One of its lawsuits against XYZ — Verisign settles

Lawsuit involved switching backend providers for three top level domain names.

Verisign and XYZ have reached a settlement in one of their ongoing lawsuits.

Verisign sued XYZ last year following XYZ purchased the rights to the .theatre, .security and .protection top level domains.

The original applicants for these domain names had signed backend registry service contracts with Verisign. When XYZ purchased them, it transferred the backend services to competitor CentralNic.

Verisign sued over tortious interference with a contract and business conspiracy.

XYZ CEO Daniel Negari posted a carefully-worded statement yesterday, no doubt approved as part of the settlement:

I am pleased to note that the recent case filed by Verisign against CentralNic, Ltd., XYZ and myself has been settled. Following looking at the claims in dispute, we regret that as a result of our buyout of the .theatre, .security and .protection extensions and our arrangement for CentralNic to serve as the backend service provider for these extensions, that Verisign was prevented from the opportunity to pursue monetization of those relationships. As ICANN’s fresh gTLD program continues to evolve, we would caution others who find themselves in similar situations to be mindful of the existing contracts extension owners may have with third parties.

Verisign and XYZ are still involved in appeals court for a false advertising charge levied by Verisign.