December 12, 2019

Cybersquatting (19-12.2)

Thanks to the internet, many new things have become possible in the relatively short time it has been around. Not all of those things are good, though, as it may not be hard to imagine.

One of the problems, specifically relating to trademarks, is something referred to as cybersquatting. This happens when somebody registers the web domain name for a trademark website, either before the true owner does or once it opens if the owner doesn’t renew it immediately, then tries to make a profit from selling the domain back to them or even just to take traffic away from the trademark holder.

The key here is that the person taking the domain name is purposefully trying to take it from the trademark holder. Generally, a domain name does not mean you have trademark protection automatically, and also having a trademark does not automatically mean you have the right to the domain name. For the rights to trigger, it depends on a number of things like whether the things on the domain are used in commerce or not, how strong the mark is, who used it first, or if it is registered, among some others.

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LEARN MORE: What Every Brand Owner Needs To Know About Filing a Trademark Application & Four Reasons Why Not Having a Registered Trademark Can Cost You Big Money

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