AltaVista shames cybersquatter
PrintForced to hand over 43 domains
Posted in Music and Media, 30th October 2000 16:04 GMT
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A cybersquatter was today ordered to hand over 43 domain names containing variations of the AltaVista name.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) ruled the cybersquatter, with bases in both Panama and the Latvian capital Riga, registered URLs that were confusingly similar to the ISP's trademark.
Actavista.com, aliavista.com, auavista.com and antavista.com were just some examples of the sites Grandtotalfinances Ltd got reprimanded for.
California-based AltaVista filed the complaint with UN agency WIPO in July, but according to Reuters, AltaVista's complaint was only the tip of the iceberg. The cybersquatter had registered at least 244 domain names with misspellings of other names or trademarks, such as swisair.com and volswagen.com.
Last week lawyers acting on behalf of the Olympic movement finished sending out 750 writs to alleged cybersquatters, demanding they hand over their domains or face the wrath of the courts. ®
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