Cybersquatting

Online visibility has become indispensible for a successful business. Domain names are
offered for sale on a first come, first served basis with very little information required
from the registrant. This characteristic of domain name registration has led to
cybersquatting. Cybersquatting can be defined as registering, trafficking in, or using a
domain name in bad faith with the intention of making profit from a well-established
trademark or trade name of another person. In most cases, the cybersquatter then
offers to sell the domain to the rightful trademark owner at a price, knowing the value
that such a domain name would hold for the owner.
History
The seeds of cybersquatting were sown when the use of internet for commercial
purposes commenced. Many business enterprises did not realize the importance and
relevance of internet and either completely ignored it or simply resisted the need of
utilizing it as a valuable business tool. Many well-established corporations including
Panasonic, Hertz and Avon were not initially savvy about the commercial opportunities
on the internet. Cyber squatters took full advantage of this situation and registered
identical/similar domain names of business entities. Unless an identical domain name
had been registered, domain name registrars were obliged to register them. Once
registered the domain name could not be registered even by its rightful owner.
The ICANN and the UDRP:
On 24th August 1991, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), an international body that manages the global domain name system,
established a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to curb the registration of
domain names in bad faith. One of the key and essential features of UDRP is that that it
provides an effective, streamlined framework for expeditious, low cost, online resolution
of domain name disputes from anywhere in the world and without the barriers of
territorial jurisdiction.
Forms of Cybersquatting:
The nature and complexity of cybersquatting has changed over the years. Amongst
many others, the following are some of the most common and prevalent forms and
variations of cybersquatting:

Creative Extortion: This is a basic form of cybersquatting, wherein a

cybersquatter takes advantages of the delay or ignorance of the owner in seeking
registration of a domain name and registers it in bad faith with the intention of selling
the registered domain name back to the owner at a price.

Typosquatting: In this case, a cybersquatter registers a domain name which

is a common misspelling of a trademark (E.g. www.cokacola.com) or a word which may
result when a user makes a typo error while entering a web address, owing to the
proximity of the keys on the keyboard (E.g. www.xocacola.com). The typosquatter waits
for visitors who incorrectly type in the domain name of the trademark owner, and hence
internet traffic gets diverted to the illicit website of the typosquatter. A cybersquatter
adopting this form of cybersquatting does not have the intention of transferring the
domain name to the actual trademark owner or of extorting money from the cyber
squatter. It is also not necessary that the products/services offered on the
typosquatters website compete with the actual trademark owners website.


Email hijacking: This is one of the most dangerous forms of cybersquatting
wherein the cyber squatter uses a name to divert confidential email communication
exchanged by and between
employees of a business enterprise. By registering
variations of a corporate domain name which is used for corporate email, the cyber
squatter attempts to gain access to highly confidential information of either the
customers of the business or of its employees. This can be highly detrimental to the
overall affairs of a business enterprise and can have far reaching damaging
consequences.

The affiliate fraudster: Some companies offer what is referred to as an

affiliate programme, by way of which they pay commission to a person who signs up as
an affiliate for every sale that the affiliate makes through his website. In such cases,
cybersquatters register a domain name that is deceptively similar to the Corporates
name and thereby try and earn commission by diverting traffic through the illicit
website.

Defamatory Cybersquatting: Some cybersquatters attempt to induce the

trademark owner to purchase a domain name from them at an inflated price by putting
up defamatory remarks about the trademark owner.
Conclusion
Dishonest adoption of brand names, their use in bad faith and the resultant confusion
and deception in the minds of the consumer can result in disastrous and damaging
consequences and all the more when it occurs online on the internet, where a domain
name takes a consumer to a website which he believes to be authentic and belonging to
the rightful owner.

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