Name.Space, Inc. v. Internet Corp. for Assigned Names & Numbers

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) creates and assigns top level domains (“TLDs”), such as “.com” and “.net.” In 2012, ICANN accepted applications for the creation of new TLDs. This suit alleges that the 2012 Application Round violated federal and California law. The district court dismissed the complaint, and we affirm.

*1127 I. Factual Background

A. Top Level Domains

Each Internet website is assigned a unique Internet Protocol (“IP”) numerical address. For ease of searching, websites also have alphanumeric domain names, such as “nytimes.com.” The portion before the dot — “nytimes”—is called the “second level domain.” The portion after the dot— “com” — is the TLD.

There are three main types of TLDs— sponsored TLDs (such as “.gov” and “.edu”), restricted to users who meet specified criteria; country-code TLDs (such as “.uk” or “.fr”), controlled by sovereign nations; and generic TLDs (such as “.com” and “.net”), those at issue in this case, open to all users. Individual generic TLDs are operated by registries, such as YeriSign, which sell the ability to register a domain name with a particular TLD and maintain a zone file, or registry,…