Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA)

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Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act protects U.S. organizations from purchasing domain names that are identical and confusingly similar to a trademarked name.

• created 1999
• Cybersquatting is the bad-faith registration of a domain name that is a registered trademark or trade name of another entity
• allows entities to sue cybersquatters

Proving Case

To prove such a case, the plaintiff must show that the cybersquatter registered the trademark in bad faith with the intent to profit from the registration.

• nine factors that help a court determine bad faith:
  • A person’s intellectual property rights in the domain name
  • Whether the domain name consists of the legal name of the person
  • The person’s prior use of the domain name in connection with the sale of goods or services
  • The person’s noncommercial or fair use of the domain name
  • The person’s intent to divert consumers from the mark owner’s own website
  • The person’s offer to sell the domain name without having used the domain name for the sale of goods or services
  • Whether the person gave false or misleading contact information when registering the domain name
  • Whether the person registered multiple domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to marks owned by others
  • Whether the mark incorporated in the domain name is famous and distinctive

Remedies

• plaintiff can recover damages and ask the court to issue an injunction
• can award the contested domain name to the winning party