Domain Squatter Portfolio Gets Squeegeed By Verizon

• Verizon has won a $33.2 million settlement from its case against a professional domain squatting company in San Francisco.
• Like all crooked domain squatters, the San Francisco firm was registering domain names similar to all of Verizon’s trademarks.
• Verizon claimed they “unlawfully registered at least 663 domain names that were either identical to or confusingly similar to Verizon trademarks,” (WSJ) . The court made the San Francisco company pay $50,000 per domain for ‘bad-faith’ registration.This is not the first time Verizon has won a big case like this.

“This case should send a clear message and serve to deter cybersquatters who continue to run businesses for the primary purpose of misleading consumers,” said Sarah Deutsch, Verizon associate general counsel. “

• Nice to see a company take action against those trying to make a buck off of purchasing similar or mispelled domain names of companies and then placing pay-per-click ads leading to the actual company’s site. This practice, although made illegal in 1999, is also used against famous celebrity names, common people’s names, etc. Have you done a domain search for your own name yet? Chances are someone without your name has purchased it in the hopes that someday or the 10 other people with your name will want to buy it up one day for a premium.

Tagged as: cyber squatting, domain buying, domain squatting, Icahn, illegal