Network Solutions Antitrust Suit Dismissed

A federal judge threw out an antitrust suit against Network Solutions, the company that registers Internet domain names under an exclusive contract with the U.S. government. The suit, filed by New York-based PGMedia in 1997, accused Network Solutions of violating antitrust laws because it would not expand the list of domain suffixes beyond familiar ones like .com, .org and .net. U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson Jr. in New York said Network Solutions “is entitled to antitrust immunity” because it was acting at the behest of a federal agency. But the Herndon, Va.-based company is set to lose its monopoly status this spring, when rival companies will be able to register domain names as part of a move to privatize some of the Internet’s administrative functions.