Legal Question in Technology Law in California

VeriSign chooses what are "premium .tv domains" and what are "regular .tv domains." They classify dogs.tv as "premium" and dog.tv as "regular." eNOM is the only accredited registrar of "premium .tv" names as classified by VeriSign, and they have an exclusive agreement together, and therefore I can't transfer the "premium" domain name dogs.tv (premium) from eNOM to another registrar such as GoDaddy.com, as I was able to transfer dog.tv (regular) from Register.com to GoDaddy.com. Shall I call VeriSign out on this inconsistency (i.e. why dogs is premium but not dog)? [Actually, I am just using dog as an example, but it makes the same point since it's just the difference between a plural and singular form of a noun as the domain name].


Asked on 7/26/09, 10:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Brent Rose The Orsini & Rose Law Firm

VeriSign has nothing to do with it. Some domains have already been purchased, some haven't. If they have been purchased already, they are often up for sale at a "premium" price instead of the original, normal registration fee.

VeriSign offers security certificates (so you can change an http address into an https address).

If, for instance, you got ahold of lawyers.tv, you'd gladly offer it for sale for $50,000 instead of the $39.99 you paid for it. VeriSign wouldn't make it "premium," you would.

You can check sites like SnapNames to determine what premium site names are available for sale. GoDaddy will tell you what names are available. WhoIs.net will tell you who owns names that have been purchased previously.

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Answered on 7/27/09, 9:52 am


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