Coalition for ICANN Transparency Inc. v. VeriSign, Inc.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS

Defendant VeriSign, Inc. moves to dismiss plaintiff Coalition for ICANN Transparency, Inc.’s (“CFIT”) Third Amended Complaint for lack of standing, for failure to plead facts sufficient to support its claim of .net registry Sherman Act violations, for impermissibly seeking retrospective equitable relief, and for asserting a demand for a jury trial to which it is not entitled. CFIT moves for leave to correct or amend paragraph 16 of its Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”) to add the names of two financial supporters. For the reasons set forth below, the court grants VeriSign’s motion to dismiss with leave to amend with respect to standing and VeriSign’s activities in the .net registration market and without leave to seek a disgorgement remedy or a jury trial. The court denies CFIT’s motion to amend paragraph 16 of its TAC without prejudice.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Players

Plaintiff CFIT is a nonprofit membership organization purportedly composed of participants in the Internet domain name system, including domain name registrars and owners of domain names. CFIT alleges that it has members who have an interest in ensuring that conditions in the domain…