Microsoft Corp. said it has filed three lawsuits against "cybersquatters," in an effort to fight back against a surge of online trademark infringement by people seeking profit from pay-per-click advertising.
Not a surprise, given the attention they have been putting into their "Strider URL Tracer" project ...
walkman
12:39 am on Aug 23, 2006 (gmt 0)
Looks like MSFT is going to bankrupt them; not just "here's the name back, sorry." Frankly, I am surprised it took them this long.
Angelis
8:11 am on Aug 23, 2006 (gmt 0)
About time too, I dont know why domain registration companies even allow them to be purchased. They are as liable as the people who register them as technically they are selling a trademarked item. If Google did it there would be uproar.
jmccormac
8:59 am on Aug 23, 2006 (gmt 0)
It will be interesting if this tactic spreads. Google itself is a victim of this kind of squatting but it is in the position of actually making money from the Adsense that many of these cybersquatter sites use. Though combined with the problem of domain kiting, somebody had to make the first move.
The use of "John Doe" suits is interesting because it puts the domain whois privacy services under the microscope.
"The company also filed a separate "John Doe" lawsuit with a Seattle federal court, and will soon issue 217 subpoenas to unidentified people who have registered domains that reportedly infringe on its intellectual property."
217 more cases coming. :) I'm all in favour of what Microsoft is doing, as it will clean up the industry.
