FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALSFOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
D
ANIEL
L. B
ALSAM
, an individual,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.No. 09-17625T
UCOWS
I
NC
., a PennsylvaniaD.C. No.
corporation; T
UCOWS
C
ORP
, a3:09-cv-03585-CRBMississippi corporation; E
LLIOT
OPINIONN
OSS
, an individual; P
AUL
K
ARKAS
,an individual,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Courtfor the Northern District of CaliforniaCharles R. Breyer, District Judge, PresidingSubmitted December 9, 2010*San Francisco, CaliforniaFiled December 16, 2010Before: Dorothy W. Nelson, David R. Thompson, andM. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges.Opinion by Judge McKeown
*The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decisionwithout oral argument.
See
Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
20233
COUNSEL
Timothy J. Walton, Redwood City, California, and Daniel L.Balsam, San Francisco, California, for the plaintiff-appellant.
20235B
ALSAM
v. T
UCOWS
I
NC
.
Bret Fausett and Imani Gandy, Adorno Yoss Alvarado &Smith, Los Angeles, California, for the defendant-appellee.
OPINION
McKEOWN, Circuit Judge:There is no simple remedy for the vast number of unsolic-ited emails, popularly known as “spam,” that fill our elec-tronic inboxes daily. Even though federal and statelegislatures have adopted various laws to combat this prob-lem, “spammers” continue to find new ways to advertise.Daniel Balsam, a victim of spam, seeks an alternative methodof enforcement by bringing claims against the registrar of adomain site that bombarded him with more than 1,000unwanted emails advertising a pornographic website. Heclaims that the registrar utilizes a system to hide the identityof spammers, making it difficult to identify the spammer. Weconsider Balsam’s claim that he is an intended third-partybeneficiary of an agreement between the registrar and theInternet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers(“ICANN”). Under Balsam’s theory, the agreement’s provi-sions on wrongful use of domain names inure to his benefit.Although his approach is novel and creative, it cannot survivea motion to dismiss.
B
ACKGROUND
ICANN is a private, non-profit corporation that administersthe registration of internet domain names. Tucows Inc.(“Tucows”) is one of many registrars of domain names,accredited by ICANN to sell domain name registrations. Tobe accredited, Tucows had to enter into ICANN’s Registra-tion Accreditation Agreement (“RAA”), a standard form con-tract under which a registrar sells domain name registrations.A party that purchases a registered domain name fromTucows becomes the registered holder under the RAA.
20236B
ALSAM
v. T
UCOWS
I
NC
.
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Balsam v. Tucows, No. 09-17625 (9th Cir.; Dec. 16, 2010)
Ninth Circuit rules that spam plaintiffs cannot hold Tucows liable due to Tucows' failure to disclose the identity of the registrant of domain names through which Balsam allegedly received spam.
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