“The “Coming Soon Page” also contains banner advertisements for Register’s services, as well as advertisements for some of Register’s corporate sponsors. Zurakov contends that Register’s failure to advise him that Register would link “Laborzionist.org” to Register’s “Coming Soon Page” violated both the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and General Business Law (“GBL”) Sections 349 and 350 (“Deceptive Acts and Practices”). Moreover, Zurakov claims that the “Coming Soon Page” allowed Register to profit unjustly from “Laborzionist.org”.”

Ever since the Zurakov suit, registrars have had terms in their contracts addressing the issue of parking undeveloped domains.

The court in Zurakov basically said, “If you don’t want them parking the page, then don’t point the domain name at their nameservers.” If the problem is “GoDaddy runs all junk traffic from its nameservers to a parking page”, and one is faced with two solutions:

(a) point the name at something else, because you have complete control over it, or

(b) file a lawsuit and screw around in court for a couple of years,

then I guess some folks will go for option (b) there, but essentially the same argument has lost before.

I don’t see the connection. Was Register.com making money off of a registrant’s site?

The same suit was tried in 2001 – Zurakov v. Register.com –

http://www.nycourts.gov/comdiv/Law%20Report%20Files/October%202001/zurakov.htm

“Here, Register fully disclosed its practice of displaying a “Coming Soon Page” in both the “Frequently Asked Questions” Section and the “Help” Section of Register’s website. Moreover, the “Coming Soon Page” was not materially deceptive because it did not interfere with Zurakov’s use of the domain name “Laborzionist.org”. Rather, the “Coming Soon Page” provided an announcement of the domain name “Laborzionist.org” for Zurakov during the period between his registration of the domain name and his construction of the website. Finally, it is undisputed that Zurakov had the ability to delete the “Coming Soon Page” by following the instructions set forth in both the “FAQ” and “Help” sections.”

@ MHB, The terms you linked to are the terms for accessing and viewing the Go Daddy website. You notice how websites often publish terms simply for visiting the website? You indemnify Go Daddy as soon as you view its homepage! LOL

What is that page showing for as the last update date?

Have to wonder if that language was placed in the agreement after the suit was filed