cybersquattingn.
/ˈsʌɪbəˌskwɒtɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈsaɪbərˌskwɑdɪŋ/ The practice of registering as an internet domain name a well-known company, brand, or personal name, or a name likely to be confused with one, in the hope of later selling it at a profit to the holder of the name.
ΚΠ
1996 Re: They want to take scooby.com Away! in misc.int-property (Usenet newsgroup) Dilution would not have existed in this case if Toeppen were not in the ‘business’ of cybersquatting?
1996 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 27 Nov. 36/2 The court next found that..[his] ‘business’—‘to register domain names and then to sell the domain names to the trademarks' owners,’ or as commentators have termed it, ‘cybersquatting’—was a dilutive ‘commercial use’.
2002 A. Poltrorak & P. Lerner Essent. Intellect. Prop. ix. 179 Victims of cybersquatting can have recourse to the federal courts, where they may seek to recover the domain name owner's profits, actual damages, and costs.
2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 30 July iii. 7/6 So-called cybersquatting costs companies worldwide more than $1 billion annually.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1996