Verisign trying to intimidate, bully competitors with .XYZ lawsuit: Donuts
Fresh top level domain firm issues statement following court finds in its favor.
A judge in U.S. District Court in Washington state has denied Verisign’s request for reconsideration in a subpoena battle involving competitor Donuts. Donuts states Verisign is trying to intimated and bully competitors through similar subpoenas.
Verisign subpoenaed Donuts as a non-party in the .com registry’s lawsuit against .XYZ and Daniel Negari. Donuts fought back, asking the court to quash the subpoena.
The judge granted much of Donuts’ request. But then Verisign stated that it had evidence, obtained during discovery, that suggested Donuts CEO Paul Stahura was providing guidance to Negari as it related to Verisign’s lawsuit.
Verisign asked the court to reconsider it original decision, and the court has now denied (pdf) Verisign’s request.
Donuts issued the following statement:
The Federal Court granted Donuts’ motion to quash a burdensome subpoena seeking private and irrelevant communications in a lawsuit to which it isn’t a party. Unfortunately, Verisign has been attempting to intimidate competitors and gain access to sensitive information from Donuts, GoDaddy, Web.com and others in a lawsuit it brought against .XYZ LLC. Donuts will not tolerate this kind of prying into its confidential business matters and appreciates the court ruling against these bullying tactics.
ICANN is also fighting a subpoena from Verisign related to the .XYZ lawsuit.
