Cybersquatting occurs when a person other than the owner of a well-known trademark registers that trademark as an Internet domain name and then attempts to profit from it either by ransoming the domain name back to the trademark owner or by using the domain name to divert business from the trademark owner to the owner of the domain name.
The elements required to establish a cybersquatting claim are: plaintiff's ownership of a distinctive or famous mark entitled to protection; defendant's domain name is identical or confusingly similar to plaintiff's trademark; and defendant registered domain name with bad faith intent to profit from it. See: 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d).
See e.g., DaimlerChrysler v. The Net Inc., 388 F.3d 201 (6th Cir. 2004); Nike, Inc. v. Circle Group Internet, Inc., 318 F.Supp. 2d 688 (N.D. Ill. 2004).
[Last updated in July of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]