How to Recognize Cybersquatting

Cybersquatting has become a problem on the online world. Most victims are established businesses with their own trademarks to protect. But individuals may also find themselves as victims. This can usually happen when a domain name having one's full name is found out to be registered to another. Although this can sometimes happen for legitimate reasons, there are also times that such instances can be a case of cybersquatting.

Recognizing cybersquatting can take some time. The reason for this is that there can be a fine line between cybersquatting and the legality of websites. This would be easier for businesses with trademarked names. All they need to do is to look for domain names that fall directly under the guise of their own trademark to have a list of possible cybersquatters. But the work doesn't just end there.

When you type a certain domain name that may include your trademark under different ways to type them and leads you to a legitimate working website, then it may not lead you to a case of cybersquatting. Instead, it might be a case of copyright infringement which are governed by somehow similar but also different set of laws and regulations.

There are many other ways that you may be able to recognize cybersquatting on the Internet. A case of cybersquatting may be on hand if you type a certain domain name and you are given a "can't find server" message on your browser. Sometimes some sites may give you an "under construction" page. Another giveaway would be a functioning website that seems to have no relation whatsoever to the meaning of the domain name it uses. All these may primarily suggest of possible cases of cybersquatting. But they should not yet be considered as definite. Other things might need to be done.

The next thing that you should do is to try and contact the domain name registrant. You may be able to find the contact information of the current domain name owner by visiting www.whois.net and using the "WHOIS lookup". You can use the information provided and contact the owner to see if there is a reasonable explanation for using such a domain name.

And if it is a cybersquatter, you will usually be given a deal to buy the domain name in exchange for ownership. It would eventually depend on you to negotiate for a a fair price if you wish to buy the domain name and save yourself the trouble. You can also decide to take the matter up at the proper forum to have the domain name taken down from use. This can take time and effort but it can help you finally get rid of having to suffer from being victimized by a cybersquatter using your own trademark.