Slashdot Mirror
Google Wins 'Typosquatting' Dispute
JeiFuRi writes "The National Arbitration Forum has awarded Google the rights to several web addresses such as googkle.com, ghoogle.com, and gooigle.com, alleging that Sergey Gridasov of St. Petersburg, Russia, had engaged in 'typosquatting.' Business Week comments that Gridasov relied on typographical errors to exploit the online search engine's popularity so computer viruses and other malicious software could be unleashed on unsuspecting visitors."
Ghood neews fgor erveyonme!
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
Looks like they missed one: http://www.glooge.com/ (NSFW!)
I think Mavis Beacon should make a USB keyboard that electrifies all of the wrong keys while your typing. Probably need an external tesla coil or something, can't do it all from the USB bus I guess!
Huh? Well? what about Dvorak? gvoogle.com, gorovla.com? The possibilities are endless (and sometimes hilarious)
Sure ... and who decides? The Patent Office? Those people can't even manage to reject "improved method for swinging a child on a swing" from being patented so I hardly think they're qualified to pass on domain names. Besides, "stupid" is relative and I don't want some official "board of domain review" rejecting my application simply because they don't understand or agree with what I want to do with it. None of their goddamn business. What happens if, at some point in the future, I decide to do something else with my domain. Do I have to go back and beg for renewal? Forget it. Just deal with the annoying sites and get on with it ... or learn to make fewer typos.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Even Slashdot is affected...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
What the hell is this crazy site? I came here looking for slushdoot.
Lift out of order. Bubble sort in progress.
Ah yes, because what the Internet really needs is MORE central regulation!
Seriously, considering the USPTO's stellar record, what makes you think thats a decent model for dealing with such problems. Do you really think adding extra layers to the domain application process is going to make this better?
If I want to register ilovecanadianbeavers.com should I have to submit a business case first? Will I have to prove that I am not making porn? Or is porn okay, as long as its the right type of porn? Will www.fuckgoogle.com still be okay?
Only one way to find out I guess. Please wait 4-6 weeks for domain approval.
Is this what you really want?
- sarcasm is just one more service we offer -
Another capitalist/free market solution would have been for Google to make a financial bid for those domain names, and to leave the courts out of it. If they valued the ownership of those domain names enough, then they would have been more than willing to pay that individual a fair price for them.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Was this Russian guy intentionally using typos of Google's address to generate hits? Yes. But was he infringing on their trademarks, mimicing their logos, or diluting their brand identity in the process? Not from what I can see. He may be an annoying bottom-feeder who exploits people's typing mistakes, but if he's not trying to present his sites as if they were part of Google, then I don't see why anyone has the right to yank those domain names from him.
Does Google have the right to shut down legitimate names like googol.com or goggle.com? Or if someone whose last name is Igle creates goigle.com, could that be construed as "typosquatting" too? And what about companies with less unique names who are more likely to have "typo collisions" with other legitimate names? Is this going to be reduced to the same bullshit subjective standard as pornography, where some judge "knows it when he sees it"?
If someone suggested applying this same sort of typo ownership standard to telephone numbers, people would think they were insane.
Dear Sir or Madam:
You are hearby ordered to cease and desist all web-related economic activity. Under section 794B of the No Stupid Website Act, the usage of your domain has been classified as Level 8 Stupidity, exceeding the maximum acceptable Level 3 Stupidity. As your website has been deemed Stupid by our arbiters, it is no longer accepted on the Internet.
- US Commission of Businesses I Like Only
I'm glad you don't run the world.