QandAs: Buzz

What Is The Role Of A Cybersquatter?

Answer:
Cybersquatting is an act of registering domain names

most especially those associated with recognizable trademarks and celebrities with the purpose of reselling them in an inflated price. A cybersquatter gets the advantage of companies’ domain registration based on the first come, first served policy through submitting a wide list of popular names and words all at the same time.

While the domain registration company is still in the process of entering words and names, the cybersquatter utilizes the profits from each domain sales to finance the needed registration fees.

A cybersquatter sits on domain names that have been famous over how many years which may cause grief to many company and celebrities it represents. For instance, if a cybersquatter used BillClinton.com, and was recognized to be the real owner, the former president cannot use his legal name as a domain. The former president needs to file a lawsuit to compel whoever is behind the cybersquatting or he may pay the mandated amount of the current owner. Not until Anti –Cybersquating Consumer Protection Act has been passed and became a law in 1999 wherein most companies and celebrities find it beneficial most especially in paying whatever fees are charged by the cybersquatter.

The act of buying an unused or abandoned domain name is not illegal technically under some conditions. What makes it a legal trouble is when the name is used in bad faith that may ruin the reputation of the trademark or the celebrity. As long as the domain name is not used to create trouble, then the cybersquatter may be protected by anti-cybersquatting law.