The Supreme Court has turned down a challenge to fees charged for registering and renewing Internet domain names annually. Without comment, the justices rejected arguments that the fees amounted to an exorbitant and illegal tax.
It may not set legal precedent but the high court's action means a win for the National Science Foundation and Network Solutions, the latter the Virginia firm keeping the master list of World Wide Web addresses, says APBNews.com.
The NSF is an independent federal agency which offers financial support for research and science programs. Network Solutions has an agreement with NSF to register over five million addresses since 1992 on first-come, first-serve bases for the top-level ".com," ".org," and ".net" Web addressed.
Network Solutions had charged a $100 registration fee starting in 1995, APBNews says, and a $50 annual renewal after two years. It designated 30 percent of the fees to the NSF - prompting opponents to claim it amounted to an illegal tax. The practice was stopped in 1998, and the fees are now "70 and $35.
A group of Web site owners sued in 1997. A federal judge first said the 30 percent portion was an illegal tax, but a year later Congress passed a law authorizing that portion explicitly. The judge then tossed the lawsuit, with a federal appeals court upholding that dismissal last May, APBNews says.
