REGISTRARS INVITED TO FORM TRADE ORGANIZATION

"Our business is being threatened by the high-handed activities of Network Solutions, a former monopolist that obviously hasn't gotten the message regarding competition," wrote Michael Mann, president of BuyDomains.com, in a Sept. 13 letter to more than 100 registrars.

Mann is leading the charge to create The Registration Institute - REGI for short - to give the independent registrars currently licensed by ICANN and others a voice. At the top of the agenda is a deep unhappiness with NSI, which Mann and others accuse of hoarding more than 1 million expired domain names.

"NSI has absolutely no right to them," Mann said. "They are supposed to be deleted from [a registrar's] database after 30 days."

NSI announced in June that it had planned to sell off an undisclosed number of domain names that had expired due to nonpayment of registration fees. "It's an attempt to recoup losses on a segment of domain names," said NSI spokeswoman Cheryl Regan. "It's like a bank repossessing a car."

Regan said NSI does not plan to deactivate the names, and it is unclear if ICANN bylaws require it to do so. ICANN officials could not be reached for comment.

Mann has not received any responses from the invitations to join REGI, but hopes that competing registrars will see the value in the trade group.

Meanwhile, other registrars have complained about NSI's holding of expired names, and see it as a threat to their business. "NSI is abusing its position as a former monopoly," said Chris Moroney, co-CEO of Afternic.com. "They are taking these names out of the registration pool - taking business out of the hands of other registrars."

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