District Court Halts ICANN Delegation of .africa gTLD, Amid Lawsuit
U.S. District Court in Los Angeles granted DotConnectAfrica Trust's request for a preliminary injunction halting ICANN's delegation of the .africa top-level domain to the ZA Central Registry. DCA Trust sought the preliminary injunction amid its ongoing lawsuit against ICANN, which…
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seeks to require ICANN to follow the terms of independent review process (IRP) proceedings that found ICANN mishandled DCA's 2013 challenge to the nonprofit's .africa delegation decision. DCA Trust also wants ICANN to reconsider the registry's application to be the .africa registry (see 1603070062 and 1603280050). “The evidence suggests that ICANN intended to deny DCA's application based on pretext,” Judge Gary Klausner said in his ruling: ICANN hasn't “introduced any controverting facts. As such, the Court finds serious questions regarding the enforceability of” provisions of a waiver that DCA Trust agreed to when it applied to be the .africa registry that waived DCA Trust's right to sue ICANN over the .africa delegation decision. Evidence “presents serious questions” about whether ICANN followed the IRP decisions in favor of DCA Trust, including “whether DCA's application should have proceeded to the delegation stage” after the IRP decision, Klausner said. DCA “will likely suffer irreparable harm” if ICANN proceeds with the .africa delegation before the lawsuit is concluded, Klausner said. ICANN didn't comment.