Diegem-based Eurid VZW, a nonprofit organization that oversees the .eu registry, said that a syndicate of registrars had systematically acquired domain names with the intent of selling them. That process, known as warehousing, is prohibited by Eurid.

According to Eurid, all of the domain names registered by the 400 registrars it has sued are in the hands of three U.K.-based companies: Fausto Ltd., Gabino Ltd. and Ovidio Ltd. Eurid contends that the companies and the registrars are actually a single entity.

The three companies couldn't be reached for comment. They appear to have identical Web sites, with the same text describing their businesses. Only the name is different on each site.

Alcatel, Lucent get green light in Europe

PARIS -- The European Commission last week approved the planned merger between Lucent Technologies Inc. and Alcatel SA, removing a key hurdle for the two telecommunications equipment vendors.