Judge Slaps Registry For Misleading Name Games

soupa writes "Register.com filed suit against Domain Registry of America in August, alleging that the Buffalo, New York, firm targeted Register.com's existing customers and led them to believe that the two companies were affiliated. Now a Federal judge has ordered Domain Registry of America "to stop telling Register.com customers that the two companies were affiliated." Sounds pretty straightforward. "

Regis Philbin

[avalys]

The first thing I thought when I read that headline was: "God, I'm so sick of hearing about Regis Philbin!"

Impersonation

[slowtech]

This is confusing, but it appears that someone out there with a "Regisry" is attempting to pass it off as a "Registry".

This is very dangerous, so I am glad that the courts have stepped in. However, Slashdot may be next.

Funny, Register.com does the same thing...

[singularity]

This article [timesdispatch.com] reminds us that register.com has done similar things in the past.

I received at least two or three very deceptively worded domain renewal slips from them when my domain was registered though someone else.

Eventually I think that the FTC made them make "Transfer and Renew" much bigger (it used to be that "Renew!" was really big and "transfer" was basically in the fine print. In addition, the return address and the buniess envelope did not say "Register.com" on them.

More pot meet kettle

[sjames]

When my wife's domains were sort of nearing expiration (6 months left) we started getting 'time to renew' notices from Register.com (NOT the registrar for the domains then, and certainly not now).

I wouldn't have minded if they had sent more honest messages suggesting a change of registrar (though since they're more expensive than tucows and I run a name server anyway, we wouldn't have switched), but what we got was clearly designed to look like a simple renewal form until examined more carefully.

Damage already done

[phorm]

As mention previously about the Domain Registry of [Insert Country Here], I worked for a company that fell for this idiocy. I'm wondering what the parent organization is, and if it can be taken down instead of just the DRO-America portion. I think that the DROC (Domain Registry of Canada) was similarly shot down awhile ago, but there are probably a other countries that are letting these idiots continue to operate.

Who actually owns the Domain Registry? Are all subcompanies owned by the American component, or is there a sleazy parent corporation that can be taken out?