We are an AV™ rated law firm and Board Certified in Commercial
and Consumer Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Practice Areas

Corporate Organiztion & Structure

Copyright, Trademarks, & Trade Secrets

Business Litigation & Arbitration

Shareholder and Partnership Disputes

Breach of Contract

Non-Disclosure and Non-Compete agreements

Mergers and Acquisitions

Employment Contracts – Litigation and Formation

Intellectual Property Litigation and Protection

Phone: (713) 526-2222
Contact by Email
info@businesslawyertx.com
2909 Baldwin
Houston, TX 77006

Courthouse

What Is Cybersquatting?

If you own a business, you’ve worked hard to build your reputation, your brand and your trademark. But what happens when someone else tries to profit from your hard work? Consider the following cybersquatting scenario…

You go to build a website, but when you try to register your business’ name as your domain name, you find someone else has already registered it. What’s worse, the person who has reserved your business’ domain name isn’t even using it. He only bought it so that you’d have to buy it back from him- at an inflated price.

Cybersquatting means purposely squatting on your trademark

The above scenario shows how quickly a cybersquatter can ruin your plans. To avoid such injustice, the federal government passed the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) in 1999. Under that law, a cybersquatter is someone who registers in bad faith a domain that resembles, or contains, a trademark and registered it intending to profit from the that trademark. Those that violate the act can face fines up to $100,000.

Cybersquatting is all about intent

The essence of the anti-cybersquatting law is bad faith vs. good faith. Unless a person registers a domain to “hold it hostage,” he likely won’t be in trouble. However, for those who purposely register a trademark-bearing domain to profit from it, there may be fines to pay. But how do you determine a person’s intent?

Rather than mind reading, application of the law is about looking at what someone does with a domain and his relation to it. For example, does the domain owner have any real relationship with the domain name? Is he actually using it to conduct business? Should the domain owner have known about your trademark? By answering the questions, investigators will decide whether it’s a real case of cybersquatting.

What can you do about cybersquatting?

If you think you’ve been the victim of cybersquatting, you can take the following initial steps. First, you should figure out who owns the domain name and when he registered it. You can do this easily by going to www.whois.net. If the domain was registered after you started doing business under your trademark, you may have a claim. At that point, you can contact the domain owner yourself or seek the advice of a qualified attorney.

Houston trademark lawyers can help you stop cybersquatters

The attorneys at The Vethan Law Firm, PC specialize in trademark issues like cybersquatting. Call them today at (713) 526-2222 to secure your rights.