Fergie's Tech Blog

Microsoft to Sue More 'Cybersquatters'

A Bloomberg News article, via The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reports that:

Microsoft Corp. said it plans to file a new round of lawsuits in the U.S. and Britain this week against people it says are profiting from registering Internet domain names that contain the company's trademarked terms.

Called "cybersquatters" or "typosquatters," the targets of Microsoft's lawsuits use Web addresses containing terms such as Xbox or Microsoft, or slight misspellings of those words, to lure consumers to Web sites loaded with clickable advertisements. The Web-site operators profit when consumers click on an ad.

Microsoft sued more than 200 people last year, accusing them of running bogus sites. The Web-site operators illegally profit from Microsoft's trademarked names and create confusion for people seeking the company's legitimate Web sites, Microsoft said in August.

posted by Fergie @ 3/13/2007 06:51:00 PM