Hi Jan,

I'm the President of LegitScript, and wanted to get back to you. We work
with INTERPOL and various authorities all around the world to monitor
illegal prescription drug sales, and have formal or informal authority to
represent several government regulatory authorities in submitting
notifications to registrars. We also monitor which registrars sponsor the
most illegal pharmaceutical activity. Right now, I'm sorry to say, Gransy
is tied for number one (with TodayNIC) -- you have more rogue Internet
pharmacies than any other registrar in the world, according to our
database. Most other registrars, in the EU and elsewhere, fulfill their
obligations under Section 3.18 of the ICANN RAA by suspending domain names
used for illegal purposes (Section 1.13).

Your letter is inconsistent with the RAA, and unless you adhere to the RAA,
we will aggressively pursue ICANN compliance sanctions. Here is the basis
for our complaint to ICANN.

  1. First, it is immaterial that LegitScript is not a law enforcement
  agency or similar authority in your jurisdiction. Section 3.18.1 of the RAA
  requires you to respond appropriately to abuse complaints, irrespective of
  whom they come from. Under the RAA, you may not impose such a requirement
  as an excuse for not responding to an abuse complaint.
  2. Second, in any case, the jurisdiction over a domain name used for
  drug sales is the jurisdiction where the drugs are shipped to, as
noted in this
  letter to ICANN<http://www.legitscript.com/download/NABP-Letter-to-ICANN-President-and-CEO-Fadi-Chehade.pdf>.
  If a domain name is being used to facilitate pharmaceutical shipments to
  (for example) the UK and Japan, it must comply with the laws of those
  countries. You may not provide safe haven to criminal activity by saying it
  does not violate Czech law.
  3. Section 3.18.1 of the 2013 RAA does not permit you to make an excuse
  that we submitted too many domain names. You are, as I said, the world's #1
  registrar used by illegal online pharmacies as per our global database
  (tied with TodayNIC, in China). You must have adequate anti-abuse
  procedures in place to respond to abuse complaints submitted in good faith.
  However, we are happy to work with you (for free) to go through each one.
  4. Moreover, you are incorrect that sex-hilfe.com is not a rogue
  Internet pharmacy. Under Section 1.13 of the 2013 RAA, the relevant
  question pertains to the "use" of the domain name ("exploitation of
  Registrar's domain name resolution or registration services in furtherance
  of conduct involving the use of a Registered Name sponsored by Registrar
  that is prohibited by applicable law"). As you can clearly see, the primary
  purpose of the domain name in question is to link to potenzprodukte.com,
  which in turn links to viagraohnerezept-online.com -- all three of which
  are also registered with your company. The fact that the transaction does
  not actually occur within sex-hilfe.com is irrelevant: rather, under the
  RAA, one must look at how the domain name is used. There is no reasonable
  dispute that it is used solely to facilitate the sale of prescription drugs
  (and does so illegally). We stand by our classification of that domain name
  as a rogue Internet pharmacy based on its use.
  5. Furthermore, I would remind you that INTERPOL has also submitted this
  list, as now has the US FDA, and they appear to agree that all of these
  (including sex-hilfe.com) are rogue Internet pharmacies.
  6. Also to that point, I would remind you that LegitScript is recognized
  as an expert and authority in what constitutes illegal online drug sales by
  a wide variety of regulatory authorities, including the Irish Medicines
  Board, Italian Medicines Agency, INTERPOL, the National Association of
  Boards of Pharmacy (representing the pharmacy regulatory authorities in the
  US and Canada). We have also been granted formal authority to represent the
  government of Japan with registrars (official letter from the Japanese
  government forthcoming). I do not mean to suggest that you should not
  conduct your own review of the domain names we submit. However, I would
  encourage you to consider our expertise in this area.
  7. Finally, while consulting with legal counsel is always a good idea,
  it is ultimately not up to your attorney what steps you take to comply with
  the RAA. It is solely your responsibility. Your attorney is not contracted
  with ICANN. Gransy is.

On the one hand, we have excellent working relationships with many
registrars around the world and welcome the opportunity to work with you in
the future. However, we wish to emphasize that as an ICANN-accredited
domain name registrar, you may not ignore the 2013 RAA. I, or a member of
my staff, are available to speak with you or your attorney at your
convenience at no cost, and we can go through all of these domain names one
by one if necessary. However, we must respectfully insist that you comply
with the 2013 ICANN RAA, and if you do not, we will aggressively pursue
ICANN compliance sanctions.

Yours Truly,

John Horton
President, LegitScript