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Presented by Daniel Toriola A domain name signifies your own address on the Internet. No two parties can ever hold identical domain names. Hence, picking a domain name lets you have a truly unique identifier of you or your company. It is how your site visitors remember you. Click here to know more Facing 99.9% Downtime With Your Web Host? That's What Happens When They Cram Too Many Websites On Their Servers. We Don't! We Won't! Ever! Try Us, You'll Never Go Back. 100% No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee Applies To All Hosting Accounts. Click here to know more Cybersquatting By Richard Lowe Cybersquatting by Richard Lowe Cybersquatting is the purchase of a domain name in bad faith. Usually this is done with the intention of reselling that domain name back to the legal copyright holder, although sometimes there are other reasons. This is considered a violation of the trademark laws. An example of cybersquatting would be if someone purchased the domain name "mcdonalds.ws" and then proceeded to attempt to sell it back to McDonalds. It would also be considered a violation of the law if the purchaser put up a web site describing how bad McDonald's food was or commenting on the service. Cybersquatting was made illegal by the passage of a federal law in 1999 known as the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. The law became necessary because numerous large companies were forced to pay large sums to buy their domain names from third parties. These companies included such notables as Panasonic, Fry's Electronics, Hertz and Avon. How do you know if a company is a victim of cybersquatting? Type in a name that has been trademarked preceded by "www" and following by ".com", ".net" or ".org". If you get a valid web site which looks like it is related in some way to the domain name, then there is no cybersquatting in effect (although this could be a simple trademark violation). However, if you get one of the following results, then this could be a cybersquatter. - Can't find server Page 1 Presented by Daniel Toriola - under construction - page with no relationship to domain name Of course there could be a reasonable explanation for each of these results, so they do not always mean there is cybersquatting occurring. It's a good idea to contact the domain name owner before taking any legal action to find out what's going on. How do you prove someone is cybersquatting? - The domain name registrants intention was to profit from your domain name in bad faith - Your trademark was in effect and widely known at the time the domain name was registered - The domain name is identical to your trademark - And you have actually registered the trademark How do you know there is a bad faith intent? Well, there is probably no bad faith intent if one of the following is true: - domain name is the same as the person's name or nickname. - They are actually selling or intend on selling something on their web site - Does the web site owner actually have a legitimate use of the domain name? This would be, for example, true for a company named "McDonalds Plumbing". They would have a legitimate reason for owning the "McDonalds" domain name. Some clues that cybersquatting is occurring include: - The domain name owner has put up a web site which in some way harms your company. For example, if you had somehow purchased "AOL.ORG" and created a web site about how AOL provided terrible service, you are cybersquatting. - If the domain name owner never legitimately used the domain name and simply offered to sell it to you, he is cybersquatting. If a person buys up a lot of names and has sold them over and over, there is a pattern of cybersquatting. - If the domain name is the same as a very famous trademark, then it has a greater likelihood of being considered cybersquatting. Page 2 Presented by Daniel Toriola What can happen if someone is found guilty of cybersquatting is they can be ordered to hand over the domain name. In addition, if the domain was purchased after 1999, they can be ordered to pay monetary damages. Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htmDaily Tips: internet-tips@GetResponse.com Page 3 Presented by Daniel Toriola Domaining is Not a Dirty Word By Paul Bliss To the ignorant, domaining is often thought of as Cybersquatting. The correct definition Cybersquatting is: Using a domain name with bad-faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. Domaining is the process of acquiring domain names to flipped, developed or monetized by type-in-traffic that the domain gets naturally. Now that we've cleared the air on the definitions, let's examine why these can often get associated with each other. Frequently, entertainers and atheletes are the ones who fall victim to their names being bought up when they pop on the cybersqatter's radar. If you perform a domain search on ebay (opens new window), the current flavor are the presidential candidates - but the smart domainer already knows that opportunity has passed. Also, many big name brands have variants of their names in domains - "XboxDealers.com", or "Wiiwant2play.com" - which begs the question - How long will the big companies allow these sites to monetize thier brand? Some companies for now have smartly embraced this notion and for the time being, let this go as long as the "spirit" of the site is not detrimental to the brand (fanboy sites), and of course, as long as no free software or services are available. It's a risky move for these sites to come down hard on the domain owners since the backlash of negative publicity towards the brand could be irreversible. However, the danger to the domainer is that what if she starts making a lot of money leveraging the brand? At any moment in time the trademark owner *could* file a suit not only for the domain name itself, but for the profits made by the site, and potential damage caused to teh brand by the site. Not sure about you, but that's something I don't want to lose any sleep at night over. Enjoy the ride, Paul Bliss Paul has successfully ranked over 80 clients to top positions in Google and other search engines. He is the author of the ebooks "SEO for Google" and "Domaining Strategy Guide". His site is: www.ranksurge.com Page 4 Presented by Daniel Toriola Related eBooks: Domaining is Not a Dirty Word Protecting Your Domain Name: Understanding The Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act How Cybersquatters Make Money from Your Children’s and Your Own Innocent Flubs Big Considerations For Domain Name Owners It Could Happen To You - Part 1 Get more Free PDF eBooks at FreePDFeBooks.com Malamaal.com: A genuine resource center for Quality Ebooks and Softwares This PDF eBook is for free Distribution only, it cannot be SOLD How To Stop Childhood Obesity Website promoting book explaining how to prevent and overcome obesity in childhood. Click here to know more Powered By FreePDFeBooks.com ReBrand this PDF eBook with your Name / URL / ClickBank Affiliate ID for Free Page 5
