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You are here: Home > Law > Copyrights > Typosquatting > John Zuccarini John ZuccariniJohn Zuccarini is the first person charged with the new typosquatting law. Adopted as part of the Amber Alert legislation, the new Misleading Domain Names on the Internet is a powerful tool in stopping typo-squatting. Until the enactment of the Protect Act (most commonly known as the "Amber Alert" legislation), stopping typo-squatters was a civil matter, or perhaps (under extraordinary circumstances) a consumer fraud matter. The law has not passed constitutional scrutiny, and some commentators believe that the "harmful to minors" and "misleading" it might be problematic, constitutionally. But, at this time the law is in place and has not been challenged. The U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York (one of the leading cybercrime units in the U.S.) has only recently located Zuccarini to charge him. Zuccarini was also the first person charged under the civil cybersquatting law in 2000, and has also lost in the actions brought before WIPO under ICANN's domain name dispute arbitration mechanism. The sites he has been found to have cybersquatted include those referring to Nicole Kidman, Backstreet Boys, Encarta and others. His abuse of Aaron Carter's name (the preteen heart throb and younger brother of Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys fame) and Britney Spears' name are among the more recent abuses. Courts have already held that there is no legitimate purpose for Zuccarinin registering and using the typo-domains other than to trade on the popularity of the underlying domain names and celebrities and products involved. Until now, there have been few methods of stopping pornographers and others abusing the domain name system from misleading children and adults into accessing sites masquerading as popular legitimate sites. Celebrities have brought some actions under privacy laws and when a trademark is being abused, standard intellectual property laws apply. Prior to the advent of the Internet, typo-toll free numbers were found to violate the intellectual property rights of well-known and well-promoted toll free numbers. This is the first time criminal sanctions are available to prosecutors in connection with typo-squatting and misleading Web sites. The applicable section of the Protect Act: Misleading Domain Names on the Internet >> |
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