VeriSign Inc.

28/06/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 28/06/2024 19:21

Regulation FD Disclosure Form 8 K

Item 7.01
Regulation FD Disclosure.
The American Economic Liberties Project and other advocacy organizations jointly released letters on June 26, 2024, to the US Departments of Commerce and Justice and the White House Competition Council. A press release accompanied these letters, which were issued after a two-month campaign by a paid subscription advocacy service and others.
The campaign, and the letters, assert that the 32-year-old Cooperative Agreement between the Department of Commerce (Department) and Verisign involving the .com top-level domain registry can be terminated by the Department on August 2, 2024, and, if it is, the management of .com can be transferred after a competitive bidding process. This assertion is wrong: If the Department chooses to sunset the Cooperative Agreement, which Verisign does not seek, the .com registry will continue to be managed pursuant to the terms of Verisign's and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) valid, enforceable Registry Agreement, which ensures the continued security, stability, and resiliency of this key internet infrastructure in accordance with the global multistakeholder system of internet governance.
The letters and the campaign are based on a fundamental misunderstanding and ignore the clear language of the Cooperative Agreement, the nature of cooperative agreements, the course of dealing between the Department, Verisign and ICANN, the role of ICANN as the central coordinator of the Domain Name System, long-standing US policy, as well as the express terms of the ICANN/Verisign .com Registry Agreement.
Although the letters and the campaign contain other falsehoods and inaccuracies that may be addressed at a later date, their main point about the Cooperative Agreement is simply incorrect.