The company has three weeks to pay up and address issues.
ICANN sent a breach notice (pdf) to Epik yesterday, giving it until June 22 to fix a number of problems.
The official reason for the breach notice is the company’s failure to pay its accreditation fees. But it also cites numerous complaints by domain registrants that their domains are not being renewed when they pay for renewals. ICANN says Epik has been responsive to its inquiries about the expired domains, but problems persist.
Yesterday, it became apparent why many renewals weren’t going through: Epik is behind on payments to many suppliers, including registries and reseller platforms. Some of these appear to be blocking new transactions.
Epik entered into an agreement this week to sell most of its assets, including the registrar and hosting business. The deal would pay off the company’s trade debt. But one person Epik owes money to has asked a court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order blocking the deal. The judge will hear arguments today.
