With more than 4 Million Internet sites registered today, this problem is becoming more and more frequent, as businesses with a trademark name or title seek to establish a commercial presence on the Internet, only to discovery that their trademarks are frozen, and then later sold to the highest bidder by a cybersquatter. It is common practice for a cybersquatter to register a brand as an Internet domain name in order to extract payment from the rightful owners of the trademark. The rightful owners are then forced to pay for the right to engage in electronic commerce under their own brand name. In essence, the commerce rich Internet is used as a tool by pirates to extract payments. Misusing well know trademarks is fraudulent and deceptive.
Many fake sites derive advertising revenue based on the number of hits the site receives.
The images of well know trademarks are intentionally tarnished in the process. HR 3028 will protect American businesses from unnecessary legal costs, and will promote the growth of electronic commerce by protecting against those who register domain names in an attempt to profit from legitimate trademark owners. Current law does not expressly prohibit the practice of cyber-squatting. While it is important to foster the low cost access to markets that the Internet represents, and the employment e-commerce firms provide, we must protect legitimate trademark holders and their products. This legislation specifically prohibits registration, trafficking in, or use of a domain name that is identical to, confusingly similar to, or that dilutes a mark that is distinctive at the time that the domain name is registered.