Cybersquatting Thrives for Lack of a Strong Deterrent
New Approaches
1. Joint Mass Litigation
In the interest of increasing monetary awards and making a positive impact on the Internet community, it is time for brand owners to consider banding together, pooling their resources, and going after some of the most problematic cybersquatters.
In other settings, intellectual property owners have achieved economies of scale and litigation success by banding together as plaintiffs against infringers. This is possible because antitrust laws permit competitors to cooperate with each other in joint litigation. For example, the major recording and motion picture companies have often joined forces as plaintiffs in copyright lawsuits against Internet "file sharing" operators and other infringers.
In the cybersquatting context, increasing the number of plaintiffs means increasing the number of domain names under challenge, which in turn increases the prospect for a substantial damages award against the cybersquatter. If a lawsuit contests 300 domain names, the statutory damages would total $6 million if the court awarded only $20,000 per name. However, the cybersquatter would face a $30 million judgment if the court awarded the maximum damages per domain name. Joint litigation also allows plaintiffs to share the costs of investigating and prosecuting the case. The evidence of the cybersquatter’s bad faith—key to a successful lawsuit—is likely to be the same for all the trademark owners involved.
2. Join a group like CADNA
The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) is a registered 501(c)(6) non-profit organization. Its objective is to facilitate dialogue, effect change, and spur action on the part of policymakers to address the gaps in both the law and ICANN policies that enable massive domain name abuse and consumer frauds. In doing so, CADNA seeks to decrease occurrences of cybersquatting in all of its forms by requesting anti-cybersquatting legislation updates and ICANN policy reforms. With pro-abuse groups already organized in Washington, CADNA is the only coalition of trademark owners that has a sharp focus on Internet issues.
3. Join an industry association or get that association to take notice of domain name abuse
Follow in the footsteps of the recording and motion pictures trade associations to work within your industry to raise the profile of cybersquatting issues among those who can effect positive change.
4. Be independently proactive
Work on your own or with an expert to pool intelligence and be vigilant about scanning for abuse. In addition, make good choices regarding infringement prioritization and choose the most appropriate action in each case, whether it be a united effort, independent lawsuit, UDRP proceeding, cease and desist letter, or other action.
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