Posted February 23rd, 2009 at 04.47 pm by “Paper Pixels”

Cyber Squatters & Typo Squatters

Domain names have recently been at the forefront of the legal problems that sweep the Internet. Before a change in legislation was enforced, Internet rogues (often referred to as “cyber squatters”) would tactically register domain names that would be trademarks to existing or forthcoming businesses.

Furthermore, they would have no intention to add content to the domain - it was simply for the ownership. The cyber squatter would then literally hold the domain name for ransom to those companies that wanted the domains - large amounts of money have been offered in some cases.

Thankfully, legislation has changed with respect to trademark laws that prohibit the use of domain names being “wrongfully” purchased. Consequently, companies that have appealed against the use/ownership of a domain name (held by another party) have won their case.

However, some domain name registrations have been from genuine parties that can justify their use and have therefore won the case on an “I was here first” basis. Typo squatters also plague the Internet by purchasing possible misspellings of company domain names.