[1] https://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/01/network-soluti...
> He acknowledged that the company does, indeed, put a hold on the domain name after a search is performed and reserves it for four days, but that if a customer searches for the same domain within that time at networksolutions.com, it will be available to register. After the four days is up, the domain is released.
As for the quote you picked out, it's a partial truth.
The partial truth is that sure, the domain was "available to register"...at a multiple of the standard price. I don't remember what the multiple was. And if you wanted to purchase through another registrar you couldn't because NetSol held the domain.
This all resulted in a class action lawsuit: https://techcrunch.com/2008/02/25/network-solutions-icann-su...
That was settled a year later: https://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/29/network-solutions-sett...
Edit: I removed where I said the part about the domain being released after four days was a lie. I remember it being much much longer but at the same time, I don't remember all the details well enough to make a statement of that potency.
They registered the name, and just before the 5-day ICANN Add Grace Period would end, they reversed the registration and received full credit for the registration fee.
At that time the domain would immediately become available for registration again through any registrar with no grace/redemption/deletion periods.