Microsoft after Cybersquatters

All the cybersquatters out there...beware, Microsoft is leading a charge against the culprits, which could soon end the malpractices people have been using to make money out of big names, and wrongly spelt web addresses.

If you own a trademark and find that someone is holding it hostage as a domain name until you pay a large sum for it, you may be the victim of cybersquatting.

Software giant Microsoft Corporation has filed two lawsuits against cybersquatters in order to continue its offensive against those who buy misspelled or misleading domain names to get advertisements on them. The two lawsuits target four individuals who Microsoft claims have violated state and federal laws and have made profits from domain names that violate Microsoft trademarks.

In the first lawsuit, Microsoft says that Jason Cox, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Daniel Goggins, of Provo, Utah, and John Jonas, of Springville, Utah have registered 324 domain names against Microsoft trademarks. In the second case, Microsoft says that Dan Brown of Long Beach, California registered 85 domain names against Microsoft trademarks. All are alleged violations of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999, which can result in up to $100,000 in damages.

Microsoft’s enforcement campaign is headed by attorney Aaron Kornblum. “Microsoft has witnessed a virtual land rush for Internet domain names with the goal of driving traffic for profit,” said Kornblum in a statement.

"Cybersquatters" and "typosquatters" are people who have registered domain names containing trademarked terms or misspelled words with the goal of illegally profiting from them using online ad networks. It means registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark.

Cybersquatters rely on Internet users mistyping a site name or visiting a domain with a familiar sounding name, such as "freehotmail.net," "microsoftrebates.com" or "xbox360.com."

The domain owners then earn money by displaying advertisements, auctioning and blogs on the Web site names.

A Microsoft statement said thousands of such domains are registered daily, resulting in "potential confusion for visitors to Microsoft's legitimate Web sites and illegal profiteering through the misuse of Microsoft's intellectual property."

"Cybersquatting is a serious problem for companies and people using the Internet," said Joe Wilcox of JupiterResearch. "Especially if that site unleashes a bunch of porn to their eight-year-old," Wilcox said.

Cybersquatting a sort of slang for intellectual property rights of the web domain names often sends large firms into a tizzy. With few viable options other than legal handling available presently, firms need to guard their names and of course, their reputation.