Opinion ID: 784889
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The ICANN Agreement and WHOIS Information

Text: 99 Under the terms of the ICANN Agreement, each registrar must, among many other things, maintain its own on-line, interactive WHOIS database for those domain names it registers and make the database publicly available, in the way specified by the agreement. Specifically, the database must contain, inter alia, the names and contact information — postal address, telephone number, electronic mail address and in some cases facsimile number — for customers who register domain names through the registrar. ICANN Agreement, § II.F .1. Notably, neither the registrar nor the registrant has the option of prohibiting access to the registrant's contact information. Each registrar is obligated under the ICANN Agreement to make its WHOIS database freely and publicly accessible, and all registrants are obligated under their agreements with registrars to allow registrars to do so. See id.; id. § II.J.7.c (requiring registrar to enter into agreement with registrant whereby registrant consents to WHOIS information provisions). 100 The Agreement expressly requires each registrar to make its database freely accessible to the public via its web page and through an independent access port called port 43. Id. § II.F.1 (At its expense, Registrar shall provide an interactive web page and a port 43 Whois service providing free public query-based access to up-to-date (i.e. updated at least daily) data concerning all active SLD registrations sponsored by Registrar in the registry for the .com, .net, and .org TLDs.). These query-based channels of access to the WHOIS database allow end-users to collect registrant contact information for one domain name at a time. Section II.F.4 notes that registrars must comply with any ICANN policy requiring registrars to cooperatively implement a distributed capability that provides query-based [WHOIS] search functionality across all registrars. Id. Section II.F.5 of the ICANN Agreement requires that: 101 In providing query-based public access to registration data as required by Sections II.F.1 and II.F.4, Registrar shall not impose terms and conditions on use of the data provided except as permitted by ICANN-adopted policy. Unless and until ICANN adopts a different policy, Registrar shall permit use of data it provides in response to queries for any lawful purposes except to: (a) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam); or (b) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to Registrar (or its systems). 102 This provision expressly permits (and may even require) registrars to impose use restrictions of type (a) and (b), and at the same time, expressly prohibits any other use restrictions. 25 103 The ICANN Agreement also obligates each registrar to provide third parties with bulk access to the same WHOIS information pursuant to a license agreement. Id. § II.F.6. The bulk access license entitles the licensee to receive weekly — in one transmission — an electronic copy of the same WHOIS information that is provided continuously through the registrar's web page and its access port 43. Id. § II.F.6.a. The registrar may charge a $10,000 yearly fee for the license. Id. § II.F.6.b. The ICANN Agreement states that each bulk license agreement between the registrar and a third party shall require the third party to agree not to use the data to allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam). Id. § II.F.6.c. The ICANN Agreement also allows a registrar to enable individual registrants to choose not to have their WHOIS information made available through bulk access for marketing purposes by implementing an opt-out policy. If a registrar creates an opt-out policy, its bulk license agreements must include provisions requiring third parties to abide by the opt-out policy, and the registrar will also be unable to use the WHOIS information to market its products or services. Id. § II.F.6.f. 104 As the White Paper makes clear, free public access to WHOIS information, as required by the database provisions of the ICANN Agreement, has two purposes. The primary purpose is to provide necessary information in the event of domain name disputes, such as those arising from trademark infringement or cybersquatting. See White Paper, 63 Fed.Reg. at 31750. A second purpose, which the DOC felt would also benefit domain name holders, is to mak[e] it less expensive for new registrars and registries to identify potential customers, enhancing competition and lowering prices. Id. at 31750 n. 21. 105 It is important to recognize that in contrast with the registrar's computer systems (including the database housing WHOIS information), which the registrar undoubtedly owns, WHOIS information is public information that is not owned by anyone: WHOIS information cannot be copyrighted, see, e.g., Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 361, 111 S.Ct. 1282, 113 L.Ed.2d 358 (1991) (bits of [name, address, and telephone number] information are uncopyrightable facts), patented, see, e.g., 35 U.S.C. § 101 (listing patentable subject matter), or protected as a trade secret or confidential information under state law, see, e.g., Ivy Mar Co. v. C.R. Seasons Ltd., 907 F.Supp. 547, 556 (E.D.N.Y.1995) (The single most important factor in determining whether particular information is a trade secret is whether the information is kept secret.) (citing Lehman v. Dow Jones & Co., 783 F.2d 285, 298 (2d Cir. 1986)). 26 Register.com (and other registrars) must make WHOIS information publicly accessible from the registrar's site and generally free as the air to common use. Int'l News Serv. v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215, 250, 39 S.Ct. 68, 63 L.Ed. 211 (1918) (Brandeis, dissenting). 106