Cybersquatting Lawsuit Over Bing Domain Names — Microsoft Files
Microsoft goes following Bing cybersquatters.
Microsoft has filed a lawsuit (pdf) against a California man and a number of John Does over their registration of domain names containing the “Bing” mark. The suit lists 21 allegedly infringing domain names ranging from aolbing.com to BingPornTube.com to Bing-Search.com.
Microsoft states that over 1,500 domain names containing “bing” were registered each month in the two months following the notice of its search engine name.
The firm is asking the court to hand over the domain names, the defendants to pay legal fees and damages, as well as $100,000 in statutory damages under the Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act.
My guess is that Davies is a modest-time cybersquatter who doesn’t know what he’s doing, given that the domain names are mostly parked with GoDaddy’s “free” parking for which he doesn’t earn click-through revenue. Every time a sizable firm discloses a fresh product there are people who register related domain names thinking they’re going to hit pay dirt. They aren’t aware of the law.
