Cybersquatting and Trademark Infringement

Cybersquatting and Trademark Infringement -The domain name speculator must be careful to avoid any domain name that could be considered a trademark or copyright infringement. If they fail to heed the warnings, they will usually find themselves on the short end of a lawsuit and lose the domain name and a lot of money in the long run.

Registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else’s trademark is called cybersquatting, according to the U.S. Federal Law known as the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. This law generally refers to the practice of registering domain names that incorporate the names of existing or well known businesses with the intent of selling these names to those businesses for profit. So in a nutshell cybersquatting is using a domain name to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.

During the .ME auctions in July/August 2008, we saw some eye popping sales. Even more extra-ordinary was the number of trademark related domain names going for big bucks. Toyota.me sold for $90,025. The buyer, Mr. Kohler a Brazilian, also picked up Porsche.me. I remember wondering whether he owned a car dealership as I was baffled that someone would spend close to six figures on names they will likely lose in a trademark dispute.

On August 14th. a Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. The Complainant was the maker of sports cars and owner of numerous trademarks incorporating Porsche.

Now the WIPO administration panel has just published its decision made on October 24, 2008 and ordered that the domain name, be transferred to the Complainant.

Interesting? You can Click Here to read the full decision.

Mr. Kohler is not the only one to lose his .me domain name. ExxonMobil recently picked up ExxonMobil.me from a Tampa, Florida man. Confederation Nationale du Credit Mutuel picked up CreditMutuel.me. So it won’t be long before other trademark related domain names get picked up in arbitration.

Technorati Tags: .ME, cybersquatting, cybersquatting and trademark infringement, domain name, Domain Names, Domaining, trademark infringement

Tags: .ME, cybersquatting, cybersquatting and trademark infringement, domain name, Domain Names, Domaining, trademark infringement