NEW YORK It looks at first like your basic contract spat. But VeriSign suing the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) - accusing ICANN of impeding its effort to launch and run SiteFinder and other services - could have broad implications on whether financial or public interest ultimately governs the way you hit the Web and send e-mail, legal experts tell news wires.
VeriSign is often accused of being somewhat monopolistic by offering bottom-line favoring services while controlling the administration of dot-com and dot-net. It's also been accused of carelessness, such as when a cyberjacker stole Sex.com from Gary Kremen a few years ago, prompting Kremen to hit back in court and win a $60 million judgment against the thief.
But experts like Wayne State University law professor Jonathan Weinberg say the contract between VeriSign and ICANN is vague enough that both sides have strong enough arguments. And, Weinberg continued, a decision in the lawsuit could set a precedent as to whether ICANN has the legal authority to stop rising Net services it defines as good for VeriSign but bad for the whole Internet.
