Dotster Named in Massive Cybersquatting Suit

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Via C|Net News.

[snip]

A new federal lawsuit charges that Dotster, one of the largest domain name registrars, has unlawfully participated in a 
massive cybersquatting campaign targeting companies such as Cingular, Disney, Ikea, Google, Neiman Marcus, Playboy and 
Verizon.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday by high-end retailers Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, alleges that Dotster abused its 
status as a registrar by "checking out" hundreds of domain names that closely resemble the correct ones--and then 
keeping only the ones that were visited by Web users who couldn't spell very well.

The misspelled domain name NeimuMarcus.com, when visited by CNET News.com on Thursday evening, included code in its Web 
page that references Dotster and its subsidiary RevenueDirect.com--and featured advertisements for Neiman Marcus rivals 
such as Bloomingdales and JCrew. By early Friday, however, that Web site and dozens more had been taken offline.

[snip]

More:
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-6079567.html

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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