Class action accuses Verisign and ICANN of maintaining a .com monopoly
in plain words
A law firm has sued the company that runs the .com registry and the group that oversees internet names. The lawsuit says customers pay too much for .com domains because there is no other company that can sell them. The companies have not yet responded in this report.
Full summary
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Verisign The company that operates the .com and .net registries. Full definition of Verisign and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers The nonprofit that coordinates the global DNS and gTLD policy. Full definition of ICANN), accusing them of maintaining an illegal monopoly over .com domain name A readable internet name made of labels separated by dots. Full definition of domain name. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on September 4, 2026, under the case name Kessler v. VeriSign, Inc. et al. The law firm Hagens Berman filed the case, which is listed as active.
Verisign is the sole operator of the .com registry The central database and system of a top-level domain, or loosely the organization that runs it. Full definition of registry, the database that makes .com websites and email addresses work. The lawsuit says Verisign's price has risen more than 30 percent since 2021, from $7.85 to $10.26 per domain. It argues that Verisign's costs have fallen across the industry and that Verisign's filings show it spends about $3 per domain to run .com, while comparable registries charge an average of between $5 and $6.
The complaint alleges that a contract between Verisign and ICANN gives Verisign a permanent monopoly over the .com registry, and that ICANN now shares in the resulting profits. It also says Verisign returned $1 billion to shareholders in 2025 through buybacks and dividends, funded by fees from customers who have no alternative.
The lawsuit states that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has recognized that similar antitrust claims against Verisign and ICANN are legally viable. It also cites the NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration The United States government agency for internet policy, which oversaw IANA until 2016. Full definition of NTIA, which has said a reduction in .com prices would be in the public interest, and members of Congress who have called for an antitrust investigation.
The firm says anyone who registered or renewed a .com domain since 2022, through any registrar A company that registers domain names for customers with the registry. Full definition of registrar such as GoDaddy The largest registrar, which also runs a registry business and an aftermarket platform. Full definition of GoDaddy, Namecheap A large American retail registrar, also known for challenging ICANN decisions on pricing. Full definition of Namecheap, Cloudflare, Google Domains/Squarespace, Network Solutions A US registrar, accredited by ICANN with IANA ID 2, that once ran the .com, .net and .org registry and, by Newfold Digital's own account, now belongs to Newfold. Full definition of Network Solutions or Porkbun US domain registrar accredited by ICANN, launched in 2015 and owned by Top Level Design LLC, a former new gTLD registry operator. Full definition of Porkbun, may be affected.