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Microsoft Sues "Cybersquatters"

Microsoft has filed two civil lawsuits against so-called "cybersquatters" or "typosquatters" who use the company’s domain names to profit illegally from online advertising.

Microsoft’s Trademark and Internet Safety Enforcement groups began to notice a surge in domain name registrations containing the company’s intellectual property earlier this year while monitoring Web sites registered by online fraudsters known as phishers. This existing anti-phishing "Domain Defense Program," operated in conjunction with Microsoft vendor Internet Identity of Tacoma, Wash., will be expanded to incorporate these new anti-cybersquatting initiatives.

"Microsoft has witnessed a virtual land rush for Internet domain names with the goal of driving traffic for profit," says Internet Safety Enforcement Attorney Aaron Kornblum. "Placing a high profile or pop culture trademark in your domain name is a tempting but illegal way to generate pay-per-click revenue."

Internet Identity, a company that monitors online activity, said more than 2,000 domain names are registered daily that contain some Microsoft trademark terms and 75 percent of those are owned by professional domain name-holding companies.
Microsoft said registering trademarked Microsoft names violates the 1999 Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) that calls for a fine up to USD 100,000.

Under the law, Microsoft has filed two civil lawsuits against a total of four named defendants who allegedly are profiting from domain names that infringe on Microsoft trademarks. These two lawsuits include federal law claims under ACPA and the Lanham Act as well as state law claims for statutory unfair competition and common law unfair competition and conversion.

Microsoft said it is also taking action to unmask defendants who have used privacy protection services to conceal their identities and is working to aggressively halt online auctions of infringing domain names.


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