A Florida company has been charged with cybersquatting in a new lawsuit filed November 26, 2008 by MIcrosoft in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at Miami. Microsoft lists 23 Web addresses in the suit that it says are registered to a company called Domain Investments and contain Microsoft trademarks or intentional misspellings of such names. The addresses include windoesmobile.com, wwwhotmajl.com, microsoft-games.com and zunedrivers.com. Many of the sites include advertising for various products and services.
The complaint alleges that "Defendants' registration and use of the infringing domain names is to primarily capitalize on the goodwill associated with Microsoft Marks". For the cybersquatting charges, Microsoft asks to be awarded the defendants' profits from the sites plus damages to be determined at trial, or up to US$100,000 per domain name. The complaint also includes charges of trademark infringement and false advertising. Microsoft is also asking for an injunction against Domain Investments from infringing on Microsoft's trademarks and from registering any additional URLs that contain Microsoft trademarks or misspellings of them.
In an all too familar picture involving web developers, Domain Investments' Web site describes the company as a domain development and monetization business.
The structured settlement brand is subject not only to confusion created by misleading factoring company advertising but also the unscrupulous profiteering of certain web developers and pay per post non-experts off of consumer confusion. The structured settlement industry should be watching the MIcrosoft case closely and get ready to put their own version of "Roach Motel" to work against these pests.
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