Showing posts with label District Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label District Court. Show all posts

2016-12-01

ICANN New gTLDs' Covenant Not To Sue Sinks Donuts, DCA Trust Next?

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Take notice all ye new gTLD applicants, the Applicant Guidebook's Covenant Not To Sue means what it says, you waive your rights to sue ICANN, so rules the Honorable Percy Anderson, U.S. District Court Judge: 
Covenant Not To Sue in New gTLDs Applicant Guidebook 
Final paragraph of Judge Anderson's Order in Ruby Glen vs ICANN (highlighting added), dismissing with prejudice Ruby Glen's First Amended Complaint (FAC):

The District Court's Order and Judgment are embedded below. Further, in a footnote, Judge Anderson stated: [1] The Court does not find persuasive the preliminary analysis concerning the enforceability of the covenant not to sue conducted by the court in DotConnectAfrica Trust v. ICANN, Case No. 2:16-cv-862 RGK (JCx) (C.D. Cal. Apr. 12, 2016).

The Ruby Glen (affiliate of Donuts Inc.) lawsuit involved new gTLD .WEB. The DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust) lawsuit involves new gTLD .AFRICA, and has been remanded by the U.S. District Court to a California state court in Los Angeles. Ruby Glen and Donuts also have a pending CEP (Cooperative Engagement Process) proceeding in connection with the .WEB last resort auction won by Nu Dot Co. For more see .AFRICA, .WEB, ICANN Litigation Update, IRP & CEP Status Report (15 Nov 2016).

Whether Ruby Glen (Donuts) will appeal is unclear, although Jon Nevett, Donuts co-founder and Executive Vice President, released a statement according to DomainNameWire.com, stating "Donuts disagrees with the Court’s decision ... Donuts will continue to utilize the tools at its disposal to address this procedural failure."

 If  Ruby Glen (Donuts) does appeal, that could be doing ICANN a big favor as ICANN would like a published Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion affirming Judge Percy Anderson and enforcing the Covenant Not To Sue, which could then be cited as legal precedent in any case brought by new gTLD applicants, now, or in future rounds of new gTLDs.

Order dismissing (pdf):



Final Judgment (pdf):




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2016-06-28

ICANN and Dot AFRICA: Dismissed Party ZACR Files Notice of Appeal

UPDATE July 18: AFRICA Appeals Consolidated--"the parties’ joint motion (Docket Entry No. 5) to consolidate Nos.16-55693 and 16-55894 and to amend the briefing schedule is granted. The opening brief in No. 16-55693 has been filed. The opening brief in No. 16-55694 is due July 22, 2016. The answering brief is due August 19, 2016. The optional reply brief is due September 9, 2016"--Order embedded below:

UPDATE June 29: ICANN filed its opening brief:

The sad saga of ICANN's bungling of the application process for new gTLD (new generic top-level domain) .AFRICA has added another chapter as dismissed party ZA Central Registry (ZACR) has filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, from Orders entered by the Hon. R. Gary Klausner, U.S. District Court Judge, granting DotConnectAfrica Trust's (DCA) Motion for Preliminary Injunction (enjoining ICANN from delegating .AFRICA) and denying ICANN's motion for reconsideration of the Preliminary Injunction Order. The unusual twist in this case is that the District Court had dismissed ZACR as a Defendant "thereby extinguishing ZACR's role a[s] party to the action" (see  Order of June 20 included as Exhibit 2 of the notice of appeal embedded in full below), prior to denying ICANN's reconsideration motion.

ICANN's appellant brief in its interlocutory appeal is due June 29, 2016, and the U.S. District Court has assigned the case to a 10-12 day jury trial beginning February 28, 2017.

UPDATE June 28, 2016: ICANN has amended its notice of appeal and also appeals the U.S. District Court’s Order entered on June 20, 2016 (ECF No. 113), attached to ICANN's Amended Notice of Appeal (last embed below), which denied ICANN's motion for reconsideration of the Court's Order granting the preliminary injunction.

See also on Domain Mondo:

ZACR's Notice of Appeal with Exhibits 1 & 2 (highlighting added):


ICANN's Amended Notice of Appeal with Exhibits (highlighting added):


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2016-06-16

New gTLD AFRICA Litigation: Defendant ZACR Dismissed as a Party

See UPDATE June 24: ICANN and Dot AFRICA: Dismissed Party ZACR Files Notice of Appeal.

UPDATE: On June 20, 2016, the U.S. District Court denied ICANN's motion for reconsideration of the Order enjoining ICANN from delegating new gTLD .AFRICA. The trial judge, Hon. R. Gary Klausner, has obviously carefully read and considered the IRP Final Declaration in this matter, upon which Plaintiff has relied in support of its claims. The case has already been assigned to a 10-12 day jury trial beginning February 28, 2017 (see scheduling Order further below) and ICANN is due to file its appellant's brief on June 29, 2016, in its interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit of the District Court's Preliminary Injunction Order. The Court's June 20, 2016, Order is embedded below (highlighting added):

 --original post below--
In the new gTLD .AFRICA litigation, Case No. 16-CV-00862 RGK (JCx), DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust) v. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) & ZA Central Registry (ZACR), the U.S. District Court for Central District of California at Los Angeles, Honorable R. Gary Klausner, U.S. District Judge, has granted ZACR's Motion to Dismiss the Complaint (as to defendant ZACR only), concluding, along with other reasons (see embed below):
"... the Court finds Plaintiff’s first request against ZACR (i.e., that the Court declare the registry agreement null and void) unnecessary, as a favorable ruling on its claims against ICANN will result in the relief it seeks ..." (emphasis added)
The District Court has also set the case for a jury trial (estimated length: 10−12 days), starting February 28, 2017 at 09:00 AM (see scheduling conference proceedings embedded further below).

ICANN has filed an interlocutory appeal of the District Court's order granting Plaintiff DCA Trust's motion for preliminary injunction which enjoined ICANN from delegating the new gTLD .AFRICA. That appeal is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and appellant ICANN's opening brief is due June 29, 2016; appellee DCA Trust's answering brief is due July 29, 2016; and ICANN's optional reply brief is due within 14 days after service of the answering brief. See Order (pdf).

District Court ruling (highlighting added):


Scheduling conference proceedings (highlighting added):


See also on Domain Mondo:

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