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Fighting Internet Pirates: Remedies Available for Domain Name Disputes

By Thomas J. Oppold
September 01, 2003

As franchisors begin to rely more heavily on the Internet for conducting business, whether for advertising purposes, for providing online services to customers and franchisees, or for engaging in e-commerce, more franchisors will inevitably become victims of the modern-day type of piracy known as cyberpiracy or cybersquatting – the act of registering a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar to the trademark of another for commercial gain.

Cybersquatting can take on a number of different forms, all of which have dire consequences for franchisors and franchisees. For example, a cybersquatter may monitor a franchisor's domain name for the purpose of snatching it up the very moment the franchisor mistakenly allows the domain name to expire, with the intent to blackmail the franchisor into paying the cybersquatter several thousand dollars in order to transfer the domain name back into the franchisor's name. Alternatively, a cybersquatter may register a domain name that is a common misspelling of, or is otherwise confusingly similar to, a franchisor's trademark or trade name with the intent of attracting and misdirecting unsuspecting Internet users to the cybersquatter's competing Web site.

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