Announcement Concerning "Electronic Domain Name Monitoring"

The US FederalTrade Commission today announcedthat it has obtained a court order stopping a domain name registrationscheme known as "Electronic Domain Name Monitoring"or "Corporate Domain Name Monitoring."

The "EDNM" scheme involved sendingunsolicited faxes to domain name registrants that stated "URGENTNOTICE OF IDENTICAL DOMAIN NAME APPLICATION BY A THIRD PARTY."The faxes appeared to be official notices from the "NationalDomain Name Registry" warning that a third party had "applied"for a domain name nearly identical to the victim's domain. Targetsof the solicitation were told that they were "required"to submit an opposition to the third party domain registrationor else the "licensing rights" to the domain name wouldbe assigned to "any applicant," and CDNM/NDNR wouldnot be "liable" for loss of "domain name license"or "interruption of business activity." The FTC characterizedthese assertions as "not only false, but also nonsensical."

The FTC obtained an order from the UnitedStates District Court, Northern District of Georgia, stoppingthe deceptive practices and blocking access to websites usedin the deceptive operation, including www.ndnregistry.com, www.ndnregistry.net,www.ndnregistry.org, www.ndnr.org, www.ndnr.net, www.ednm.net,www.ednm.org and www.cdnmonitoring.com.

The companies named as defendants in theFTC's suit include 1268957 Ontario, Inc., and 1371772 OntarioInc., doing business as National Domain Name Registry, ElectronicDomain Name Monitoring, and Corporate Domain Name Monitoring.None of these companies are ICANN-accredited registrars.