by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - May 27, 2008 - k. Cyber Squatting and Domain Dispute News
Cybersquatter plague mayoral race
Boris Johnson has been more proactive in protecting his online image than bitter rival Ken Livingstone as cybersquatters take advantage of intense interest in the London mayoral elections.
Cybersquatters have been registering dozens of domain names relating to Labour's London mayoral incumbent Livingstone and his challengers, Conservative candidate Johnson and the Lib Dems' Brian Paddick.
The cybersquatters are either trying to cash in on users looking for official candidate websites by running online ads, or attempting to sabotage campaigns with negative publicity, ahead of the London mayoral election next Thursday, May 1.
According to web services company NetNames, which conducted an analysis of web domains relating to the London mayoral candidates, Livingstone has been subjected to much more negative cybersquatting than Johnson.
Websites such as www.kenlivingstone.org, a domain name that unsuspecting web browsers could easily assume was official, in fact houses a picture of the mayor in a cowboy hat with the line "Do you really want to pay for Ken Livingstone and his cronies?".
Other anti-Livingstone websites include www.londonersagainstlivingstone.co.uk.
Web domains including kenformayor.co.uk and kenformayor.org have been secured by domain name speculators looking to make money from election traffic. Livingstone's official website is kenlivingstone.com.Johnson's campaign, which uses the official website www.backboris.com, has secured at least 10 domain names, according to NetNames, relating to Johnson to try and protect his brand online.
A number of cybersquatters have taken web addresses relating to Johnson to try to cash in on online advertising opportunities – a number of domains have sprung up in support of his campaign.
The borisborisboris.com website promotes Johnson and features a song called "Is Fatboy Slim a DJ?" by the MP.
Others, such as borisjohnson.info and borisjohnson.org, promote his campaign although one, borisjohnson.net, has a giant skyscraper ad promoting Paddick.
As the outsider candidate, Paddick has not suffered much cybersquatting. Many domains relating to his name are free of use and one, paddick.co.uk, has been put up for sale at £5,000. Paddick's official website is www.brianpaddick.org.
"It is very hard to stop negative websites and click farms springing up, but by leaving obvious domains unregistered, the candidates have provided a route for cybersquatters to make money from unsuspecting voters looking for official campaign information," said Jonathan Robinson, chief operating officer at NetNames.
By Mark Sweney
Guardian.co.uk, Friday April 25, 2008
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
