two competing and visually similar versions of the RegisterFly website were online Naruszewicz had taken over control of RegisterFly com and RegisterFly net was set up by and under Medina s management each through separate service providers On March 7 2007 reports emerged that Registerfly net was effectively a phishing site gathering credit card sales but not providing a product or service 22 Customers were urged to avoid all business with RegisterFly net and immediately to change their passwords via RegisterFly com since even though the websites were separate Medina still had a duplicate of all account information On March 8 2007 then CEO John Naruszewicz made an official announcement that having regained control of the website he would begin rectifying payment problems and recovering lost domains 23 Later the same day United States district court Judge Peter Sheridan ordered that legal control of RegisterFly be returned to an official ownership state as of December 17 2006 when at this time it was discovered that Medina never correctly filed proper ownership agreements and they were being drawn up and discussed This ruling essentially allowed Naruszewicz to forfeit any claim to Registerfly with Medina being the sole owner and fully responsible for all company affairs After the ruling Medina said This decision puts me back in the driver s seat I believe I have built a lot of customers that will weather the storm 24 Without Naruszewicz at the helm all Registerfly employees tendered their resignation on the same day as Medina s court victory This was one of the final nails in the coffin for this company citation needed Naruszewicz said he would not appeal the judge s ruling and stated We lost and it s all over The company will implode in days and 1 million domain names are going to be lost It s a damned shame 25 ICANN and customer complaints editICANN had received many customer complaints about RegisterFly There were allegations of fraud dating back to 2004 including reports RegisterFly had suspended customer accounts and domain names in retaliation for complaints about overcharging Kevin Medina also reportedly used the fake alias of Tim Shor eNom and ICANN also accused RegisterFly of inappropriately altering clients WHOIS data Complaints about RegisterFly were issued by other ICANN accredited registrars ICANN board members and the United States Department of Commerce 18 On February 22 2007 ICANN notified RegisterFly they would lose their accreditation as a domain registrar if certain issues were not corrected 26 News sources reported that as of February 19 2007 RegisterFly had suspended all business contact including e mail telephone and fax communications 27 Meanwhile ICANN was also the subject of criticism over their handling of RegisterFly s problems with allegations of a laissez faire attitude toward customer allegations of fraud 28 ICANN lawsuit and domain restrictions edit On March 4 2007 a Sunday ICANN announced it would file suit against RegisterFly in United States federal court the following March 6 for failing to comply with an audit as required by their Registrar Accreditation Agreement RAA 29 However ICANN deferred the suit after RegisterFly provided ICANN with minimum registrant information ICANN also convinced several top level domain registries who administer the com net biz and info namespaces including VeriSign NeuStar and Afilias to restrict pending expiration Registerfly domains into a so called Server Delete Prohibited status ICANN stated This will prevent them from being deleted from the registry and becoming available for re registration by others be domains edit In 2005 2006 RegisterFly was the main registrar of be domains Belgium This is due to various promotional zero dollar offers for be domains by RegisterFly during 2005 and probably until late 2006 A significant part of the RegisterFly domain data base included be domains While the exact number can not be specified at this time the number is supposed to be between 100 000 and 300 000 be domains When customers tried to renew such domains the money was drawn from their credit card but domain renewal did not take place So in their RegisterFly customer account their domain was marked as renewed while the Belgium ccTLD registry for these domains had already made them available for new domain registrants The Belgian ccTLD registry equivalent refused to apply to these domains the status Server Delete Prohibited as this function was not provided in the registries processes This refusal was the answer for the corresponding request for various be domains for example for the domain notenverga be rating related to the German site http vox7 com rating of election candidates Source infos7 com So while ICANN coordinated some kind of protection the registrants of be domain had the risk to definitely lose their domains in case of some marketing value high visitor frequence to domain hunters Termination of ICANN accreditation edit On March 16 2007 ICANN informed Registerfly that it would cease operating as an ICANN Accredited Registrar on March 31 2007 and also ordered RegisterFly to immediately cease using the ICANN logo and trademarks on their website 30 Terminating accreditation is the strongest measure ICANN is able to take against RegisterFly under its powers ICANN has been frustrated and distressed by recent management confusion inside RegisterFly Completely understand the greater frustration and enormous difficulty that this has created for registrants Dr Paul Twomey President and CEO of ICANN was quoted as saying 31 Twomey also called on RegisterFly to immediately initiate a bulk transfer migrating or moving multiple names at one time of all their domain names to another registrar to protect the interests of their remaining clients 30 On April 27 a US Judge ruled that ICANN could terminate RegisterFly s accreditation immediately 32 Effects on industry due to RegisterFly collapse edit In the wake of and in response to RegisterFly s collapse ICANN is planning to reform the entire domain registration and registrar accreditation process President and CEO of ICANN Dr Paul Twomey stated What has happened to registrants with RegisterFly com has made it clear there must be comprehensive review of the registrar accreditation process and the content of the RAA This is going to be a key debate at our Lisbon meeting scheduled for 26 30 March 2007 There must be clear decisions made on changes As a community we cannot put this off ICANN introduced competition to the domain name market in 1998 Back then there was one registrar There are now over 865 That s a good thing because it has made domain names cheaper and offered more choice But the RAA was designed and signed when the domain name market was much smaller The market now supports about 70 million generic TLD names and is growing Registrants suffer most from weaknesses in the RAA and I want to make sure that ICANN s accreditation process and our agreement gives us the ability to respond more strongly and flexibly in the future 33 Independent help for customers editFor customers of RegisterFly the court ruling was exacerbated by reports that Medina s credit card provider Humboldt was terminating their services 34 Many customers had learned of these problems only after having failed in routine online attempts to renew or transfer domain names or pay for services via credit card The support website registerflies com which had been set up in 2005 for the purpose of providing independent support and information to disgruntled RegisterFly customers was providing information on recovering domain names lost by RegisterFly Also they have called for domain name registrants to contact the Florida attorney general 35 RegisterFly was ordered by ICANN to provide its database of registrant information to them including the owners of domain names and their contact details ICANN reportedly received the data on March 7 and found that the data was deficient and inaccurate On April 17 2007 A Federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to ICANN compelling Registerfly to turn over all registration data and to update it every seven days 13 Because of the current operational problems at the RegisterFly website ProtectFly in many instances can not be turned off or turning it off has no effect which has caused customers more difficulties 36 Valentino Viccetzar a writer for the web blog Poker Rouge Blog was reported to have found a 15 step work around solution for customers 37 This technique became known as the poker push but in many instances failed to work and customers were forced to try to find remedies with Registerfly Customers continued to report that they were unable to get support through the Registerfly support system as their telephone support involved multiple hour wait times support tickets were ignored or deleted and that emails went unanswered A few customers were able to resolve problems However sometime in the middle of May 2007 the Registerfly support telephone numbers were disconnected 38 There is no way for disenfranchised customers to recover funds remaining in their accounts As of April 2 2008 customer support states We do not refund quick checkout balances This policy is without exception Portfolio buyout editOn May 29 2007 Go Daddy announced that through an agreement with RegisterFly it was taking over the entire portfolio of more than 855 000 generic top level domain gTLD names held by RegisterFly 39 The names would move to newly created accounts at GoDaddy and they would notify Registerfly customers by email GoDaddy and ICANN will not release terms of the agreement but have said that GoDaddy is not buying Registerfly 40 41 ICANN plans to continue legal action against Registerfly for its continued noncompliance of the court ordered injunction 42 Bankruptcy hearings editA hearing in Newark New Jersey in December 2007 discussed that the company would be executing what is known as an assignment for the benefit of creditors citation needed This is usually a state court equivalent to a bankruptcy case in which a company s assets are gathered by a third party liquidated then distributed to the company s creditors in proportion to the company s debt to each of the creditors References edit ICANN Blog FAQs for RegisterFly customers April 3 2007 Archived September 12 2008 at the Wayback Machine The Register Burke Hansen ICANN sued by irate RegisterFly customer as class action rumble begins March 28 2007 Archived February 21 2014 at the Wayback Machine The Register Burke Hansen Registerfly on the fly ICANN on the run February 19 2007 Archived July 20 2008 at the Wayback Machine a b Business Week Steve Hamm Allegations Fly at Registerfly Claims of embezzlement and complaints from irate customers threaten to derail the small domain name registrar March 8 2007 Netcraft news RegisterFly Site Goes Offline March 6 2007 Archived March 31 2014 at the Wayback Machine Hostsearch news Netcraft Reports RegisterFly Site Offline March 8 2007 Archived July 13 2012 at the Wayback Machine a b The Register Burke Hansen ICANN we can help Registerfly mess March 14 2007 Archived October 3 2007 at the Wayback Machine a b The Register Burke Hansen Registerfly files suit against ousted CEO February 22 2007 Archived December 20 2013 at the Wayback Machine Business Week Steve Hamm et al Judge Rules for Ousted Registerfly CEO March 9 2007 Business Week Online How Secure Is Your Domain Problems at RegisterFly com shed light on loose oversight of Net addresses March 26 2007 ICANN Official ICANN announcement March 16 2007 Archived May 27 2008 at the Wayback Machine ICANN org ICANN public participation site Archived June 9 2010 at the Wayback Machine a b ICANN org ICANN announcement April 17 2007 Archived June 26 2008 at the Wayback Machine ICANN org ICANN vs Registerfly preliminary injunction item 11 RegisterFly com Home Page retrieved 5 September 2007 Archived 14 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine RegisterFly Reseller Termination F A Q Archived February 22 2014 at the Wayback Machine RegisterFly RegisterFly Official Reseller Termination FAQ Archived February 22 2014 at the Wayback Machine a b c Malaysia Sun Brawling RegisterFly partners in fight to the death February 24 2007 Archived May 9 2012 at the Wayback Machine The Register Burke Hansen ICANN rides to the rescue in Registerfly meltdown February 23 2007 Archived February 21 2014 at the Wayback Machine a b IT News Australia Tom Sanders ICANN pulls Registerfly s licence March 20 2007 Archived March 28 2007 at the Wayback Machine Ars Technica Jacqui Cheng Registerfly faces losing ICANN accreditation February 27 2007 Archived December 8 2008 at the Wayback Machine RegisterFlies News ACT NOW Important News Release Archived October 25 2007 at the Wayback Machine RegisterFlies News Official Registerfly Announcement Archived August 30 2013 at the Wayback Machine Business Week Steve Hamm and Megan Tucker Judge Rules for Ousted Registerfly CEO March 8 2007 Netcraft News Rich Miller Two RegisterFly Sites Online as Ousted CEO Returns March 12 2007 Archived March 31 2014 at the Wayback Machine ICANN Kurt J Pritz Senior Vice President Services Notice of Breach of ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement February 21 2007 Malaysia Sun Alarm bells ringing over domain registrar RegisterFly com February 19 2007 Archived February 7 2012 at the Wayback Machine The Register Burke Hansen Of ICANN and the Registerfly meltdown March 3 2007 Archived October 3 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Register Burke Hansen Stiffening at last ICANN threatens Registerfly with legal action March 4 2007 Archived October 12 2012 at the Wayback Machine a b Malaysia Sun ICANN terminates RegisterFly com accreditation March 17 2007 Archived February 7 2012 at the Wayback Machine The Register Drew Cullen ICANN terminates RegisterFly with extreme prejudice March 17 2007 Archived October 12 2012 at the Wayback Machine ICANN org ICANN announcement April 27 2007 Archived July 6 2008 at the Wayback Machine ICANN org Registrar Accreditation Policy and Process Must be Reviewed March 21 2007 Archived January 6 2009 at the Wayback Machine RegisterFlies News Registerfly is DONE Get Out Archived October 25 2007 at the Wayback Machine RegisterFlies RegisterFlies Latest News Archived October 25 2007 at the Wayback Machine RegisterFlies Forum RegisterFly Update March 10 2007 whole page Archived October 25 2007 at the Wayback Machine Web Host Directory Industry News Poker Blog Finds Loophole in RegisterFly com s System May Save over 1 Million Domains Archived February 7 2012 at the Wayback Machine Registerflies com forum posts Registerlies com forums Archived February 10 2012 at the Wayback Machine Hot Points with Go Daddy CEO Bob Parson Archived July 25 2008 at the Wayback Machine Go Daddy Press release May 29 2007 Archived July 24 2011 at the Wayback Machine ICANN org ICANN blog May 29 2007 Archived October 24 2007 at the Wayback Machine Associated Press GoDaddy Agrees to Run Domains in Limbo May 29 2007External links editOfficial RegisterFly com website Registerflies Registerfly and the ICANN Office of the Ombudsman by ICANN ombudsman on ICANN org the authority on the 2007 RegisterFly situation RegisterFly search results at ICANN Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title RegisterFly amp oldid 1147953598, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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