[Fwd: Kremen VS Arin Antitrust Lawsuit - Anyone have feedback?]

Jack Bates jbates at brightok.net
Fri Sep 8 13:19:45 UTC 2006




Jon Lewis wrote:
> 
> In small quantities, and which tie you to particular providers.  Shells 
> of companies have been bought (or just claimed) for their large, 
> especially pre-ARIN, PI-IP assignments.  To a young ISP, a /16 for 
> example may seem like a lifetime supply of IP space, and save the 
> company many thousands of dollars (ARIN registration fees) and paperwork 
> hassles.
> 

Actually, their issue is that ARIN would only transfer the netblock to 
them under the condition of them signing the contract (which effectively 
states that ARIN controls the netblocks). They would also be liable for 
the annual fees. They are trying to treat IP address space as property 
which they own, and refuse to agree to ARIN registration/fees to obtain 
what they feel is their property. Unfortunately, while ARIN is a steward 
and technically does not *own* the IP address space, neither does the 
ISP that uses the space. The defendant apparently misses the fact that 
IP space is a community asset and is thus handled by the community.

IANAL, but I doubt they can prove Antitrust in this case. If only we 
could handle other limited resources in the world as effectively; 
including BGP routing table bloat.


-Jack



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