Cybersquatting Report

Welcome to Cybersquatting Law Radio where domain name, cybersquatting, and trademark domain name issues are always the hottest topic of discussion.  Whether you are a trademark owner who believes they are a victim of cybersquatting or a domain owner wrongly accused of trademark infringement, you will find all the tips you need to protect your rights right here.

This is Domain Name Attorney and Cybersquatting Lawyer Brian Hall with Traverse Legal, PLC.  Today, I will be talking about how to identify if you are the victim of cybersquatting.  And the best way to go about doing that is what we call a cybersquatting report.

Traverse Legal offers a cybersquatting report that enables us to identify using various what other domains might be out there that correspond to your trademark.  Now, keep in mind, cybersquatting is when someone registers uses or traffics in a domain name that is confusingly similar to a trademark that you own with a bad faith intent to profit from it.  If, in fact, cybersquatting occurs, federal law allows for recovery of up to $100,000.00 in statutory damages for each instance of cybersquatting on a domain name.  In addition, you might be able to recover attorney’s fees and costs, and ultimately get the domain returned to you.

But how do you know if you are the victim of cybersquatting?  Obviously, you could be informed by a consumer or even a prospective consumer who tried to go to your domain name (visit your website) and buy your products or services because of the goodwill that’s associated with your trademark.  In doing so, they might have mistyped something.  They might have adding an “s”.  They might have forgotten the period after www. Or they may have done something else that led them to another website that isn’t you.  And when they got there, they could see multiple things.  They could see pornography, which is known as pornosquatting.  They could see a site that looks eerily similar to yours.  They could even see something that looks almost identical to your website and asks for personally identifiable information that could lead to them being harmed.

Regardless of what ultimately occurs, it is important for you to know what cybersquatting domain names are out there.  And rather than wait for a consumer to come to you and complain or, even worse, wait for your consumers to be diverted and for you to lose traffic and potentially sales, a cybersquatting report can provide you with a lot of the information that you will need to determine whether or not you can pursue somebody.

Once that cybersquatting report is provided to you by one of Traverse Legal’s Internet lawyers, you will have a better idea of what your options are.  They may include simply sending a cease and desist letter and hoping that the domain name is transferred to you.  In other instances, you can work with the domain name registrars and others to reveal who the individual behind that cybersquatting domain name registration is.  And, ultimately, if needed, you might have to take further action.  You can either file a lawsuit in federal court under the ACPA or Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, or, you may pursue the domain name via arbitration under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, also known as the UDRP.

Regardless of how you go about getting the domain back, or at least making sure the cybersquatting stops, you first need to know that cybersquatting is actually occurring, and that’s where Traverse Legal can provide one of their cybersquatting reports to help you.

So, do not hesitate to contact Traverse Legal today and have them provide you with a cybersquatting report so YOU know that your consumers aren’t being harmed, and you know that you aren’t having traffic diverted and losing sales of your goods and services.

You’ve been listening to Cybersquatting Law Radio.  Whether you are filing or defending a claim of cybersquatting under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) or Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), we have a cybersquatting and domain dispute attorney ready to answer your questions.