Judge formally dismisses lawsuit with prejudice.
Meta Platforms’ (NASDAQ: FB) lawsuit against domain name registrar Namecheap was officially dismissed today, following a settlement last month.
Meta (Facebook at the time) sued (pdf) Namecheap and its Whois privacy service in March 2020 for alleged cybersquatting and trademark infringement. It complained that Namecheap’s Whois privacy service was not disclosing the ownership details behind domains that Meta said infringed on its trademarks. Meta argued that the Whois privacy service was therefore responsible for the actions of the domain registrants. In a blog post, it said it was suing to protect people from domain name fraud.
Namecheap argued that it was simply a matter of due process and protecting its users’ privacy.
It’s unclear what the settlement terms were, but the dismissal notes that both parties will bear their own costs and fees. Additionally, Namecheap consented to transfer 61 domains to Meta that contained Meta’s trademarks before the dismissal.
John says
Ohhhh so when I go to namecheap and present my trademark information and ask them for the details of a domain name owner they tell me they won’t act as a mediator, but then when it’s Facebook they just transfer the names. Funny how that works isn’t it.
Observer says
Where did it say that they didn’t obtain the consent of the domain owner?
Isn’t it possible that they may have had some coordination with each owner in the interest of settling the suit?
Andrew Allemann says
Um, this was the result of a long and expensive lawsuit. They don’t “just transfer the names.”