The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Microsoft a patent today for an investigative tool called “Cybersquatter Patrol.” The tool is designed to generate lists of typosquatting and cybersquatting domains, then figure out who owns them and how the domains generate revenue. This isn’t the company’s first foray into the …
July, 2010
June, 2010
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3 June
Desperate Russian housewives just one of the BBC's "strange" domains
Ever heard of the website desperaterussianhousewives.co.uk? Or watchagrownmanrot.co.uk? You won’t have done because they don’t exist, and are part of a BBC strategy to register unusual domain names which are associated with some of its television shows. The list has reached 154 bizarre domain names, among which are the above …
May, 2010
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20 May
Academy Awards takes aim at Go Daddy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, better known as the Academy Awards, gave Go Daddy something far different from an Oscar this week: a 134-page lawsuit for cybersquatting. Here’s the catch: the lawsuit doesn’t accuse Go Daddy of cybersquatting. Rather, it is seeking millions in damages because the …
April, 2010
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7 April
Serial cybersquatter refuses to give up
Meet Alf Temme. His portfolio of more than one thousand trademark-violating typo domains has landed him numerous lawsuits over the years from a range of companies. These include Dell, Air France, and America Online. He admits to being a typosquatter, using names like d3ell.com to sell exercise machines on his …
February, 2010
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17 February
Facebook forgets to register FacebookZero.com
Someone at Facebook headquarters just said, “Uh oh.” The social media site announced a new feature this morning: Facebook Zero. Slated for launch in a few weeks, Zero is a text-only version of Facebook available for free on mobile phones. The problem? The company forgot to register FacebookZero.com. After Facebook …
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3 February
NBA player receives 800 domains in court judgment
When NBA star Chris Bosh sued cybersquatter Luis Zavala over the domain Hoopology.com, the judge awarded him the name plus $120,000 in damages. Because of Zavala’s likely inability to pay the judgment, however, the judge has handed over his entire domain portfolio to Bosh. It consists of some 800 sports …
January, 2010
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25 January
WIPO rules against cybersquatter
In yet another domain dispute victory for Google, the WIPO has ruled against a cybersquatter and in favour of theMountain View company in a case involving the domain googlenetbiz.com. As is generally the norm, Google contended that the domain violated its trademark and that it was being used in bad …
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20 January
Cybersquatting may be on the decline
Data collected from a number of arbitration panels, including the WIPO and National Arbitration Forum, show that cybersquatting may be on the decline. Last year saw a 9% decline in the number of cybersquatting cases filed overall, a three-year low. Unfortunately, this decrease does not necessarily mean the number of …
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12 January
Alleged cybersquatter defends actions
Last week, Apple won a domain dispute in which it accused a Los Angeles entrepreneur, Daniel Bijan, of cybersquatting. Bijan lost 16 domains to the company famous for its iPhone and iPod products. Now he has issued a public statement regarding the incident. The domainer says he was “naive at …
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7 January
Transamerica drops lawsuit against domain registrars
Domain registrants can be sued for cybersquatting, but are registrars liable as well? Until recently, life insurance company Transamerica thought so. The company was in the process of suing several prominent domain registrars for trademark infringement— all because several of their customers had registered domains containing Transamerica’s trademark. Thankfully, the …