[E-trademarks] Typosquatting remedies

[doug at giga.law]

It depends -- on the facts and the registrar.  Many registrars are reluctant
to take action against their own customers and instead will tell you that
the appropriate approach is to file a UDRP complaint.  However, in
egregious, well-documented, clear-cut cases (and perhaps I should find even
more qualifiers to add here!), some registrars will actually enforce their
own policies and suspend or terminate a domain name registration.  For
example, Namecheap (just to cite one popular registrar) has a registration
agreement that forbids registrants from using domain names "to impersonate
another person or company," and the agreement gives Namecheap "the right" --
but, notably, not the obligation -- to suspend and/or delete your registered
name as a consequence of engaging in activity contrary to applicable law and
any related procedures."

 

So, contacting the registrar may be worthwhile.

 

However, note that even if the registrar takes action, the issue is not
necessarily resolved, if the registrant can simply take its domain name
registration to another registrar.  So, a UDRP complaint may still be
necessary.

 

Finally, from a technical perspective, your client and employer could block
incoming emails from the problematic domain name, which could prevent
further issues internally, at least.

 

Douglas M. Isenberg | The GigaLaw Firm

Attorney at Law

Phone: 1-404-348-0368

Email:  <mailto:Doug at Giga.Law> Doug at Giga.Law

Web:  <http://www.giga.law/> www.Giga.Law

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of
Terry Carroll via E-trademarks
Sent: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 1:52 PM
To: e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com
Cc: Terry Carroll <carroll at tjc.com>
Subject: [E-trademarks] Typosquatting remedies

 

What remedies are available, other than a full-blown UDRP, against a
typosquatter?

 

I'm in-house counsel. My client and employer has been hit with someone
impersonating one of our employees using a typosquatted domain that looks
very similar to one of our legitimate domains.

 

I'm interested in getting that domain off the air as quickly as possible. 

There doesn't seem to be any web presence, it's strictly email, so it's the
domain itself I want to target.

 

Any suggestions? Does a mere letter to the domain registrar, with
documentation of the scam, usually get action? In this case, it is a .com
domain.

 

--

Terry Carroll

 <mailto:carroll at tjc.com> carroll at tjc.com

 

--

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