ATTENTION: BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY REPORTERS

PoolDomains.com Launches ICANN Suit

Successful start-up challenges ICANN’s right to replace competitive backorder services with monopolistic WLS

Ottawa, Canada / July 10, 2003 – PoolDomains.com, one of the Internet’s hottest new ventures, has launched a lawsuit challenging the right of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to proceed with a monopolistic new Wait List Service (WLS) this fall.

In a Statement of Claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, PoolDomains.com states that the new "WLS proposed by ICANN and Verisign Inc. will have the immediate and total effect of ending all competition among Registrars for dropped or deleted domain names" in the rapidly developing backordering industry. PoolDomains.com seeks a court injunction preventing ICANN from proceeding with the WLS, a declaration that ICANN’s actions constitute intentional and wrongful interference with PoolDomains.com’s trade and commercial prospects, as well as significant damages.

Backordering services offers domain name registrants the opportunity to obtain dropped and deleted domain names, which are becoming available at the rate of about 22,000 per day or over 7 million per year. At present, over 60 accredited registrars now compete on behalf of their clients for these names in a "vibrant and intense" manner. PoolDomains.com works in partnership with several of these registrars, recently introducing an innovative new service that allows customers to backorder domain names without the up-front charges imposed by other backorder providers. In a short period of time, PoolDomains.com’s new approach has leaped into the competitive forefront, quickly attracting over 100,000 would-be registrations. More information on PoolDomains.com’s free backordering service is available at www.PoolDomains.com.

"The recent introduction of PoolDomains.com’s new service is further evidence that the backordering business is healthy and competitive and innovative" says Len Bayles, Vice President of PoolDomains.com. "The proposed actions by ICANN and Verisign would, simply put, have the effect of putting ourselves and others out of business and would leave consumers dependent on a monopoly provider."

PoolDomains.com’s lawsuit is one of a growing number of initiatives aimed at preventing ICANN from restricting competition. ICANN’s conduct in support of monopolistic practices has been viewed so egregiously as to attract the attention of the US Congress, including the introduction of the "Fair, Transparent and Competitive Naming Act of 2003" aimed at examining the conduct of ICANN and seeking an inquiry directly challenging the authority of ICANN to enable the WLS and a moratorium on the introduction of the WLS.

Copies of PoolDomains.com’s Statement of Claim are available at www.PoolDomains.com. Statement of Claim - PoolDomains.com Inc. v. ICANN (PDF)

www.PoolDomains.com and its affiliated companies in the Momentous.ca group have long been at the forefront of Internet development, offering industry-leading full customer service and a full suite of domain registration, hosting, email and related services. The companies serve customers around the globe from offices in North America and the Caribbean.

For more information, or to arrange a media interview, please visit www.PoolDomains.com or contact Rita Mezzanotte at rita@PoolDomains.com or by telephone at (613) 794-8550.