Ethics Newsline®

REDMOND, Wash.
Microsoft last week launched a legal campaign against companies it says exploit consumer confusion by registering websites that appear to be related to major companies, often relying on typos or misspellings to grab traffic from Web users.

“Cybersquatters” or “typosquatters” make their money by creating a site they hope will be confused with a popular and legitimate site, and post a page-full of ads. If those ads are clicked, the cybersquatters earn money from ad programs, such as the one sponsored by Google, according to the trade journal InformationWeek.

Microsoft filed two civil suits last week against four individuals, claiming that the men had registered more than 400 domain names that infringe on the firm’s intellectual property. According to TechWeb reporter Gregg Keizer, the domain names included several different renderings of terms such as “windows” and “hotmail,” sometimes with letters scrambled or omitted.

Keizer noted that while the practice of luring surfers to a domain name that exists only for the purpose of collecting ad revenue, a process known as “parking,” is not illegal, Microsoft is alleging that combining “parking” with a near-to-Microsoft name is a violation of intellectual property laws.

Microsoft alleges that the explosion of Internet advertising has started what their lawyer calls a “land rush on the Internet … to collect as many domain names as possible and monetize them using pay-per-click ads,” according to a report from CIO Magazine.

Also of interest in the case is a third “John Doe” complaint filed by Microsoft that seeks to unmask alleged cybersquatters who have paid privacy protection services to have their registration information hidden, according to a report from CNET and ZDNet News.