2008"In an increasingly competitive market place, working with NetNames gives us a greater level of administrative control and the necessary support to help secure our brand online."
Andrew Reeves, Chief Information Officer
Microsoft takes on Xbox cybersquatters
13 March 2007
Clamp-down comes as UN report shows 25 per cent increase in global cybersquattingMicrosoft is planning to file a major round of lawsuits in the US and UK this week against individual cybersquatters and typosquatters who have registered domain names containing variations or misspellings of Microsoft’s key brands including Xbox. The move comes just as the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) announced incidents of cybersquatting grew by 25 per cent in the last year.
According to a local news source in the Seattle area, Microsoft claimed that during 2006 an average of 2,000 domain names containing its trademarks were registered every day and three quarters of those are owned by professional domain name speculators. Microsoft tried to sue more than 200 people in the US last year, and the latest round of law suits will also target British cybersquatters.
Some clever domain names that have been snatched from under Microsoft’s nose include www.exbox.com, www.windowsexp.com and Bill Gates himself has found his www.billgates.com address cybersquatted by an individual in Florida. In 2004 Microsoft even sued a 17-year-old high school student from Victoria, Canada called Mike Rowe, for having registered the domain name www.mikerowesoft.com.
Jonathan Robinson, Chief Operating Officer of NetNames, which manages the domain name portfolios for over a third of the FTSE 100 companies comments, “The Internet is fertile ground for domain name speculators and there are a number of professional organisations out there making a fortune out of registering variations and misspellings of popular brand names such as Microsoft’s. The majority of these speculators either link to lucrative Google-style pay-per-click advertising or they sell the domain names on for a profit."
Robinson continues, “Recovery of a domain name is much more difficult and costly than having secured it in the first place and Microsoft will undoubtedly find itself paying some very costly legal bills as it attempts to combat the growing problem of cybersquatting."
In the US a federal law known as the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act is in place to protect brands online. However in Europe the laws are far less prescriptive making retrieval of lost domain names significantly more difficult.
After receiving a letter from Microsoft’s lawyers, Mike Rowe, who registered www.mikerowesoft.com said, “Since my name is Mike Rowe, I thought it would be funny to add 'soft' to the end of it. I didn't think they would get all their high-priced lawyers to come after me."
About NetNames
NetNames is part of London listed Group NBT plc (LSE: NBT). Through its industry leading domain name management service, NetNames Platinum Service, the company is responsible for managing and protecting online brands for international corporates, including in excess of 30% of the FTSE 100. The company provides domain names, website hosting and email services for a range of customers - from the home user up to enterprise level. NetNames is an ICANN Accredited Registrar with the ability to register domain names in all available suffixes worldwide. The company is headquartered in London, with offices in New York, Nice, Frankfurt and Madrid. For further information, visit www.netnames.com
For further information please contact:
Ivan Ristic, Hotwire, tel: 020 7608 4647
Email: ivan.ristic@hotwirepr.com
Peter Bowles, Hotwire, tel: 0207 608 4649
Email: peter.bowles@hotwirepr.com
