Reglikedomain industry desk

Verisign has a fresh term for dropcatchers: scavengers

XYZ/Verisign dispute goes on as “scavengers” snap up expired domains.

Verisign has filed a reply (pdf) to XYZ’s brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals over the .com giant’s false advertising charges.

As you may recall, Verisign states XYZ falsely inflated its success and disparaged .com.

Verisign’s reply brief mainly rehashes old arguments that the two adversaries obviously disagree regarding.

For example, Verisign claims 70% of .com availability searches succeed. XYZ claims 99% fail.

The difference is that XYZ is counting drop catching services hammering Verisign’s servers to try to get domains when they drop.

Verisign argues these shouldn’t count. In an amusing statement, its lawyers call people buying dropping domain names “professional domain name scavengers.”

So the case goes on.

I’m not a lawyer, and Verisign might have some arguments that the lower court erred. But some things still make me scratch my head. I’m still confused as to how Verisign is arguing that XYZ’s disparagement of .com hurt sales of .net.

Also on the wire

Other reporting from the domain desk.

NameJet and SnapNames note: 156 recent domain salesExpired DomainsNameJet and SnapNames note: 156 recent domain salesDExpired DomainsDomains to Backorder Now — 22 Pre-ReleaseWExpired DomainsWay to Sell More Expiring Domain Names — VeriSign DevisesNExpired DomainsNow Includes Expired Domain Suggestions — DNW NewsletterEExpired DomainsExpired Domain Services Let Employees Bid Against ClientsDExpired DomainsDropCatch adds 300 more registrars, now has 752: WowTo explain Expired Domains — GoDaddy HangoutExpired DomainsTo explain Expired Domains — GoDaddy HangoutBe careful making bids in the fresh GoDaddy Investor appExpired DomainsBe careful making bids in the fresh GoDaddy Investor app“Expired Domains“premium names” to auctions — Enom adds