Thanks in large part to the federal anti-cybersquatting law passed last year, one of the more questionable practices of the anything-goes era of the Internet appears to be ending. Cyberpirates everywhere are being persuaded or obliged to surrender domain names to trademark holders. And now that firms have achieved success for their clients against the squatters, they’ve turned their attention to reclaiming their own domain names.
In a settlement that undoubtedly shocked these would-be entrepreneurs, one group, led by New York’s Debevoise & Plimpton, even managed to wrangle $25,000 out of a defendant. Debevoise partner David H. Bernstein said that the settlement sends a strong message to those who continue to hold on to trademarked names.
