ICCAN has stepped in and banned the Domain Registry of America from flogging Domain names at least until October.
Domain Registry of America is run by Brandon Gray, sometimes under the handle of NameJuice.
What Domain Registry of America have been doing for the last decade is send out “renewal” notices using snail mail to people who are not their customers. They get the expiration dates correct so it looks legitimate. They also use important-looking stationary with lots of American flags and official language implying that you are already a customer.
A lot of people are suckered into thinking that the company’s name implies that they are somehow the official gatekeeper of domain names in the land of the free.
Inexperienced website owners fill out the paperwork, send in their credit card numbers, and transfer their domain name to Domain Registry of America and have to paying a higher fee for the domain name.
While these sorts of antics are legal in the US, the blogsphere is full of people complaining about the company. While many will welcome the ban, others will be wondering why it took ICANN so long. Others are alarmed that the ban is not permanent.
Gray got finally caught out under a couple of clauses in the 2013 registrar contract with ICANN by subjecting Registered Name Holders to false advertising, deceptive practices, or deceptive notices.
