Cybersquatting Trademark Protected .me Domains: A Lesson for New gTLDs which ICANN Has Failed to Learn.

As can be seen by a WIPO & NAF serach using DomainFight.net, cybersquatting .me domains was a popular pastime in 2008 including trademark protected domains owned by Porsche, Exxon Mobil, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, America Online,     Mozilla Corporation and The Coca-Cola Company.  This does not include the threat letters sent out by trademark holders, which in many instaces cause a behind the scenes and unreported transfer of domains. 

As noted over at The Domains blog "Toyota.Me Sell for 90K: Why Shouldn’t a Registry Be Liable for Profiting From the Sale of Trademark Infringing Domains?" Each time a new domain extension is introduced, it simply creates a brand new platform for domain name cybersquatting. It is even worse when the Registry offering the domains thorough auction or otherwise end up reaping the initial financial rewards of obvious trademark infringement.  Where is the accountability?  Why hasn't ICANN done anythign to make registries and registrars more accountable for trademark issues?

In their comments to ICANN concerning the new domain extensions, The Domains blog makes an important point.  If the number of domain extensions,  gTLD’s, is greatly expanded, how will trademark holders, celbrities, famous people and others protect themselves from bad faith cybersquatting? See Open Letter To ICANN: Our Take On the New Domain Extensions

Understand Your Trademark Rights George Bush! Avoid Overpaying $35,000 to Get Your Domain Back From A Cybersquatter

Repeat after me everybody.  Personal and Proper Names Are Protected Under Cybersquatting Act And the Lanham Act. Here is  story that makes you think you ought do a Google search for the word 'cybersquatting attorney' or 'domain name lawyer' before shelling out big cash to pay for a domain name which incorporates your personal name or trademark.

Developer for George W. Bush library Web site paid $35K to buy back domain name | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News

Illuminati Karate paid less than $10 for the www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com domain name – and sold it back for $35,000 to the library's contracted Web developers, Yuma Solutions, who had accidentally let it expire. Illuminati Karate recognized what the library obviously knew as well – that anything else, like www.GWBPresidentialLibrary .com, would have been cumbersome and less than ideal.

"It worked out very well," said George Huger, lead Web developer for Illuminati Karate in Raleigh, N.C. Mark Mills, owner of Yuma Solutions, could not be reached for comment.

The real head-scratcher here is that Yuma Solutions didn't have to pay anything to get the domain back from Illuminati Karate, who was clearly cybersquatting on the domain and trademark rights of the library and George Bush personally.   We posted about this previously at Cybersquatting On The George Bush Library Name. Didn't they consult and trademark attorney or cybersquatting laywer first? Of course, they still may have their $100,000 in statutory damages under the ACPA and Lanham Act to leverage if they did not sign a global release.  The domain sale simply proves bad faith under both statutes.