ICANN posts update on vertical integration.
ICANN just posted an update (pdf) to the issue of “vertical integration” between registries and registrars.
At issue is whether a registry, such as Afilias or VeriSign, can also own a domain registrar, such as GoDaddy.
ICANN has been fairly quiet on the issue despite the window for applying for new TLDs coming to a close next month.
But it just posted a letter in response to an inquiry from the GNSO Registry Stakeholder Group.
In the letter, ICANN says that U.S. antitrust authorities do not currently have any open inquiries into vertical integration. The European Commission, however, still has an open dialogue with ICANN. It has said that it doesn’t have concerns with the concept as a whole, although it is still concerned about some larger TLDs such as .com.
I think we’ll see a lot of vertical integration among the registries and a number of registrars applying for new TLDs. I don’t think that VeriSign (which runs .com and .net) will pursue vertical integration at this point. Its .com contract is too lucrative to risk by drawing attention from antitrust authorities.
Louise says
Your 3rd “Further Reading” link – U.S. Antitrust: Halt Registrar-Registry Integration on Existing Top Level Domain Names – shows this topic was already in the news, with the NTIA’s letter to ICANN negative on vertical integration. But ICANN wants to move forward with what ICANN wants to move forward with. We’ll see where this 2nd attempt to dissolve restrictions against vertical integration gets ICANN.