Google wins typosquatting dispute

[fredlucas]

There are a ton of Google typos that aren't owned by Google. The article suggests that the Google targeted these domains because they were being used to distribute malware.

Yahoo News - Google wins Typosquatting Dispute

I was surprised that this was litigated in the National Arbitration Forum and not WIPO. Any insight into what this means for typos in general? What is the difference between the National Arbitration Forum and WIPO?

[jberryhill]

NAF is normally faster and cheaper.

[financialtraffic]

Well, very scarey because now we have a name for it -- "typosquatting."
The very foundation of the word "squatting" means there is no rightful or legal claim.

Bad news for typos in my opinion.

There are a ton of Google typos that aren't owned by Google. The article suggests that the Google targeted these domains because they were being used to distribute malware.

Yahoo News - Google wins Typosquatting Dispute

I was surprised that this was litigated in the National Arbitration Forum and not WIPO. Any insight into what this means for typos in general? What is the difference between the National Arbitration Forum and WIPO?

[ParkQuick.com]

The word has been around for a while. To get the full effect, pretend you are an intellectual property attorney and add some sarcasm to your tone-of-voice.

It sounds like Google made a good case that the domains in question were damaging it's image and damaging other computers. I'm not sure that all typos will end up getting treated the same way. In many cases they are not nearly as clear cut. Often a typo is also a real word, or it could be a typo for more than one word. In other cases, like Voyeur.com, it's generic enough that it was ruled to not be infringing (plus it was ruled that there was not even a real trademark to be in violation of).

Well, very scarey because now we have a name for it -- "typosquatting."
The very foundation of the word "squatting" means there is no rightful or legal claim.

Bad news for typos in my opinion.

[jberryhill]

To get the full effect, pretend you are an intellectual property attorney and add some sarcasm to your tone-of-voice.

The better picture is from the movie _Coming to America_ where Mr. McDougal is explaining, "We're not McDonald's, we're McDougal's.... We don't have golden arches, we have golden arcs."

If you didn't get the humor in that scene, and if you don't understand that this UDRP decision was a no-brainer, then you need to find something else to do instead of domains.

[SouthernTn]

The better picture is from the movie _Coming to America_ where Mr. McDougal is explaining, "We're not McDonald's, we're McDougal's.... We don't have golden arches, we have golden arcs."

heh, thats one of my favorite parts.. especially when there are photographers outside taking pictures.

[ParkQuick.com]

But you would acknowledge that not all "typosquatting" decisions will necessarily go the same way, right? I agree that this one was doomed from the start.

Another question - Are domain registrants required to use the National Arbitration Forum if the disputant (or whatever the term is) starts an action there? Is that in the fine print somewhere? How does the process differ from WIPO? (Feel free to point me to a link for dummies...)

If you didn't get the humor in that scene, and if you don't understand that this UDRP decision was a no-brainer, then you need to find something else to do instead of domains.

[Dave Zan]

"we're McDougal's....

It's actually "McDowell". :-D

Another question - Are domain registrants required to use the National Arbitration Forum if the disputant (or whatever the term is) starts an action there? Is that in the fine print somewhere? How does the process differ from WIPO? (Feel free to point me to a link for dummies...)

Why not read their respective sites?

[namestrands]

Another question - Are domain registrants required to use the National Arbitration Forum if the disputant (or whatever the term is) starts an action there? Is that in the fine print somewhere? How does the process differ from WIPO? (Feel free to point me to a link for dummies...)

Yes you have to use the NAF if the complainant has filed with them.. however you do have the right to choose a three panel forum as opposed to one which most complainants got for.. The NAF is an arbitration forum that operates just like if not the same as WIPO in UDRP cases.

typosquatting is a derogatory term

also

Other than individual domain name purchases, several attempts have been made by larger corporations to profit off of user typos by redirecting them without their knowledge.

* Microsoft's Internet Explorer automatically redirects users' mistyped URL queries to their MSN Search page. Though a user can reconfigure their browser to use a different search tool, Google, MSN's biggest rival, is not in the list and a custom engine cannot be specified by the user.
* Top-level-domain registrar VeriSign's Site Finder service automatically redirected traffic to URLs not registered by users. This caused a fair amount of outrage from the internet standards community, and an emergency patch to the BIND protocol was issued to circumvent Verisign's service.
* Paxfire a startup company, sells partner internet service providers a tool that redirects mistyped queries to a Paxfire-generated page with sponsored advertiser content related to the mistyped "hotword". Revenue generated from user clicks is split between Paxfire and the internet service provider.

[Acro]

Microsoft's Internet Explorer automatically redirects users' mistyped URL queries to their MSN Search page. Though a user can reconfigure their browser to use a different search tool, Google, MSN's biggest rival, is not in the list and a custom engine cannot be specified by the user.

Actually, not true if you install the Google bar.

[diverge]

Look...me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's...I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds

Classic!

[Banned: slavahosting]

Classic!

I agree, my favorite part was when he arrives in Brooklyn, and his luggage is stolen by half of the people in the surounding neighborhood, and some guy walks up to them with their briefcase, and says can I interest you in a watch.