VeriSign responded to the antitrust litigation on August 25, according to a Form 8-K it filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The company is involved in the litigation due to a July 9 decision by US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which reversed on appeal an earlier decision by the district court in San Francisco. The case was brought by the so-called Coalition for Icann Transparency (CFIT) against the registry operator.
In its filing to the SEC, the company said it "filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California a request for an early status conference to begin the process to resolve the case on its merits".
The decision by the Ninth Circuit means that VeriSign will now have to answer the alleged non-profit organisation CFIT's allegations that VeriSign, in conjunction with Icann, conspired to restrain trade in .com and .net domains by setting higher prices than would result from a more competitive market.
While the exact makeup of CFIT is unknown, according to the decision from the Ninth Circuit it is made up of registrars and domainers.
The organisation first appeared in November 2005, when it sued Icann and VeriSign for antitrust violations, unfair competition, cybersquatting and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.
In December 2006 the US District Court for the Northern District Court of California dismissed CFIT's complaint and Icann was dropped from the Coalition's future proceedings.
In its Form 8-K, VeriSign said while it "cannot predict the outcome of these proceedings, it believes the allegations against it are without merit and intends to vigorously defend against them."
The key factor in the Ninth Circuit's reversal of the San Francisco court's decision was that there was a lack of competitive bidding for the .com registry contract.
If that remains decisive factor in the decision, this case could lead to the .com registry contract being opened up to competitive bidding, which would have a big impact on VeriSign's business.
