Domain Tasting is Bad for The Internet, Domaining and ICANN's Credibility

The Dell lawsuit has the potential to put the practice of domain tasting on the front page, as has already occurred when its lawsuit which was picked up by the Washington Post.  Will Dell and its friends in the trademark rights world take advantage of this unique opportunity?  Will they take this opportunity to educate the public and other corporations about the largely invisible practice of domain tasting and cybersquatting?

Most companies have little knowledge and understanding of domain tasting, cybersquatting or typosquatting. Most don't know their internet business, web traffic and revenue is being diverted each and every second of each and every day. Many are oblivious to the fact that their famous trademarks are under attack in cyberspace and that their customers are being diverted to their competitors.

Dell Lawsuit Exposes the Seedy Side of Domaining and Domain Monetization

Follow the Latest Developments In The Dell Typosquatting / ACPA Lawsuit Here.

At the heart of the Dell ACPA cybersquatting lawsuit is the concept of the now highly controversial Add Grace Period (AGP) implemented by ICANN, which is  the technological and policy foundation of domain tasting.  A Grace Period refers to a specified number of calendar days following a Registry operation in which a domain action may be reversed and a credit may be issued to a registrar. AGP is typically the five day period following the initial registration of a domain name. AGP appears as a contractual term in some, but not all gTLD registry agreements.

AGP was implemented for consumers to correct of typos and other errors by registrants. Once a domain name is deleted by the registry at this stage, it is immediately available for registration by any registrant through any registrar. When a domain name is registered through an ICANN accredited registrar, that registrar may cancel the domain name at any time during the first five calendar days of the registration and receive a full credit for the registration fee from the registry.

Few companies have publicly taken on the serious serious issues of cybersquatting and the policies of ICANN which create and support the practice of domain tasting, a commercial activity which has little if any legitimate justification in cyberspace. Few companies have the financial ability to take these matters to court and expose the seedy practices of cybersquatting, typosquatting and domain tasting. In many instances, the defendants are hard to locate or even identify, making the possibility of collecting damages remote.

In the Dell lawsuit, it is alleged that the defendants set up a network that cycled infringing domain names from one registrar to the next in order to hold onto the domains indefinitely without ever paying for them, all the while profiting from pay-per-click ads on the sites that often served visitors with ads for Dell's competitors.  These allegations suggest one of the most obvious examples of intentional bad faith cybersquatting. Unfortunately, this level of cyber and typosquatting is not only common, but rampant on the world wide web today.

These blatant squatters are also difficult to coral.  Because of private registration, it is often difficult to identify the registrant behind a particular domain registration. Even if the registrant is identified, the more sophisticated squatters use offshore companies to The complaint further charges that the registrars created and controlled a series of shell corporations in the Bahamas to act as the entities registering the domains, including Caribbean Online International, Domain Drop S.A., Domibot, Highlands International Investment, Keyword Marketing Inc., Maison Tropicale, Marketing Total S.A, Click Cons Ltd., Wan-Fu China Ltd. and Web Advertising Corp.

Dell v. Belgium Domains et al: Potential Damages of $110,000,000.00

Dell, Inc and Alienware Corporation filed the federal complaint against BelgiumDomains, LLC, CapitolDomains, LLC, DomainDoorman,LLC, Netrian Ventures, LTD,  IHoldings.com, Inc., Juan Pablo Vazquez and Joe Doe Defendants on October 7, 2007.  The complaint was filed under seal until Dell could get its request for injunctive relief heard by the court, asking for an order that the domains get locked down and evidence be preserved, among other emergency ex parte relief .

Read the Complaint Filed By Dell Here. (large file, be patient)

Dell and Alienware are brought claims for cybersquatting under 15 USC 1125(d), trademark infringement and trademark counterfeiting under 15 USC 111491), trademark and trade name infringement under Florida law, trademark infringement and false designation of origin under 15 USC 1125(a), trademark dilution under 15 USC 1125(c) and various other causes of action under Florida law.

Defendants are alleged to be ICANN accredited registrars who developed a scheme to engage in broad -based computer generated typosquatting, leveraging their status as ICANN accredited registrars. Dell alleges that Defendants have registered over 1,100 domains which infringe their famous marks including the following examples:

Dell Cybersquatting Complaint Re: Domain Typo-Tasting

Follow the Latest Developments In The Dell Typosquatting / ACPA Lawsuit Here.

Dell claims that organizations doling out domain names have deployed a network of shell businesses that profit from internet web surfers who make typos while entering URLs.  These internet users use direct navigation by entering the URL directly in the address bar of their web browser, as opposed to using a search engines such as Google. It is becoming clear that a larger number of people use direct navigation and that a significant percentage of those people mis-type the URL into the browser address bar.  Unfortunately, this business model works best when the typographical error is related to a famous web site or company with preexisting trademark rights. Typographical errors by direct navigators looking for famous companies, such as Dell, creates enough traffic to make it worthwhile for typosquatters to pay for these domains and run the risk of lawsuits by trademark registrants. In this lawsuit, Dell alleges that these typosquatters have created a scheme to avoid paying any registration fees at all.

Dell's federal suit, filed in October with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, names three registrars -- BelgiumDomains, CapitolDomains, and DomainDoorman -- and claims they have set up a string of Caribbean-based shell corporations that gain rights to typo domain names and take in the pay-per-click revenues, according to The Washington Post.

Dell Files Cybersquatting Lawsuit against Domain Name Companies

In a lawsuit filed in Florida, Dell charges Juan Pablo Vazquez of Miami, Florida, several unknown individuals, and a handful of domain name companies with violating its trademarks on more than 1,100 domain names.

The lawsuit, unsealed two weeks ago, accuses the defendants of cybersquatting, trademark infringement and dilution, counterfeiting, deceptive trade practices, and unfair competition.

Dell alleges that the defendants registered domains that contain the name "dell," or something close to it, and used the infringing domains to host "'pay-per-click' Web sites that display or displayed advertising links to various commercial Web sites" and to offer goods or services identical or similar to Dell's sites.

The lawsuit also claims the defendants set their sites up to serve pop-up and pop-under ads, and thereby earned ad revenue off Dell's trademarked names.

Cybersquatting -- using, registering, or profiting in bad faith from a domain name that's identical or similar to an established trademark -- and typosquatting -- using, registering, or profiting in bad faith from a domain name that's a deliberately misspelled version of an established trademark -- isn't only a problem for Dell. many other companies are having their internet traffic diverted by typosquatting and other forms of cybersquatting...

Read more about the Dell cybersquatting article here:

- Dell claims that there is a network of shell businesses that profit from people who make typos while entering URLs

- Dell Fights Cybersquatters And Rogue Resellers In Court

-  Will Google AdSense be Impacted by the Dell Lawsuit?