IP Library Granted Patent US 11,552,923
Granted Patent B2
US 11,552,923 · App. 14/985,005 · Granted Jan 10, 2023

Whitelist domain name registry

Inventors: Paul Stahura (Sammamish, WA); Christopher L. Cowherd (Bellevue, WA)
Assignee: Donuts, Inc.
H04L61/3015H04L61/1511H04L61/302
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,552,923
App. No.
14/985,005
Granted
Jan 10, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods for managing domain name registrations in accordance with rules and regulations of a domain name verification system are disclosed. The disclosed technology enables a domain name verification system to regulate the registration of domain names in accordance with its own domain name registration policies. This disclosed system uses a “whitelist” domain name registry to register “whitelist domain names” once pre-approval to register a corresponding target domain name has been granted. In this manner, the whitelist domain name registry system acts as a repository for pre-approved domain name registrations and enables pre-qualified registrants (including potential or prospective registrants) to then register a target domain name.

Claims (98)

1. A method, performed by a computing system having one or more processors, the method comprising:

receiving, by a whitelist domain name registry system, from an Internet domain name registrar on behalf of a registrant, a first set of one or more commands to register a first domain name on behalf of the registrant,

wherein the first set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant include: credentials for the registrant, and the first domain name;

sending, by the whitelist domain name registry system to a verification system, the credentials for the registrant;

receiving, by the whitelist domain name registry system, from the verification system, an indication that the verification system has approved the registrant to register the first domain name;

in response to receiving, from the verification system, the indication that the verification system has approved the registrant to register the first domain name and in response to receiving an indication that the first domain name has not yet been registered, generating a whitelist domain name,

wherein the generated whitelist domain name is not identical to the first domain name and wherein the generated whitelist domain name is generated based at least in part on the first domain name and includes at least a portion of a whitelist subdomain name;

registering the generated whitelist domain name with the whitelist domain name registry system at least in part by writing the generated whitelist domain name to the whitelist domain name registry system without registering the first domain name included in the first set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant,

wherein writing the generated whitelist domain name to the whitelist domain name registry system indicates that the first domain name is approved to be registered on behalf of the registrant;

receiving, at a target domain name registry system, a second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant, wherein the target domain name registry system is different from the whitelist domain name registry system;

generating, by the target domain name registry system, the whitelist domain name;

determining, by the target domain name registry system, that the generated whitelist domain name exists in the whitelist domain name registry system; and

in response to determining, by the target domain name registry system, that the generated whitelist domain name exists in the whitelist domain name registry system,

retrieving, by the target domain name registry system, registration information for the generated whitelist domain name,

comparing, by the target domain name registry system, the retrieved registration information to registration credentials,

evaluating, by the target domain name registry system, the second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant based at least in part on the comparison of the retrieved registration information to the registration credentials and wherein the first domain name is not currently registered in the target domain name registry system at the time of the evaluating, and

registering the first domain name with the target domain name at least in part by writing, by the target domain name registry system, the first domain name to a domain name system (DNS) server associated with the target domain name registry system so that the first domain name is registered in the target domain name registry system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each domain name registry system is a Shared Registry System.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of one or more commands to register the first domain name further includes credentials for the Internet domain name registrar.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

sending the credentials for the Internet domain name registrar to the verification system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant further includes credentials for the Internet domain name registrar.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the generated whitelist domain name further includes an identifier for the Internet domain name registrar.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the whitelist domain name includes a concatenation of at least the first domain name, the identifier for the registrant, and the identifier for the Internet domain name registrar.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein writing the generated whitelist domain name to the whitelist domain name registry system does not include writing the first domain name to a domain name system server external to the whitelist domain name registry system.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to determining, by the target domain name registry system, that a

second generated whitelist domain name does not exist in the whitelist

domain name registry system,

determining, by the target domain name registry system, that a second registrant is subject to control by the verification system, and

in response to determining that the second registrant is subject to control by the verification system,

denying a request to register a second target domain name on behalf of a second registrant.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to determining, by the target domain name registry system, that a second generated whitelist domain name does not exist in the whitelist domain name registry system,

determining, by the target domain name registry system, that a second target domain name is subject to control by the verification system, and

in response to determining that the second target domain is subject to control by the verification system,

denying a request to register the second target domain name on behalf of a second registrant.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the sending occurs in response to determining that at least the registrant or the Internet domain name registrar is subject to control or oversight by the verification system.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the sending occurs in response to determining that the first domain name is subject to control or oversight by the verification system.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein each set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant includes registration credentials.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

in response to determining, by the target domain name registry system, that the generated whitelist domain name exists in the whitelist domain name registry system,

retrieving, by the target domain name registry system, registration information for the generated whitelist domain name,

comparing, by the target domain name registry system, the retrieved registration information for the generated whitelist domain name to the registration credentials of the second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant, and

evaluating, by the target domain name registry system, the second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant based at least in part on the comparison of the retrieved registration information to the registration credentials of the second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the whitelist domain name includes a concatenation of at least the first domain name and an identifier for the registrant, the method further comprising:

determining that the registrant is pre-approved to register the first domain name at last in part by determining that the whitelist domain name that includes the concatenation of at least the first domain name and the identifier for the registrant is registered in the whitelist domain name registry system.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the whitelist domain name includes a concatenation of at least the first domain name and an identifier for a registrar, the method further comprising:

determining that the registrar is pre-approved to register the first domain name on behalf of the registrant at last in part by determining that the whitelist domain name that includes the concatenation of at least the first domain name and the identifier for the registrar is registered in the whitelist domain name registry system.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to determining, by the target domain name registry system, that a second generated whitelist domain name does not exist in the whitelist domain name registry system,

determining, by the target domain name registry system, that a second registrant is subject to control by the verification system, and

in response to determining that the second registrant is subject to control by the verification system,

denying a request to register a domain name on behalf of the second registrant.

18. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, in response to being executed by a computing system having one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a first set of one or more commands to register a first domain name;

determining whether the first domain name is approved to be registered;

in response to determining that the first domain name is approved to be registered and in response to receiving an indication that the first domain name has not yet been registered,

generating a whitelist domain name that is different from the first domain name, wherein the generated whitelist domain name is generated based at least in part on the first domain name and includes at least a portion of a whitelist subdomain name, and

writing the generated whitelist domain name to a whitelist domain name registry system without registering the first domain name;

after writing the generated whitelist domain name to the whitelist domain name registry system, receiving a second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name, wherein the second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name are received before the first domain name is registered in a target domain name registry system; and

in response to determining that the generated whitelist domain name exists in the whitelist domain name registry system,

registering the first domain name in the target domain name registry system at least in part by writing the first domain name to the target domain name registry system, wherein the target domain name registry system is different from the whitelist domain name registry system.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein at least one of the one or more commands to register the first domain name includes:

credentials for a registrant,

credentials for a registrar, and

the first domain name.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 19 , wherein determining whether the first domain name is approved to be registered comprises:

determining whether the registrant is approved to register the first domain name; and

determining whether the registrar is approved to register the first domain name.

21. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein writing the generated whitelist domain name to the whitelist domain name registry system comprises:

writing the generated whitelist domain name to a DNS server, a WHOIS server, an RDAP server, an RDDS server, or any combination thereof, that is not publicly-accessible.

22. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein writing the generated whitelist domain name to the whitelist domain name registry system enables the generated whitelist domain name to be readable via the DNS protocol, the RDAP protocol, the WHOIS protocol, an RDDS server, or any combination thereof.

23. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein writing the first domain name to the target domain name registry system comprises:

writing the first domain name to at least one of a DNS server, an RDAP server, a WHOIS server, an RDDS server, or any combination thereof.

24. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein the generated whitelist domain name is not written in the target domain name registry system and the first domain name is not written in the whitelist domain name system.

25. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein each entry in the whitelist domain name registry system corresponds to a target domain name that has been pre-approved for registration in another registry system by a corresponding pre-qualified registrant.

26. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , the method further comprising:

receiving a third set of one or more commands to register a second domain name on behalf of a second registrant;

in response to receiving the third set of one or more commands to register the second domain name on behalf of the second registrant, generating a whitelist domain name that includes a concatenation of at least the second domain name and an identifier for the second registrant;

receiving a fourth set of one or more commands to register the second domain name on behalf of a third registrant; and

in response to receiving the fourth set of one or more commands to register the second domain name on behalf of the third registrant, generating a whitelist domain name that includes a concatenation of at least the second domain name and an identifier for the third registrant.

27. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , the method further comprising:

receiving, from a verification system, an indication that a registrant has sought, from the verification system, pre-approval to register the first domain name; and

receiving, in response to the verification system pre-approving the registrant to register the first domain name, an indication that a whitelist domain name corresponding to the first domain name was registered with the whitelist domain name registry system, wherein the whitelist domain name corresponding to the first domain name is different from the first domain name.

28. A computing system comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a component configured to receive one or more commands to register a first domain name on behalf of a registrant;

a component configured to, in response to receiving, from a verification system, an indication that the verification system has approved the registrant to register the first domain name and in response to receiving an indication that the first domain name has not yet been registered,

generate a whitelist domain name that is different from the first domain name, wherein the generated whitelist domain name is based at least in part on the first domain name and includes at least a portion of a whitelist subdomain name, and

write the generated whitelist domain name to a whitelist domain name registry system without registering the first domain name;

a component configured to, after writing the generated whitelist domain name to the whitelist domain name registry system, receive a second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name; and

a component configured to, after receiving the second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name and in response to determining that the generated whitelist domain name exists in the whitelist domain name registry system,

register the first domain name with a target domain name registry system at least in part by writing the first domain name to the target domain name registry system, wherein the target domain name registry system is different from the whitelist domain name registry system so that the first domain name is registered in the target domain name registry system, wherein the generated whitelist domain name is different from the first domain name,

wherein each of the components comprises computer-executable instructions stored in the memory for execution by the processor.

29. The computing system of claim 28 , wherein the second set of one or more commands to register the first domain name includes:

credentials for a registrant, credentials for a registrar, the first domain name, or any combination thereof.

Assignments (6)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 20, 2025
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS AGENT
To: IDENTITY DIGITAL INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS DONUTS, INC.)
Reel/Frame 070572/0404 →
ASSIGNMENT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN TRADEMARKS AND PATENTS Recorded Jan 19, 2021
From: BISF AGENT LLC, AS RESIGNING AGENT
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS SUCCESSOR AGENT
Reel/Frame 055029/0963 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jan 4, 2021
From: HPS INVESTMENT PARTNERS, LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DONUTS INC.; RIGHTSIDE OPERATING CO.
Reel/Frame 054795/0247 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 31, 2020
From: DONUTS INC.
To: BISF AGENT LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 054785/0312 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 18, 2018
From: DONUTS, INC.; RIGHTSIDE OPERATING CO.
To: HPS INVESTMENT PARTNERS, LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 046895/0430 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 2, 2016
From: STAHURA, PAUL; COWHERD, CHRISTOPHER
To: DONUTS, INC.
Reel/Frame 037644/0536 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20170195286A1 · Jul 6, 2017
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