Former CEO Kevin Medina has regained control of the domain name
registrar, which has less than a week to straighten out accounts with
ICANN
by
Steve Hamm and
Megan Tucker
In a legal decision that stunned even the lawyers for the victor, a
U.S. District Court judge on Mar. 8 handed over the embattled Web
registrar Registerfly.com to the executive who was running it when it
began to founder. Judge Peter Sheridan ruled in favor of defendant
Kevin Medina, who had been chief executive of the parent company,
Unifiednames, before he was fired by two other board members on Feb.
12.
It wasn't immediately clear what impact the ruling would have on the
company's future and the more than 200,000 Web site owners who have
registered their domain names through Registerfly.com. Concerns over
the company have arisen in recent months amid complaints from customers
who said they weren't receiving services they'd paid for and a brewing
battle for control among owners. Domain-name registrars such as
Registerfly.com receive fees for registering Web site names and
ensuring they remain current.
"Back in the Driver's Seat"
Medina retook control of the company immediately, but, as of late
Mar. 8, the Web site still featured a notice, placed by John
Naruszewicz, Medina's longtime business partner and successor as CEO.
The statement includes an apology to customers for recent turmoil and
assurances that management is "taking every necessary measure to
address the problem at its source."
Eugenie Temmler, Medina's attorney, of the Upper Montclair (N.J.)
firm of Rabner, Allcorn, Baumgart & Ben-Asher, says Medina "is
confident he will be able to correct the problems caused by Mr.
Naruszewicz's attempt to take over the company." Interviewed in a
Newark (N.J.) courtroom after the ruling, Medina was pleased: "This
decision puts me back in the driver's seat," he said. "I believe I have
built a lot of customers that will weather the storm."
Naruszewicz, one of the two who had fired Medina and taken control
of the company, doesn't plan to appeal the judge's decision. "We lost
and it's all over," he says. "The company will implode in days and 1
million domain names are going to be lost. It's a damned shame."
Current and former customers reacted with shock on Web forums and
e-mails: "This is very bad. Registerfly will be shut down soon,"
predicts Justin Kulhawick, a former customer who last year set up a Web
site, Registerflies.com, to call attention to the company's failings.
Among the company's customers are the government of Thailand, the
Easter Seals charity, and pop star Michael Jackson.
ICANN Accreditation at Risk....
Read the rest of the article on BusinessWeek.com
|
