Are ICANN rules being flouted?

Registrars holding onto domains that should have been deleted

[superclown2]

As I understand it, ICANN rules state clearly that domains which expire and are not renewed by the holders are supposed to drop and be available for anyone - repeat anyone - to register. I have followed a number of domains in pending delete status over a long period of time and many of those with high pagerank or traffic, and registered through certain high profile registrars, have either been grabbed immediately upon deletion by partner companies, with other grabbers having, it seems, no hope of aquiring them; or the registrars have kept them and either parked them, offered them for sale by auction or put up a holding page indefinitely with ads on them. Since these actions are clearly in breach of ICANN regulations, what if anything is going to be done about this?

[davezan]

As I understand it, ICANN rules state clearly that domains which expire and are not renewed by the holders are supposed to drop and be available for anyone - repeat anyone - to register.

The link below is the Expired Domains Deletion Policy:

[icann.org...]

See where it possibly says expired domain names are "supposed" to drop. A lot
of them actually do, but they're quickly snapped up as you observed.

OTOH, if you have "tangible" proof that a registrar is violating any term of their
registrar agreement, feel free to complain via the link below:

[icann.org...]

David

[superclown2]

"At the conclusion of the registration period, failure by or on behalf of the Registered Name Holder to consent that the registration be renewed within the time specified in a second notice or reminder shall, in the absence of extenuating circumstances, result in cancellation of the registration by the end of the auto-renew grace period (although Registrar may choose to cancel the name earlier)."

"In the absence of extenuating circumstances (as defined in Section 3.7.5.1 above), a domain name must be deleted within 45 days of either the registrar or the registrant terminating a registration agreement."

"Extenuating circumstances are defined as: UDRP action, valid court order, failure of a Registrar's renewal process (which does not include failure of a registrant to respond), the domain name is used by a nameserver that provides DNS service to third-parties (additional time may be required to migrate the records managed by the nameserver), the registrant is subject to bankruptcy proceedings, payment dispute (where a registrant claims to have paid for a renewal, or a discrepancy in the amount paid), billing dispute (where a registrant disputes the amount on a bill), domain name subject to litigation in a court of competent jurisdiction, or other circumstance as approved specifically by ICANN"

Seems pretty clear to me that if the registrant doesn't renew the domain has to be deleted within 45 days. Unless I'm missing something?

[superclown2]

I have followed a whole stack of domains that were deleted and then hoovered up by one registrar. After five days (in other words, just before they had to be paid for!) they are all - thousands of them - in the hands of a second registrar and parked with just ads on them. No wonder the Internet is so full of junk and the sooner ICANN ban tasting the better IMO. I'll be interested to see where they are in another five days ......