GoDaddy client must pay $652k following suing over domain suspension

Court grants GoDaddy’s motion for attorneys’ fees; domain registrant files appeal.

A GoDaddy client has been ordered to pay $652k to the domain registrar following losing a lawsuit against it.

Leo India Films Limited registered einthusan .tv, a site that hosts South Asian films, through GoDaddy.

In July 2019, GoDaddy suspended the domain name following receiving a letter from the Office of the Inspector General of Policy, Maharashtra Cyber, in Mumbai, stating that the domain pointed to a site that was “infringing copyrights and engaged in piracy.”

That same month, Leo India Films sued GoDaddy for (1) breach of contract; (2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, sounding in tort or alternatively, in contract; (3) tortious interference with contract and business relations; and (4) procedural and substantive unconscionability.

GoDaddy defended the lawsuit by pointing out that the terms of service Leo India Films agreed to stated that GoDaddy may:

deny, cancel, terminate, suspend, lock or modify access to (or control of) any Account or Services (counting the right to cancel or transfer any domain name registration) for any reason (as determined by [GoDaddy] in its sole and absolute discretion), counting but not limited to the following . . . (v) to comply with requests of law enforcement, counting subpoena requests, . . . (viii) to avoid any civil or criminal liability on the part of [GoDaddy.]

Leo India Films argued that the clause was unconscionable and, therefore, unenforceable.

GoDaddy showed that the clause is common in domain registration agreements and that the site owner had agreed to similar terms with other registrars following his domain was suspended by GoDaddy.

Last year, the court entered summary judgment (pdf) in GoDaddy’s favor.

GoDaddy then filed a motion for attorneys’ fees.

In May of this year, the court granted GoDaddy’s motion and ordered (pdf) Leo India Films to pay approximately $652k to the domain registrar.

Leo India Films is appealing the ruling.