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["nettime's_roving_reporter" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

<http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cth204.htm>

01/24/00 - Updated 03.48 PM ET

Court upholds Network Solutions decision

   NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Network Solutions Inc., a private company that
   has an exclusive contract with the U.S. government to assign Internet
   addresses, has convinced a federal appeals court to uphold the
   dismissal of an antitrust case filed by a rival firm.

   In a decision released in New York on Friday, the U.S. Court of
   Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a ruling in March by a lower
   court judge that threw out antitrust claims filed against Herndon,
   Va.-based Network Solutions and the National Science Foundation. The
   suit was filed by Name.Space Inc., a firm that had challenged Network
   Solutions' right to apportion all Internet addresses.

   Network Solutions has had an exclusive federal contract since 1993 to
   handle the distribution of Internet addresses ending in .com, .net,
   .org, .edu, .gov, .int, and .mil. That contract will expire in 2003,
   as the U.S. government phases out the company's exclusive agreement.
   The White House has set up a nonprofit organization to oversee the
   privatization of the Internet address business.

   Name.Space, previously known as pgMedia Inc., claimed that Network
   Solutions' refusal to add new categories of Internet addresses --
   supplementing the existing seven -- violated the First Amendment and
   antitrust laws. The appeals court rejected those claims.

   The court said Network Solutions was entitled to antitrust immunity
   because it is acting at the behest of a federal agency.
  
   
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