Verizon wins judgment against cybersquatter
Verizon Communications has won a case against OnlineNIC for cybersquatting. Its $31.15 million judgment in damages might set a precedent for other names seeking justice against the same registrar -Microsoft and Yahoo.
According to PCWorld, Verizon hauled OnlineNIC to court for registering around 663 domain names that were far too similar to Verizon trademarks. Verizon-cellular.com and buyverizon.net were among the names registered, both IPs now belonging to other companies which are not Verizon-affiliated.
The judgment is pretty hefty, not to mention inclusive of transferring all the ‘questionable’ domain names over to Verizon. The judgment was handed down in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San José by Judge Jeremy Fogel.
In Microsoft and Yahoo’s cases, both companies had domain names similar to their trademark brands created by OnlineNIC. While Microsoft is contending 97 domain names, Yahoo has over 500 domain names to dispute.
Despite the judgment and its questionable practices, OnlineNIC is still being listed by ICANN as an approved registrar of common domain suffixes like .name, .net and the like.
It’s a pity no stronger international legislation is in place that could make cybersquatting a thing of the past. The problem is that too many registrars like OnlineNIC are making money off questionable URLs and attempting to make money by selling them off for ridiculous prices to people who could make use of the domain names legitimately.
Perhaps there should be laws or regulations to prevent domain names from being sold over the stipulated price. It’s far too common for companies to sell over domain names they purchased for their potential monetary value for sums as high as $50.
It’s even become common for these companies to snap up even personal domains as soon as they lapse. It’s preying on URLs for the sake of profit, and blanket targeting everyone from individuals to corporations. The OnlineNIC may be an exemplary case, but legislation needs to be improved so the average Joe doesn’t need to have to go to court to get his domain back.
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