Washington, D.C. – With an August 2nd deadline looming for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to decide whether to renew Verisign’s monopoly contract over “.com,” the American Economic Liberties Project today released a new paper, “A Call for .Com-petition: Reining in Verisign’s Monopoly Over The Internet’s Most Popular Top Level Domain.” The paper analyzes harmful pricing terms in the current contract, reviews the history of the “incestuous legal triangle” that locked in Verisign’s extortionate prices, and details both policy options and litigation strategies for unleashing competition and ensuring fair market prices.

“Verisign’s monopoly over the .com top level domain is old enough to vote and drink,” said Laurel Kilgour, Research Manager at the American Economic Liberties Project. “It’s time for the NTIA to quit caving to automatic renewals or weak compromises, and end Verisign’s reign over the domain name industry. Continuing to provide cover for them only pads the profits of Verisign shareholders like Warren Buffet, and hurts website owners that depend on the .com domain name. NTIA can either end its relationship with Verisign or use the August 2nd deadline to roll back harmful amendments from the Trump era. Failure to act will lead to future price hikes, leaving antitrust litigation as the only remedy.”

According to Economic Liberties’ analysis, fair market prices for .com wholesale domains should range from $0.87 to $4.37, significantly less than Verisign’s current $9.59 or the planned $10.26 in September 2024. The new paper highlights that these fair prices would cover Verisign’s costs and provide a reasonable profit, unlike the current rates. If NTIA allows the current contract to auto-renew, Verisign can raise prices —without justification—by 7% annually for four years, doubling the current inflation rate.

The Biden-Harris administration’s 2021 Executive Order on Promoting Competition mandates all federal agencies, including NTIA, to promote competition across the economy. Despite this, NTIA has not reconsidered its Cooperative Agreement with Verisign or the .com Registry Agreement between Verisign and ICANN, a non-profit heavily funded by Verisign.

The paper recommends NTIA end its relationship with Verisign to force a renegotiation of Verisign’s agreement with ICANN, exposing both entities to potential antitrust scrutiny. Alternatively, NTIA could use the non-renewal deadline to negotiate new terms with Verisign, restoring bidding rights and evidence-based price caps. The paper also provides a legal roadmap for potential antitrust actions against Verisign and ICANN, drawing on past private sector litigation that survived a motion to dismiss before settling.

Read “A Call for .Com-petition: Reining in Verisign’s Monopoly Over The Internet’s Most Popular Top Level Domain” here.

Read the Ninth Circuit’s previous ruling on antitrust allegations against Verisign here, and a detailed complaint from the same case here. 

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.