idealmike
Level X3
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I'm seeing more and more in IT news sites about domain squatting or "cyber squatting" today where people are registering a domain name that is similar to the original and then basically benefiting from that in a monetary way. This has actually been going on since the mid 90's but appears to be getting more and more rife today as people attempt to find ways to "piggy back" off of someone else's success.
Other forms of cyber squatting involve registering domain names that look very similar to the original domain name or trade-mark and is called "typo squatting". And the other form is when cyber squatters try to register a domain name the original owners had forgotten to re-register before it expires who then go on to try and sell it back to the original owners for very large figure because they know the original owners need it to run their business.
Have you ever had one of your domains squatted on or had someone do typo squatting on your domain name? If so, how did you or how can you deal with it?
If it happens to you, how can you reclaim a squatted domain?
Thanks!
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Yes I don't think he had bad intent from the start and that M$ did go after him a bit hard. I could understand if his site was trying to sell M$ products like M$ OS's or M$ computers and stuff then that would be obvious that he was trying to piggy back off of M$'s success. But it wasn't like that, his site was his own portfolio where he sold his design packages which had nothing to do with M$ at all. So this wasn't really domain squatting so much as it was just a domain that sounded similar to theirs by a young lad who thought it nothing more than a bit of fun to add the word "soft" to the end of his domain name. But for some reason, M$ thought he was domain squatting and trying to take advantage of their good name by doing it but that wasn't the case. Whatever it was, he didn't think it through enough but he was lucky and come out of it with a free Xbox and M$ certification course. Not everyone gets that lucky and generally they would just prefer to shut the site down and that's it. But in this case, they decided to work with him and could see that he wasn't trying to pretend to be them or use their good name.
Yes! So it's not just me that thinks it! :D Yes I don't think he had bad intent from the start and that M$ did go after him a bit hard. I could understand if his site was trying to sell M$ products like M$ OS's or M$ computers and stuff then that would be obvious that he was trying to piggy back off of M$'s success. But it wasn't like that, his site was his own portfolio where he sold his design packages which had nothing to do with M$ at all. So this wasn't really domain squatting so much as it was just a domain that sounded similar to theirs by a young lad who thought it nothing more than a bit of fun to add the word "soft" to the end of his domain name. But for some reason, M$ thought he was domain squatting and trying to take advantage of their good name by doing it but that wasn't the case. Whatever it was, he didn't think it through enough but he was lucky and come out of it with a free Xbox and M$ certification course. Not everyone gets that lucky and generally they would just prefer to shut the site down and that's it. But in this case, they decided to work with him and could see that he wasn't trying to pretend to be them or use their good name.
I was thinking about starting a domain called [b]mycrowsoft.com[/b] it would be a website that was for people who were fans of crows that are soft to behold. What do you think? Do you think M$ would come after me!? :)
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That's the thing with the Mike Row Soft and Microsoft case, he wasn't trying to be Microsoft or pretending to be them or pass himself off as them or even trying to use it to take advantage of their good name for his benefit. He only added the word "soft" to the end of his domain at the time for a bit of fun. But his site was basically his own portfolio site that he used to provide his illustration design services. It's not like he tried to sell M$ computers on his site or something so for them to be so adamant about their stance is no wonder it made such a story. I think that if he would have stood his ground, he could have won his case in court? I mean, even though he said that he didn't want it to go that far as he didn't want to be paying off legal fees for the rest of his life and he didn't monetize the traffic his site got when it was all happening so didn't earn anything off it. But hey, he got an Xbox and some games and a free MS training certificate out of it! That's kind of comical really when you think about it. Although it does show good on MS side. He should have fought it all the way and he could have won the right to keep the domain as it wasn't created to piggyback off of Microsoft's success and his site wasn't trying to be them either it was a personal portfolio website that sold his design services on (nothing to do with M$ at all). He should have just fought them it would have made a much more interesting story of Internet history to read! :)
So as long as your site isn't trying to pretend to be them and doing the same thing as them or selling a similar product or a rival or competitors product or something then you should be allowed to do that. But the thing is, these big businesses and companies, they can afford to throw money at cease and desists notices and threaten and intimidate the smaller website and business owner and bully and scare them off from doing it. On the flip side though, sometimes these are out of place or gone about wrongly by those who think their brand name is being misused somehow. And in some cases, they shouldn't have even bothered trying because at the end of the day it's all free publicity right? :D
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Yes, so if I even tried to register a domain with my real name it would be illegal. LOL :o
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Beverly
Just basically if you're using a name that in any way belongs to a company, you are going to end up in court over it. They might not own the domain name but they do have rights to exclusive use of that name.
Even similar names can land a person in hot water, as
MikeRoweSoft - sad but true, Microsoft actually went after a highschool kid for his similar domain name. Big companies do not play around with their property
Source There are laws in some places against cybersquatting if the purpose is to buy a domain that is identical or similar to a company name and then sit on that name until it can be ransomed by the owner. This happens often with celebrity names and it can be difficult to litigate due to jurisdictional issues. Just basically if you're using a name that in any way belongs to a company, you are going to end up in court over it. They might not own the domain name but they do have rights to exclusive use of that name. Even similar names can land a person in hot water, as [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_vs._MikeRoweSoft]MikeRoweSoft[/url] - sad but true, Microsoft actually went after a highschool kid for his similar domain name. Big companies do not play around with their property [quote]Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting), according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else[/quote] [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersquatting]Source[/url]
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