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Bar News - April 6, 2001 Federal Judge Slams Typosquatter By: Jennifer Hopkins Technology Tidbits IN THE LARGEST award so far under the year-old Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a federal judge has slammed a veteran "typosquatter" who owned and profited from domain misspellings that the judge ruled are confusingly similar to the name of online video game and computer electronics retailer Electronics Boutique Holding Corporation. Plaintiff Electronics Boutique registered and uses the names "EB" and "Electronics Boutique" as service marks for electronic and computer products. The company also has an online store accessible on the Internet at "ebworld.com" and "electronicsboutique.com." Defendant John Zuccarini registered five misspellings of the ebworld domain names: "electronicboutique.com," "eletronicsboutique.com," "electronicbotique.com," "ebwold.com," and "ebworl.com." When would-be ebworld customers mistakenly typed one of Mr. Zuccarini’s domain misspellings, they would be mousetrapped in a barrage of windows for credit cards, Internet services, games and music advertisements. The Internet user can’t exit the window without clicking on the succession of advertisements. In previous lawsuits, Zuccarini testified that he has registered thousands of domain names, including misspellings of Michael Jordan, America Online, the Mayo Clinic, Yahoo, Elvis Presley, Alicia Silverstone, Britney Spears and others. He currently faces similar lawsuits by Radio Shack, Office Depot, Nintendo, Hewlett-Packard, the Dave Matthews Band, the Wall Street Journal, Encyclopedia Brittanica and others. Zuccarini’s practice of selling the ads on the misidentified sites made between $800,000 and $1,000,000 per year in ad revenue. The federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act was signed into law on Nov. 29, 1999, aimed at people who register well-known marks and others’ names as Internet domain names in bad faith. The act permits a person to bring a suit against anyone who, with a bad faith intent to profit, registers, traffics in or uses a domain name that is either (1) identical or confusingly similar to a mark that was distinctive at the time the domain name was registered, (2) identical or confusingly similar to or dilutive of a mark that was famous at the time the domain name was registered or (3) is a mark or name protected as a trademark. In the past year, judges have ordered the return of a cybersquatter’s domain names but have been reluctant to punish the perpetrators. They may have been unsure whether to credit the perpetrators with the profits of something like real estate speculation, or whether to view cybersquatting through the lens of intellectual property infringement. The half million dollar penalty against Zuccarini is the maximum allowed by the act—$100,000 per domain name—and is likely to have a chilling effect on future cybersquatting activity. It also provides powerful ammunition to anyone who falls prey to a cybersquatter’s tricks. For the full text of the case, see Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. v. Zuccarini, US District Court, Eastern District Pa. (Oct. 30, 2000) or go to www.gigalaw.com/library/electronicsboutique-zuccarini-1000-10-30-p1.html. Jennifer Hopkins is an attorney with the Concord law firm Orr & Reno, where she is a member of its corporate transactions team, concentrating on emerging businesses and high tech companies. Prior to attending law school, Hopkins was a business owner in New Hampshire. Technology Tidbits are submitted by members of the Bar’s Technology Task Force.
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