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Cybersquatting Problem Worse than Ever in 2008

Posted 03/19/09 at 11:00:00 AM  by Paul Lilly

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Cybersquatting, which describes trying to profit by registering a domain name that uses a trademarked name or word to either attract visitors to the website and/or sell the site to the trademark owner, has been illegal for a decade now, but that doesn't mean the practice is slowing up. On the contrary, more complaints and legal action were filed in 2008 than ever before.

And it's not just businesses that are being targeted, either. In addition to the likes of Google, Nestle, and Ebay, complaints resonated from the likes of actress Scarlett Johansson. Going forward, some feel the problem will only worsen once ICANN launches new generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

"The creation of an unknowable and potentially vast number of new gTLDs raises significant issues for rights holders, as well as internet users generally," World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) director-general Francis Gurry said in a statement.

Gurry went on to say that his U.N. agency was working with ICANN on "pre- and post-delegation procedures" to look over proposed suffixes and prevent disputes.

COMMENTS:5
TAGS: icann, cybersquatting, gtld
COMMENTS
avatarThat's funny...

Submitted by Travatron on Thu, 03/19/2009 - 10:46am

Didn't MaximumPC reccomend doing exactly this same thing a few months ago in their article about making money online? I remember bragging about making money off his GTA misspelling, or something similar. Shame on MPC apparently.

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avatarjust because it's a shady

Submitted by nekollx on Thu, 03/19/2009 - 10:51am

just because it's a shady tactic doesnt make it ineffective.

 

Like Spawn Camping.

 

No one is gonna deny camping spawn points is a easy way to rack up kills but it doesn't earn you friends....

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avatarSomething needs done.

Submitted by kc7wbq on Thu, 03/19/2009 - 9:13am

I run 4 very simple website, and even I have had problems with this. I moved my websites from one hosting company to another one. One of the domain names was about to expire so I was going to let it expire than just reregister it with the new company. It was picked literally with an hour of expiring by some cyber squatter. Now it just sits there parked with Google ads. I was able to get the .net version of the name, but I wasted hours of my time changing all my text and Google keywords. Not to mention looking like an ass to my customer.
 

I hate to see big corporations use cyber squatting laws to squish the little guy, but something has to be done. These cyber squatters are just feeding off other peoples hard work, they are not adding any value to society. 

 

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avatarWell thats your own fault

Submitted by SpaceBison on Thu, 03/19/2009 - 10:59am

Well thats your own fault for letting it expire instead of transfering it over.

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avatari say this a million times

Submitted by nekollx on Thu, 03/19/2009 - 9:21am

i say this a million times to my customers.

 

"when you register a domain register all mispellings and similar extensions because someone WILL still the off norm version and use to to leach off your good name"

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