ENS NFT Project Reclaims "eth.link"

After obtaining an order from an Arizona court, The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has reclaimed ownership of the Web domain name "eth.link." Early this month, ENS, an Ethereum-based NFT project, engaged GoDaddy in court proceedings.

After receiving a lawsuit from an Arizona court, True Names Ltd, the parent business of Ethereum Name Service NFT collection, revealed in a blog post on September 19 that it has reclaimed possession of the web domain name "eth.link."

ENS Wins Lawsuit Against GoDaddy

The organization behind the Ethereum Name Service NFT project sued web domain registrar GoDaddy earlier this month for selling its domain name to a third party. GoDaddy was charged with breaking a domain name registration agreement by True Names Ltd.

True Names Ltd claims that GoDaddy mistakenly believed the domain name eth.link had expired and sold it to a third party. A different domain name registrar, Dynadot, purchased the "eth.link" domain name. Dynadot eventually sold it for $852,000 to the DeFi aggregator Manifold Finance.

The web domain "eth.link" must now be returned to the ENS NFT collection after the court in Arizona approved True Names Ltd's application for a preliminary injunction and granted the motion. The judge decided:

“To the extent ownership interest in the Domain has been sold or transferred away from Plaintiffs as the registrants; Defendants shall immediately transfer ownership in the Domain back to Plaintiffs.”

Nick Johnson, the creator of Ethereum Name Service NFT collection, expressed his delight with the obtained injunction by saying:

“We have won the legal complaint against GoDaddy with the court granting our request for preliminary injunctive relief.”

“The eth.link domain has been returned to us fully pending the outcome of the court case. Should the case not be pursued the return would effectively be permanent.”

Manifold Finance Claims Lawsuit Undetermined

Manifold Finance, on the other side, has rejected the Ethereum Name Service victory and insists that the dispute has not been resolved. Manifold Finance's founder Sam Bacha said this while expressing his resentment:

“Domain Name Services were restored to ensure the domain value remains. DNS is still held in escrow per the injunction and has not been transferred to True Names. Once the court opens in the morning more information will be available after the court opens.”

Users of the Ethereum Name Service may continue utilizing the eth.link uninterrupted in the meantime. The eth.link serves as a gateway for ENS owners to access their "dot eth" (.eth) addresses as regular browser websites.

Thanks to Dominic Kimani at Business 2 Community whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.