As a matter of policy, Register.com places a “Coming Soon” message on a homepage for domain names unused by its customers, which includes a link to Register.com’s homepage and third party banner ads. The page is removed when the domain name owner erects a web site.
Zukarov said that Register.com failed to disclose its policy when he registered the name and that it was profiting unjustly from his domain name. He argued that Register.com’s practice also violated implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing and breached laws against deceptive business practices.
Register.com argued that it did not deprive Zukarov of any of the services for which he contracted; but Zukarov said his registration amounted to an exclusive property right and that the "Coming Soon" page interfered with this right.
The court accepted Register.com’s motion to dismiss the case, relying on a Virginia court’s ruling last year in a case between Network Solutions and Umbro International which said:
"[A] domain name that is not a trade mark arguably entails only contract, not property rights. Thus, a domain name registration is the product of a contract for services between the registrar and registrant."
Noting that Laborzionist.org was not a registered patent or trade mark, the New York court ruled that Zukarov had no property right in the name, only a contract right, and, finding that he had “received everything he bargained for”, it dismissed his action.
Zukarov has since re-directed the domain name to point to the web site at http://jewishfrontier.org.