The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. 1125(d), is the federal cybersquatting law targeting bad faith registration, trafficking, or use of a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar to someone’s distinctive mark, or dilutive of a famous one, with intent to profit from it.
How Courts Find Bad Faith
Courts weigh bad faith factors such as offering to sell the domain to the mark owner, providing false contact information, and stockpiling domains that match other people’s brands.
Why Cybersquatting Law Cuts Both Ways
This statute matters in two directions for a branding agency. Defensively, clients should register key domains for a new brand name early, because recovering a squatted domain later means litigation or arbitration. Offensively, a business must not register domains that trade on another company’s mark. Remedies include forfeiture or transfer of the domain and, at the plaintiff’s election, statutory damages of 1,000 to 100,000 dollars per domain name, so a single opportunistic registration can get expensive.
Source: United States Code: 15 U.S.C. 1125(d)
Enforcement note: Trademark rights are enforced through private legal action rather than a government complaint office. If you believe a mark is being infringed, consult a trademark attorney.
