The Internet is filled with millions of sites owned by big and small businesses. Each business has a domain name that they use in order to help consumers easily find them. However, some businesses have a difficult time with their desired domain names due to cybersquatting. If this happens to your business, consider hiring an attorney that handles Domain Name Disputes.
Cybersquatting is a very popular practice that has been going on for years. The practice involves registering certain domain names with no intention of actually starting a website. The person who registered a name will simply wait until a business needs it and will then attempt to sell it to them. These people are essentially keeping these domain names hostage until someone is willing to pay for them.
Just because a domain name is already in use doesn’t mean your business is the victim of cybersquatting. In order to determine if cybersquatting is being committed a business will have to look at the site in question. The domain name should belong to a functioning site. If the domain name is entered and it redirects you to a “site for sale” web page, the domain name has likely been hijacked by a cybersquatter.
Attorneys who handle Domain Name Disputes can’t do much about working websites. If a working or legitimate website has your desired domain name, there isn’t much that can be done. At this point, one of the only options will be to offer to buy the domain name. If the owner declines the offer, a business will be forced to use another name instead.
Work with an attorney in order to determine the options that are available. Even though the practice is illegal, thousands of domain names are currently being hijacked and held hostage. Owners will even go as far as creating bogus sites that have little to do with the domain names themselves. If you feel it’s worth the money, it might be best to purchase the name legally. However, a business may have grounds to sue in order to have the name handed over.
Dealing with a cybersquatter can be a little tricky. Again, although the practice is illegal it’s still being used today. Work with an attorney in order to retrieve your desired name and help your website.
