Griffith and Web3 claim that GoDaddy falsely claimed the domain was expired and then allowed it to go to a third-party prematurely. A complaint filed Monday shows that GoDaddy, the company behind Ethereum Name Service (ENS), is suing the company over the sale to a third-party of domain name eth.link.
True Names Ltd., which is behind the Web3 domain service ENS, claims that GoDaddy falsely informed eth.link users that the domain registration had expired and also sold the domain before the date it was supposed return to the registry to be available for repurchase.
True Name Ltd battle with GoDaddy over the eth.link domain name
The ENS protocol manages all web addresses ending with .eth that are used by the Ethereum community. It functions as a Web3 version for a Domain Name Service provider.
Domain registration renewals are usually straightforward. However, in this instance, the person who has the authority to renew the domain registration for eth.link is Virgil Griffith. He is currently serving a 63 month sentence for instructing North Koreans how to use crypto to evade sanctions.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona filed the complaint. It alleges that the registration was supposed to expire July 26, 2023. However, GoDaddy falsely stated it expired August 26, 2022. According to the filing, GoDaddy claimed that the domain name would become available for purchase on Sept. 5, 2022. However, it had already sold .eth.link on Sept. 3 to Manifold Finance, a crypto start-up.
“In doing so, GoDaddy has deprived Plaintiff True Names Ltd. its livelihood. According to the complaint, the sale will result in the destruction of a valuable cryptocurrency network that could be used by malicious actors.
Backer of ethereum name service sue for $75,000
True Names Ltd and Griffith seek damages of at least $75,000, excluding legal expenses, and are asking for a temporary order against GoDaddy, Inc., GoDaddy.com LLC, and any employees or entities which directly or indirectly allowed .eth.link expire and be purchased by third parties.
As of August 17, ENS had 2,000,000 domain name registrations.
The landing page for eth.link currently displays a message by Manifold Finance stating that services will be restored within the next week.
