Cybersquatting: Spotlight on a Time-Waster
The Coffee Desk has a great article about cybersquatting.
OrangeJackass found yet another parked domain masquerading as a search portal. This one is search engine optimized for PC games. My wife mentioned it to me a couple of weeks ago so I decided to check it out.
I happened to notice the tagline, What you need, when you need it, and the humorous link suggesting that you make ourpcgames.net your home page. Since I had seen that tagline before, I Googled it.
The Coffee Desk came up in the first position. Go read it. Then come back here.
What is Cybersquatting?
Now, before you hit the roof, let’s clarify the term cybersquatting. According to Wikipedia,
“Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting), according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. The cybersquatter then offers to sell the domain to the person or company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price.”
Why Can’t Cybersquatters Be Stopped?
Stephen, the author of the article on The Coffee Desk, acknowledges this in reference to bullet.com:
“If it is not trademarked, it is fair-game. Bullet is not trademarked, so it is OK to sit on without valid legal threat from a bullet manufacturer. Xerox, Microsoft, or Google on the other hand are all trademarked corporate names and therefore cannot be squatted via domain name.”
Of course, the arm of American Law is rather short when it comes to the global Internet.
Why is Cybersquatting so Prevalent?
One of the strategies behind illegal cybersquatting is, essentially, ransom. The cybersquatter has no intention of developing the site; it is merely a potentially valuable web property for the trademark holder. Before the passage of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, companies had little recourse to claim their trademarks on the web. Even after the law passed, cybersquatting continues apace. Check out these two articles:
- ‘Cybersquatters:’ Invading big names’ domains (CNN September 6, 2000)
If you are a Madonna fan and want to visit her on the web, do not bother logging on to madonna.com. If international travel is your online interest, avoid singaporeairlines.com or klm.org and if you want to know more about your favourite drop, guiness.net and steinlager.com will not help.
- Cybersquatting cases hit record in 2008 (Reuters, March 15, 2009)
Web sites in dispute in 2008 included references to Madrid’s 2016 Olympics bid, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), Yale University, Research in Motion’s Blackberry as well as Arsenal and Johansson, and company names such as eBay, Google and Nestle.
Cybersquatters are Hard to Spot!
Unless you are vigilant, you may wind up wasting time clicking through a link on a parked domain. Don’t look for Google to save you either: they have their hands deep in the parked domain business model! That’s a whole ‘nother story, which I uncovered quite by accident. Here it is: Strange Log Referrer – Advice Please (Comment #11)
