According to reports, ICANN ordered the search service shut down for a "technical review" after receiving a flood of complaints from users and search service competitors that claimed VeriSign was misusing its power and status as the controller of all '.com,' '.net,' and .'org' website suffixes.
Site Finder was designed to launch a pop-up on a user's screen when a website URL is entered that does not exist, and then redirect that traffic back to the VeriSign website.
VeriSign is claiming in court papers that ICANN has assumed too much control over the Internet and is stifling "innovative ideas" that further technological development.
VeriSign's other beef is that dealing with ICANN is "cumbersome" and that the Internet governing body has ignored requests to resolve the issue over its new services.
"Working the ICANN process is like being nibbled to death by ducks," said Tom Galvin, VeriSign's vice president for government relations. "It takes forever, it doesn't make sense, and in the end we're still dead in the water."
VeriSign claims that ICANN does not have the legal right to prevent it from running new services and that the Internet governing body has been biding its time during the review process.
ICANN claimed back in October, with no shortage of support from individuals and companies, that Site Finder was a threat to the stability of the Internet. However, VeriSign is claiming that ICANN has so far failed to prove that its service was detrimental in any way.
"This brazen attempt by ICANN to assume 'regulatory power' over VeriSign's business is a serious abuse of ICANN's technical coordination function," VeriSign stated in court papers filed in U.S. Court in Los Angeles.
VeriSign is asking the judge for a court order that would permit it to resume the Site Finder service. The suit is also asking for damages and a requirement that VeriSign be treated in a "fair, reasonable and equitable fashion," CNET reports.
ICANN has not yet issued a response to VeriSign's claims.