Meta Platforms drops lawsuit against Namecheap following settlement
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 stated 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 stated 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 ahead of the dismissal.
