ENS Settles $300,000 Domain Dispute with Manifold, Retains eth.link Ownership
Summary:
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) developer is set to conclude a dispute over the eth.link domain with Manifold Finance, as a $300,000 settlement was approved through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) vote. This settlement requires ENS Labs to discontinue its lawsuit and pay Manifold, while retaining the domain. The conflict, which ran for 18 months, involved ENS Labs suing Manifold as well as domain registrars GoDaddy and Dynadot. Moving forward, a partnership has been made between ENS and GoDaddy to offer .eth ENS domain holders linkage to a traditional domain for free.
After a long-standing tussle with Manifold Finance over the rights to the eth.link domain, the developer of Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is preparing to conclude the dispute. This followed the approval of a $300,000 settlement by the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) associated with ENS. Around 88% of the ENS DAO voters, who completed their voting on February 26, agreed to the terms of the settlement package. As per the agreement, ENS Labs will withdraw its lawsuit and compensate Manifold with a payment of $300,000, while retaining possession of the domain name. Additionally, 84% of the participants sanctioned a $750,000 for ENS Labs' legal expenses reimbursement.
This marks the culmination of an 18-month-long tug-of-war that had ENS Labs filing a lawsuit against Manifold along with domain registrars GoDaddy and Dynadot in an Arizona District Court and securing an order to prevent the transfer of the domain's ownership.
Nick Johnson, the founder of ENS, disclosed in an ENS DAO forum post on February 13 that Manifold sought a payment of $300,000 from ENS Labs along with confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses as settlement terms. In return, Manifold proposed a complete settlement scheme that would lead to the closure of the case with the eth.link domain name staying under ENS Labs’ control.
Taking on the role of a blockchain equivalent of a Domain Name System (DNS), ENS paves the way for domain names like cointelegraph.com to be translated into IP addresses, making them accessible to browsers. However, ENS has to rely on the eth.link domain to enable .eth ENS-centric domains to function owing to the incompatibility between the two systems.
Its control over the domain came to an end in July 2022 when Virgil Griffith, an early contributor who was under a five-year prison sentence for aiding North Korea in circumventing sanctions, couldn't renew it. Following GoDaddy's decision to let the eth.link domain expire, Manifold managed to purchase the domain at a Dynadot auction in September 2022.
ENS decided to sue the three entities shortly afterwards and managed to secure a court order to halt the domain transfer after none of the companies made an appearance at the court hearing.
Following protracted legal debates, Arizona District Judge John Tuchi gave a verdict in July 2023, instructing Dynadot to unlock eth.link so that ENS could reclaim its ownership. ENS Labs and GoDaddy have since put the feud behind them and formed a collaboration earlier this month. The partnership allows holders of .eth ENS domains to associate their domains with a conventional one at no cost.
Published At
2/27/2024 6:46:57 AM
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