Obviously as part of dealing with the RegisterFly problem, ICANN developed a month ago a procedure for terminating a registrar. The procedure is quite interesting, and makes clear that the interests of registrants are the primary matter. Unfortunately, it appears that ICANN has blown off this procedure in the transfer of RegisterFly's domains.

The procedure definition makes it clear that the entity that takes over management of the terminated registrar's domains is not their final destination but just a waystation, a temporary holding facility from which users may transfer the domain to the actual registrar they want. The point of this idea might have been to save registrants from becoming customers of a registrar they don't want to deal with.

That's what they'll have to do though, as the ICANN blog announced that:

ICANN has been advised of a deal to transfer all names in RegisterFly's management from RegisterFly to an existing accredited Registrar with a demonstrated record of customer service. This would be a quick and effective solution to many of the problems that registrants are presently experiencing with RegisterFly. The deal, which has been confirmed with the registrar, is a commercial transaction (where the acquiring registrar has worked out a financial arrangement to take over names managed by RegisterFly).

The way I read this, as opposed to the way I read the April 27 Terminated Registrar Procedure, is that the registrants will become customers of the "existing accredited Registrar with a demonstrated record of customer service." If they don't want their domains there, they will have to transfer them out with the usual fees involved. There is no mention of whether the new registrar will honor the full length of the registrant's contract with Registerfly, but for sure it's lost if they transfer out to someone else.

The Terminated Registrar Procedure was somewhat suspicious for the power it placed in the hands of "Executive ICANN staff" to make the contract and dictate its terms, but still it's disappointing to see the whole procedure so thoroughly ignored so quickly.