There is more than one whois database you can query:

Code:
WHOIS(1)                                                 WHOIS(1)

NAME
       whois, fwhois - query a whois or nicname database

SYNOPSIS
       whois [-v] [-r|-n] [-h server] [-p port] [-t timeout] [--]
       query[@server[: port]]

DESCRIPTION
       whois formats and sends queries to any RFC954 whois server
       and prints the results to standard output.

OPTIONS
       -h server
              The  name  of the server to query.  If no server is
              specified, the environment variables  NICNAMESERVER
              and  WHOISSERVER  are checked for server names, and
              if neither is set, whois.crsnic.net is queried.