U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rules that Coalition for ICANN Transparency, Inc.'s lawsuit against VeriSign, Inc. may proceed under Sherman "Antitrust" Act. I haven't read the opinion word for word, but the gist of it is that VeriSign and ICANN engaged in a bit of cozy bargaining that resulted in VeriSign securing a virtual-perpetual lock on the .Com registry with locked in price increases.
In other words, if there was actual competition, instead of the cozy relationship between ICANN and VeriSign, there would be actual bidding for control of the .Com/.Net registries which, in all probability, have resulted in the lowering of costs - instead of the lock-step increases in fees.
To those who have registered more than a few .Com domains in the past this lawsuit may have 3 benefits. First, shattering the lock that VeriSign has on .Com. Second, opening the operation of the registry to competition which should drive down costs. Third, the real possibility that VeriSign would have to pay back millions of dollars of excessive charges.
Here's the pdf of the Court's decision [ca9.uscourts.gov].
