Domain Name Blog

ICANN.org, announced today that RegisterFly has been ordered by US Federal Court Judge, Manuel J. Real, to hand over to ICANN current and accurate data for all of its domain names now that ICANN’s application for a Temporary Restraining Order against RegisterFly was granted on April 17, 2007.

According to a press release by ICANN, under the TRO, RegisterFly is to provide this data every seven days, also allow ICANN staff access to the company’s records and books in order to perform an audit. The Court has also scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for April 26, 2007, which, if ICANN prevails, will extend the force and effect of the TRO for a longer period of time.

With current and accurate registrant data, ICANN will be in a position to initiate a bulk transfer to another registrar, either with RegisterFly’s cooperation while the company remains an ICANN-accredited registrar, or unilaterally if RegisterFly’s accreditation is terminated. Aside from the lawsuit, ICANN has also initiated a review of its Registrar Accreditation Agreement in an effort to reduce the possibility of this situation being repeated in future.

“We ask RegisterFly and its management to co-operate fully with the order,” ICANN President and CEO Dr Paul Twomey said.