Reglikedomain industry desk

.Web sells for $135 million but the saga continues: #2 in 2016

.Web’s record-shattering auction was big news in the domain name industry.

The second most-read story on Reglike this year was regarding the .Web top level domain name selling for $135 million.

I broke the news regarding the final auction price, but the full story continues to play out today.

As it turns out, .com registry Verisign was backing Nu Dot Co’s winning bid in the auction, and many competitors cried foul. That includes runner-up Afilias, which has asked that it be awarded the domain name. It also includes Donuts, which is upset that Nu Dot Co forced an auction of last resort rather than a private auction in which the losers split the proceeds.

Donuts sued but a judge tossed out the suit. Donuts may try additional ways to slow down .web, such as an independent review.

I’m aware of one case in which a fresh TLD firm paid another one to not continue with accountability mechanisms, but I doubt that will be the resolution between Verisign and Donuts.

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