![]() She noted that cybercriminal activities such as child exploitation and spamming, for instance, have been around for more than 10 years. "So far, we've had judgments that have involved more than $5 million in judgment amount, and we've also settled cases to the tune of over $1 million," Anderson said in a phone interview.Īsked if regulations have been ineffective in containing the problem, Anderson said: "There have been many legal issues that have been around for a number of years, but you don't solve (these) overnight." Nancy Anderson, Microsoft's vice president and deputy counsel, said that the software giant has "brought 15 different legal actions targeting more than 1,500 infringing domain names," and that most of these cases were filed over the past year. federal court against cybersquatters who, the software vendor said, illegally profited from sales of the domain names of thousands of Web sites, such as and, associated with the company's products or brand. Last year, Microsoft filed three lawsuits in U.S. These are predominantly associated with trademarks that the organization possesses, such as brand or product names. The only way to combat cybersquatting "is to actively protect domains which the businesses think are important to their business," she said. "Unless (this) is done regularly, it does not really help to solve the problem," she said. She cautioned that to contain the problem of cybersquatting, Internet domain names should be monitored. However, not all the registries in the world will be bothered to do likewise," Lam said. "We know that SGNIC (Singapore Network Information Center, that country's central domain registry) does not encourage sale of domain names, and they do some monitoring of. ![]() "Some even trademark the domain (name) so that it can be sold at a higher price." "Domainers now are viewed more like merchants who buy and sell domains as part of their business," she explained. ![]() "The cheaper the domain (name), the more active the cybersquatting activities," Lam said, noting that cybersquatters have now earned a new moniker, "domainers." Lam said the phenomenon of cybersquatting is global, and the practice is especially popular when it comes to generic top-level domain extensions, such as China's. Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act defines cybersquatting as the "unauthorized registration or use of trademarks as Internet domain names, or other identifiers of online locations." "Cybersquatting has always been a (worldwide) trend and is now catching up in Asia," Lam said, adding that the main cause for this growth is the relatively low prices of the domain names. In fact, IP Mirror currently acquires these site names from Chinese domain name registrar at such a low rate that the Singapore registrar is able to offer ".cn" site names for as low as $3 a year. Instances of cybersquatting are growing in Asia, fueled largely by the availability of inexpensive Internet domain names, according to a domain-name registrar.įor example, China's ".cn" domains are now so inexpensive that it is encouraging the growth of cybersquatting, said Janna Lam, managing director of Singapore-based IP Mirror.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |