Dramatic Increases in Cybersquatting Cases Continue

In January, 2006 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported a 20% increase in the number of cybersquatting cases filed in 2005 as compared to 2004. 1,456 cases were filed in 2005 - the largest volume of business handled by WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Center in the last five years. Now the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) has gone one better, reporting a 25% increase in domain dispute cases in 2005. During 2005, a total of 1,369 cases were filed at NAF. Cybersquatting and typosquatting of domain names continues to be a growing problem for trademark registrants, consumers and internet commerce.