Verizon to cybersquatters: Can you hear me now? Verizon Communications sent a clear message this week after the telecom giant won a lawsuit against OnlineNIC, a San Francisco-based domain-registration company.
OnlineNIC, which has more than 1.18 million domains registered, had more than 663 domain names identical or similar to Verizon trademarks, the company said.
A judge in the Northern District of California found that OnlineNIC tried to take advantage of Verizon by tricking its customers into going to OnlineNIC domains and misrepresenting them as Verizon Web sites.
OnlineNIC managed Web pages such as myverizonwireless.com, iphoneverizonplans.com, and 123verizonphones.com.
As a result, OnlineNIC must pay $50,000 per domain name, or $33.15 million, Verizon’s largest judgment ever in a cybersquatting case, according to the company. Ironically, OnlineNIC is registered with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit formed in 1998 to keep the Internet secure.
“This case should send a clear message and serve to deter cybersquatters who continue to run businesses for the primary purpose of misleading consumers,” said Sarah Deutsch, Verizon vice president and associate general counsel. “Verizon intends to continue to take all steps necessary to protect our brand and consumers from Internet frauds and abuses.”
Cybersquatters register domain names confusingly similar to others’ trademarks.
Fighting To Protect
This isn’t the first time Verizon has fought to protect its business and trademarks.
In fact, Verizon has won several similar cybersquatting cases. In each case, the courts granted injunctions against three different companies for violating Verizon’s trademarks.
Verizon is also one of the main organizers behind the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), a group formed in 2007 to take action against cybersquatting.
Together with Yahoo, Dell, Eli Lilly, Marriott International, and others, Verizon has been working on new efforts to stop cybersquatters through CADNA.
A Growing Problem
The practice of cybersquatting continues to grow. In fact,…