Daily Domain Name Registration Blog

The cybersquatting problem for big companies continues, as Microsoft has suffered from a new spate of cybersquatting attacks over the last few weeks, with a Californian dentist registering over 40 domain names that Microsoft claims infringe its trademarks.These include things like aMicrosoftShop.com and XboxOutlet.info - I’m slightly surprised that Microsoft hadn’t already secured these, but then I suppose that they only seem obvious when you see them written out like that.

It’s hard to see how the general problem of cybersquatting can be dealt with efficiently. I think we can be sure that it’s only going to get worse, with domains being very easy to register, and big money to be made in the resale market. The current systems for dealing with disputes are slow and painstaking (despite efforts to speed up the processes), and often leave plaintiffs and defendants alike frustrated by high legal fees and complicated paperwork. Also, of course, one would not want to have a system in place whereby genuine contenders were prevented from registering domains in good faith because someone else held a trademark for certain usages.

Microsoft and other large companies continue to attempt to protect their brands by registering domains containing every possible permutation of their trademark they can imagine, but unfortunately the cybersquatters tend to be one step more imaginative; I wonder what the future of the trademark will be, as this trend is bound to continue.

Resources:

Microsoft Sues Dentist for Cybersquatting.

More info on cybersquatting and typosquatting.