Presidential Debate: Is this Cybersquatting or Not?

It looks like domain name registrations incorporating the names of political candidates continues to occur.  The question becomes whether the registration and use is cybersquatting or not?  Clearly Hillary Clinton has been the victim of cybersquatting.  That said, the R.N.C.’s latest domain name registrations incorporating democratic candidates’ names may not be cybersquatting, but rather fair use under the First Amendment.  In fact, the R.N.C. has gone as far as to procure defensive registrations of domain names that may have been used to attack its candidates, namely John McCain.  What will the democrats do?  Will they begin to procure similar domain name registrations?  Will they file UDRP complaints, send domain name threat letters, or even file lawsuits – and if they do, will they be guilty of pagewaxing?  Many questions remain.

Regardless, this frantic, political domain name activity provides several great lessons:

1. Domain names are valuable, and will be sought after by all entities in all areas
2. Defensive domain name registrations are as important as domain name registrations that reflect your name, your company’s name, or anything else of value
3. Domain names must be protected
4. An entity may have rights to domain names owned by others, and if so, there are ways to recover the domain and possible damages as well
5. Good faith, fair use, and legitimate use are all viable defenses to claims of cybersquatting.

While the presidential election is up for debate, what qualifies as cybersquatting is not.  Presidential candidates have advisors and you can too.  An experienced domain name attorney can advise you regarding safe domain name registrations, what to do if you have been classified as a cybersquatter, and how to manage your domain name portfolio.