legal question - longshot but...

Cyber squatting is illegal. In the days past, people might have made some money from it, but who will pay the legal fees required to file an injunction? If your company uses your name as a trademark, for example, think of www.disneyhomevideo.com which is something I just pulled out of the air. In this example, it points to www.rotten.com. If Disney wanted it, there's no legal ground to stand on for the current registerant to be able to retain the website. Fighting this as a corporation would probably be better than as an individual simply wantin to establish a website for personal use. But I'm just ASSuming here. Hopefully one of the copyright/intellectual property lawyers can speak up!

If its good for business and cost effective, good luck and give the owner hell. Perhaps there is a Richard Stevens in the abortion world and someone smart redirected the URL to the "opposing" point of view before the competition.

F'em, I say!

Obligatory Ferrari content - A friend of a friend was one of the partners that setup the .ws website domain in conjunction with Western Samoa (sp). And he loves Ferrari's!

Sunny

 

SEC. 3002. CYBERPIRACY PREVENTION.
b) CYBERPIRACY PROTECTIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS -

(1) IN GENERAL -

(A) CIVIL LIABILITY- Any person who registers a domain name that consists of the name of another living person, or a name substantially and confusingly similar thereto, without that person's consent, with the specific intent to profit from such name by selling the domain name for financial gain to that person or any third party, shall be liable in a civil action by such person.

(B) EXCEPTION- A person who in good faith registers a domain name consisting of the name of another living person, or a name substantially and confusingly similar thereto, shall not be liable under this paragraph if such name is used in, affiliated with, or related to a work of authorship protected under title 17, United States Code, including a work made for hire as defined in section 101 of title 17, United States Code, and if the person registering the domain name is the copyright owner or licensee of the work, the person intends to sell the domain name in conjunction with the lawful exploitation of the work, and such registration is not prohibited by a contract between the registrant and the named person. The exception under this subparagraph shall apply only to a civil action brought under paragraph (1) and shall in no manner limit the protections afforded under the Trademark Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) or other provision of Federal or State law.

(2) REMEDIES- In any civil action brought under paragraph (1), a court may award injunctive relief, including the forfeiture or cancellation of the domain name or the transfer of the domain name to the plaintiff. The court may also, in its discretion, award costs and attorneys fees to the prevailing party.

(3) DEFINITION- In this subsection, the term 'domain name' has the meaning given that term in section 45 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1127).

(4) EFFECTIVE DATE- This subsection shall apply to domain names registered on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act was signed by President Clinton on November 29, 1999

Record last updated 11-14-2003 10:36:09 PM
Record expires on 01-22-2005
Record created on 01-22-2000

You win. That'll be 250 bucks, dude.

 

From:
http://www.icann.org/general/faq1.htm

Someone else has registered my company's name as a .com domain name. What is the process for resolving my complaint?

[I broke single paragraph into two, as it appears "ordinarily" applies only to the court litigation portion of the actual paragraph.]

All ICANN-accredited registrars follow a uniform dispute resolution policy. Under that policy, disputes over entitlement to a domain-name registration are ordinarily resolved by court litigation between the parties claiming rights to the registration. Once the court rules who is entitled to the registration, the registrar will implement that ruling.

In disputes arising from registrations allegedly made abusively (such as "cybersquatting" and cyberpiracy"), the uniform policy provides an expedited administrative procedure to allow the dispute to be resolved without the cost and delays often encountered in court litigation. In these cases, you can invoke the administrative procedure by filing a complaint with one of the dispute-resolution service providers listed at http://www.icann.org/udrp/approved-providers.htm. For more details on the uniform dispute resolution policy, see http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm.
____

It appears you can have this matter expedited, uh, expeditiously, or as some might say, agilely, amain, apace, at flank speed, at once, by forced marches, cursorily, decisively, directly, double-quick, effectively, fast, feverishly, flat-out, forthwith, furiously, hand over fist and/or hand, hastily, hell for leather, hell-bent, helter-skelter, hotfoot, hurriedly, hurry-scurry, immediately, in double(-quick) time, in high (gear), in no time, in passing, in seven-league boots, instanter, instantly, lickety-cut/split, nimbly, on the double/instant/run/spot, PDQ, pell-mell, post(haste), pretty damn(ed) quick, promptly, pronto, punctually, quick(ly), rapidly, readily, right away, right off, slapdash, smartly, snappily, speedily, spryly, straight(a)way, subito, summarily, superficially, swiftly, trippingly, under forced draft, whip and spur, with - a rush/(all) haste/speed/dispatch|giant/rapid strides/speed, without (further) delay, Sir.

But it'd still be helpful if an attorney dropped a couple of cents on this topic.