'Cybersquatters:' Invading big names' domains

from the clip above you may have a brief definition of cybersquatting and how people can deal with that.so lets take a glance on the case below about cybersquatting.

LONDON (CNN) -- If you are a Madonna fan and want to visit her on the web, do not bother logging on to madonna.com.
If international travel is your online interest, avoid singaporeairlines.com or klm.org and if you want to know more about your favourite drop, guiness.net and steinlager.com will not help.
Confused? So are the individuals and organisations claiming to have had their internet identities stolen by so-called "cybersquatters".
The occupation of website domains by people seeking to trade on famous names is a rapidly growing trend and an increasingly lucrative one.

Scotland's Charles Sweeney is one of Europe's aspiring net name entrepreneurs.
He has claimed the ownership of more than 300 domains ranging from those of famous people and organisations to ones featuring current events.
Despite investing more than £10,000 ($14,500) on the rights to the names, he is confident he can make a healthy living from either trading them or selling advertisements on phantom websites.
"You can register a name for about £12 ($17.41) and once you have, it is yours," he said from his Glasgow home.
"It's a great deal because if you pick the right one it could turn out to be a great investment."
His interest in websites is hardly driven by any technology fixation: "I'm not into computers as such. I'm into buying something for a tenner (ten pounds) and selling it for five grand."
He has just done exactly that.
Sweeney sold his first domain name last month -- the innocuous enough URL londontolet.com -- for £5,000 ($7,255).
He says he held out for the price after quite a few offers.
While that domain name is hardly controversial, Sweeney also has control over babyleo.com, as in Leo Blair, the new son of the British Prime Minister, and babyrocco.com, which is dedicated to Madonna's new son.
He has names featuring the car brands Porsche and Ferrari and has just bought benainslie.com in the hope that the English yachtsman will win a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.
It's this variety of cybersquatting that poses a vexing problem for regulators.
The Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) arbitrates domain name disputes and every month, the increase in its workload sets new records.
Almost 1,200 challenges -- a third of them from Europe -- have come before WIPO since its establishment last year.
With the number of URLs now estimated at more than eight million, the United Nations body says its massive job aims to ensure the integrity of the net.
"I think there is a broad-based, underlying interest in having authenticity in identifiers on the internet," Francis Gurry, WIPO's assistant director-general said.
"You aren't dealing with someone face to face. When you type in a name you want to know you are going to that site and not to a pornography site."
source:http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/09/06/internet.domains/index.html

Google AdWords case

Google’s AdWords program, its primary source of revenue, generated over $20 billion in 2008. AdWords allows advertisers to purchase keywords that trigger the display of ads, or “sponsored links,” in response to user search queries. AdWords enables advertisers to purchase not only generic keywords to trigger their ads, but trademarks as well. So Boylan Bottling might purchase both “soda” and “Pepsi” as part of its AdWords buy.
In addition, Google’s Keyword Tool recommends keywords to advertisers; these recommendations likewise include trademarks.
More recently, Google began allowing use of marks in ad text for certain classes of advertisers. Those who resell trademarked goods or services, or sell components, or replacement parts related to trademarked goods or services, or provide non-competitive informational sites that refer to trademarked goods or services are now able to use the relevant marks in the text of their ads.
Trademark holders, unhappy with the use of their marks by both Google and their competitors have filed numerous suits.

Source: http://cyberlawcases.com

Trade mark infringement

Microsoft Corporation Sues a Dentist for Trademark Infringement and Cybersquatting

Microsoft has filed a trademark infringement suit against a California dentist, Dr. Saed Said, who has registered more than 40 Internet domains with names similar to Microsoft’s products or brands, including: aMicrosoftShop.com, aMicrosoftStore.com, XboxOutlet.info and XboxMarket.mobi.and macrosoft laime that Dr.said profited from the misdirection to microsaft ewb site.because he caused making mistake for persons who looking for microsaft website.and in this way microsoft lost his opportunity to intract with the persons who surfing through internet.
source:http://cyberlawyerblog.com/2007/12/04/microsoft-corporation-sues-a-dentist-for-trademark-infringement-and-cybersquatting.aspx

comment:Macrosoft is the exclusive owner of the tradmark rights in the word "Microsoft " and also the current registrant which is Dr.said has used the domain name in bad faith.So the court should be in favour of Microsoft.